Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ The Solitary Twin ❯ What Lies Behind Black Lenses ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Bisco Hatori's Ouran High School Host Club and I also do not make profit of this fic

Chapter 2

Sakoi Etsu knew what was going on even though the 'adults' didn't want to tell her the truth. Sitting on a hard hospital chair while her mother sobbed sitting across from her she was fully aware of what was happening in the emergency room.

Her sister... Her Iku was dying. For years, the family had thought it'd be her sickly nature that would do her in, but what trully made her battle for her life in those moments in that impersonal hospital was a car crash that also had their father Sakoi Akio in critical condition.

Her mother, her lovely mother kept crying and she wished she could speak, but her own fear of breaking her mother's already fragile hold on composure kept her from uttering a word. Usually she was the 'talkative and social one' and now... she couldn't find enough strength to say anything.

'Please Iku...' Iku was her other half... Her everything. She couldn't bear the thought of living without her sister. Out of everyone in the family, she was the one that understood her and gave her an unconditional love that even their parents couldn't give. They were always together... Until that day that she had gotten sick again and their father had to take her to the clinic. Due to that last minute trip that wasn't even a half hour away from the manor, both her sister and father were dying. It was like a part of her soul was being torn out of her.

The pit of her stomach ached as her breathing was coming out in slow wheezes, even though she forced her normally energetic body to remain still on the cool metal chair she was on. She... Her Iku. Not her Iku!

Giving her mother a furtive glance from underneath her long black bangs, she shivered at the thought of losing the only person that was the 'good version' of her. She knew that her mother always favored Iku for her gentleness and viewed Etsu as the troublemaker.

If her sister was gone... Who would she have left? A mother that always chastised her for being clumsy and rude? A grandmother that was losing her memories at a slow rate and barely even remembered her face? Who else other than Iku would play with her?

No one could ever replace her sister... her twin.

"Mrs. Sakoi," though the words were spoken to her distraught mother, Etsu instinctively looked up at the doctor that stepped out of the operating room. Seeing the look on the doctor's face was what broke her.

"Iku..." she whispered, her eyes filling with tears though the doctor hadn't said anything.

' I don't feel... Iku here anymore,' she couldn't supress her whimper at the thought.

"Please doctor! How is she?! How's my little girl?!" her mother rose from her chair in a rush, her lovely face streaked with watered down mascara that had smeared with her tears.

Closing his eyes, the doctor said it. Said what Etsu would have never wished to hear.

"We... We did all we could, but we-"
He didn't even get to finish because her mother let out a earpiercing howl of pain as Etsu finally burst into tears watching her as she fell to her knees.

"I think you need to go to your mother, Etsu," her grandmother who had been silently sitting beside her said softly, surprising her. Blinking, Etsu nodded aprehensively since she felt that her mother wouldn't be happy at having her close during such a moment.

Indeed... Shyly going to her mother to give and seek comfort had been a mistake that had changed her life completely. Her mother didn't like her because she was 'the headache', a bothersome thorn to her side.

As soon as she had reached her side, she had screamed in horror at seeing her face so close. The face that mirrored that of her dead beloved child.

"WHY DO YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE HER?! WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"

At present Etsu twisted a blond lock between her fingers while sitting inside the family limo. Her dead black eyes stared blankly into space as the shouts in her memories kept eating at her, like they always did. It sometimes came in handy to remember certain things... It helped strengthen her resolve in not being a 'headache' for once, though no matter how much she modified her personality, her widowed mother still found something to insult her with.

Changing her hair color hadn't worked and neither did covering her violet eyes with black lenses. Her once jovial loud personality had been dulled down to a corpselike demeanor that was only lifted when she was surrounded by people that knew who she really was.

Sakoi Etsu. The Two-Faced One. She knew how to make people believe she was cold in order to keep them away,  but she was also an expert in tricking people into never trully knowing her.

She couldn't change who she was in the inside, so in order to save her mother some grief, she pretended to be a mere shadow in the house and stayed out of her way. The only ones that had seen the true Etsu were the girls at the boarding school she had attended in England.

Her life in England had been pleasant. There she didn't have to keep a icy mask and rarely speak. Among the girls in the dorm, she had been the 'wild one'. The kind of girl that always organized masterful tricks and escape plans. The one that always had a group of girls following her every word like she owned them.

Now mother decides to bring me over to that craphole called Ouran Academy and tries to force me to befriend those Hitachiin twits.

Everyone in the family knew that she hated being around twins. Especially identical twins. After the loss of her own twin, the sight of them agonized her. For someone as cruel as Sakoi Sayuri, her daughter's own permanent grieving didn't mean a thing. Bussiness and making herself look good in front of the press was what mattered to someone like her mother.

After her father's death along with that of her sister's, her mother was left as the president of Sakoi Exports. Her family's company was in charge of importing and exporting everything from furniture, clothes, cloth, foods... well the list was endless. Because of her family's line of work in establishing contracts with wealthy business people in not only Japan, but America and Europe, her mother had insisted in her enrolling in Ouran.

Those blasted pretty-faced twins were the sons of the infamous Yuzuha. Their mother had just recently started a international mainstream fashion campaign and had voiced wanting to use Sakoi Exports as an outlet to expand her designs and commercialize them worldwide.

That was why she had gotten dragged away from her life free of pretending.

Business. Not like it's going to do me any good. It's just another way for mother to make herself look good in front of her friends and appear in magazines to gush about her own brilliance.

In spite of her mother's grief, the woman, through her daily pill popping that was always accompanied with a glass of champaigne, was a self-centered bitch. Etsu wasn't ashamed of admitting that the woman was absolutely loathsome. A lot of people tended to be shocked when she easily voiced not feeling any love for the woman that had brought her to the world.

How could anyone feel or want to receive love from someone that only cared about herself? It was a waste of her time, if anyone asked her. Etsu wasn't the kind of girl that wasted her time with such trivial things as her conceited mother's grandeur.

That was why she had purposely botched her little trip to the socalled Host Club. Hopefully that would make her mother think twice about making her part of her plans. Upsetting the twins would perhaps upset the great Yuzuha herself, thus extinguishing any possible contracts between her and Sakoi Exports.

Since she had been sent away to London's boarding school just a couple of months after her sister's death, Etsu had been quite ignorant when it came to such things as Hosts. In fact when she had asked the giggling girl that had taken the day off to guide her around the school, she had believed that Host was the same thing as 'male prostitute'.

She was proven wrong when it was explained that they just 'entertained' and 'made girls feel beautiful'. The 'feel beautiful' bit was said with a blush and dreamy eyes, much to Etsu's snarling disgust.

Another waste of her precious time. She couldn't believe she had been taken away from her perfect life in England to do a supposed favor for a woman that pretended she didn't exist. On top of that asinine idiotic action in her mother's part, she had to go to a freaking lounge area among simpering girls that gawked at pretty boys.

I only exist when it's convenient, right? Should have known she only wanted me to come to Japan to make her bosom buddy with her new famous client.

A smirk lifted the corner of her lips at recalling the pure shock on the twins' faces when she had insulted them. It had felt shamelessly good, though a part of her felt a smidge of guilt at the fact that the boys had nothing to do with the issues between her and her mother.

She's going to be so pissed. Probably pissed enough to send me back to England., the idea was actually exciting her and a snicker sounded out inside the near empty interior of the limo.

"Ah... young miss?" a nervous male voice spoke from the door of the limo and Etsu flinched at realizing that her evil nature had been seen by a stranger.

"We have arrived already?" her voice was soft as she schooled her features to a frigid mask, her flat black eyes falling upon the young driver that had opened the door to let her out.

"Yes, w-we have," he was quickly intimidated by her dark stare. Everyone that looked at the blank void of her eyes became easily frightened which was fine by her. She had already made a mistake of letting the bevy of idiotic girls that had accompanied her to the acursed Host Club see her 'sweet girly side'. That was the tricky part of being the Two Faced Etsu. It was hard keeping herself cold and detached at all times around certain types of people. The girls had seemed nice and in return she had been polite, until letting her Evil Etsu out on the twins.

Now they'll think I'm bipolar.

Her face still expressionless, she nodded at the young man so he could step aside. He did so with a pale face and jerky nervous movements that showed his anxiety to get away from her. His reaction didn't matter to her because many things had stopped mattering to her years ago. Eight years ago to be more exact. Her lack of giving a damn about other people's thoughts had begun the day Iku had died.

No use thinking that useless shit. I have to prepare for mother's fit later tonight., steering herself, feeling somewhat gleeful about her mother's future tantrum, she hid her smile behind her false coolness before stepping out of the limo.

***

Sakoi Sayuri would have never once thought that her remaining daughter was a bigger handful than when a child. She had believed that the strict boarding all girl's school with its nuns and almost military-like routine would have curbed her unpredictable nature. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that once Etsu started holding a grudge there was no way possible to predict her actions.

"-just call me Yuzuha!" the woman in front of her was just as elegant as she had expected her to be. As soon as she had heard of her daughter's infiltra--entrance at Ouran, she had taken it upon herself to meet her new client, in hopes that Etsu had managed to charm Yuzuha's sons. Though Iku had been the soft spoken one, Sayuri hated to admit that Etsu was the charismatic funny one that drew people to her. Perhaps that flaw would help for once instead of cause trouble like many times in the past, even though when she laid eyes on her daughter at the airport two days earlier, she was met by dead flat black eyes.

Etsu had purposely changed her appearance so she wouldn't be likened to the dead Iku. She didn't know if it was for her own sake or if she did it as a sign of disrespect towards her deceased twin. Whatever the case, Sayuri had been relieved to see that Etsu didn't remind her of her loss like before. Her transformation was drastic enough to not compare her to Iku.

Though... She couldn't help but think that if her other child had been alive, how much like Etsu she would have looked. Pale and lovely, like delicately shaped glass with cool features. The dyed blond hair would have been an inky blue-black and the nearly feral black eyes would have been a vibrant violet.

She could only think it, not wish it because if Etsu were to return to her old troublemaking self, also having her natural hair and eye color, it would have been too much for her to take. It would have been like seeing someone dangling a parody of Iku right in her face. Someone that looked like her, but was the exact opposite.

"Thank you, I will!" Sayuri smiled at the lovely woman. Years of practice had made her a practiced actress. She knew how to flatter and get on people's good side.

"So you told me that your daughter has joined Ouran. The same class as my sons?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure if she met them today since it was her first day," she had made sure that her daughter would have been entered in the same classroom as the boys.

"That's wonderful! I'm sure my boys will get along with her just fine when they do meet her. Wait till you see them! They should be here any time soon after they finish with their club activities," Yuzuha set her cup of tea on the table between them with a pleasant smile.

A small tinge of envy raked her. It was just a tiny prick of it. This woman still had her two children. Perhaps even loved them both equally unlike her with her own remaining child. Feelings such as these came and went whenever she was reminded of it.

Etsu... If you didn't make a good impression..., grinding her teeth at the thought of her daughter even thinking of creating trouble, she managed to give the woman a winsome smile that appeared to be genuine.

"There they are!" hearing low murmuring and the sound of feet heading in their direction after Yuzuha's breathy exclamation, Sayuri straightened her spine, not only preparing to act like a charming businesswoman, but to prepare to hear exactly what new stunt Etsu had pulled off.

Because she knew that Etsu had been pissed when she had ordered her to befriend the twins. She had seen a flash of intense dislike in her empty black eyes that barely hinted that she was going to mess up everything just to spite her.

What have you done now?

She swallowed dryly at seeing the two teenaged boys enter the room. If she had once thought that no twins could be as identical as her own daughters, she had been wrong until that day.

These twins were almost abnormally identical. In the way they walked into the room and how their features held the exact same expression. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. They both obviously took after their mother in looks. With their styled auburn hair and golden, catlike eyes that were tilted at the corners giving them a more feline appearance they were both very beautiful young boys. She honestly hoped that Etsu was normal enough to realize that the twins were indeed attractive enough to not make a fool out of her by doing something so Etsu-like.

Standing up gracefully, Yuzuha signalled at the boys, a soft smile of pride on her lips, "Sayuri, these are my son's Hikaru and Kaoru!"

The boys stared back at her blankly and Sayuri was mortified at the fact that she was dumbly gawking at them.

"Ah!" smiling warmly, she rose from her seat and bowed at the boys, realizing that she had to at least introduce herself. "Sakoi Sayuri."

"You wouldn't happen to be related to some new girl at Ouran, right?" a slightly annoyed young male voice spoke up as she shivered apprehensively.

That little bitch! I knew that she hadn't changed one bit!

Raising her head, she nodded, forcing her smile to stay in place, "Yes, Sakoi Etsu."

The boy that had spoken looked at his brother as if saying 'I told you so'.

"What's the matter boys?" Yuzuha asked slowly. "Did something happen?"

"Something happened alright," the twin that had yet to speak said just as annoyed as his sibling, "some Sakoi girl went to the club and insulted us."

Both her and Yuzuha gasped. To tell the truth Sayuri was surprised that the only thing Etsu had done was insult them. When being a child that mischiveous little brat had done much worse than say mean words. In fact when the servants had heard that Etsu was returning to the manor, many of them packed up to leave due to her many evil pranks during childhood. For servants to remember her well enough to be terrified into leaving the household, Etsu had to be the embodiment of evil itself.

"Tell me, Sayuri... Do you think that was your girl?" Yuzuha didn't sound displeased, though her voice had an edge that signified that what her sons' had just said had disturbed her.

"Yes...," she winced, hating to say that the rude girl the twins had encountered was indeed the girl she had been singing false praises to in order to impress her new famous client. "Yes... that's my Etsu alright."

If she thinks that she's going back to that school because of this stunt, she's dead wrong. I'm going to make certain that she fixes this mess.

***

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