//Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.//

CHAPTER ONE
THE TRUTH COMES OUT

Shirakawa is a quaint village — having a population of around sixteen hundred people — that experiences very heavy snowfall during the winter months. Soft blue eyes watch the first snowflakes of the season fall from the sky. The young girl places her pale hand underneath her head, blowing a piece of her blonde hair out of her face. She ignores the words coming out of her teacher's mouth as her thoughts drift off to what dinner her mother may be making tonight and how delicious it will be.

"Miss Watanabe," the girl snaps out of her thoughts about dinner and turns her gaze onto her teacher, "am I disrupting something?"

"No, Mr. Sato." Asami Watanabe smiles apologetically at him, "I was thinking about the high school applications I still need to do." She lies in order to make hun less mad. If he found out she was actually thinking about how delicious her mother's chirashi is and that she is hoping her mother is making it for dinner tonight, she would be given more cleaning chores to do after school. Murmurs of agreement rose from the other junior high students. Unfortunately for the children in Shirakawa, there is no high school. There is only a combined elementary and junior high school due to their small population. If anyone wishes to continue their education, they must find a high school in the other neighboring towns and cities that can also provide housing considering Shirakawa also does not have reliable transportation.

"That is a good thing to be pondering, how many people are stressing over high school applications?" Mr. Sato asks and a handful of hands go up in the air. He nods his head, humming while rubbing his black beard. "It is only November. You guys have until March to figure out where you want to go. What are some high schools you guys have been thinking of applying to?" He takes out his chalk to write on the board.

"Azabu High School!"

"Kaisei Academy!"

"Horikoshi High School!"

"Hibiya High School!"

"Seien Girls' High School!"

"Ouran Academy!" Asami perks up at the name of the academy and turns to look at the boy who shouted it. For some reason, her mother immediately threw out her application for that school because she does not think it was a good enough school. Honestly, Asami could not believe her mother because Ouran Academy is one of the top private schools in Japan. People from all over the world desperately apply there in hopes of getting accepted. It was a place where people are able to make connections and move up in society. Asami wishes to have her own business someday in the future — hopefully, a business that makes and sells vital medicine at lower costs. If she went to that academy, she would be able to make the necessary connections to start her company and people to sponsor it. Her blue eyes dim as she tries to recall why her dream to help sick people even started. Her earliest memory occurs when she was maybe four years old and in front of her is a sickened, blonde woman. The woman is crying as her face swells with a red rash across her cheeks and pieces of her hair fall out. The woman tearfully was talking about how her medicine was too much money to another young blond boy. The woman and boy share the same blue eyes. Asami closes her eyes — that woman is what fueled her desire to make medicine more available to others. She will help those in need and maybe one day, Asami can personally find that woman and give her the medicine she needs.

"Miss Watanabe, you have yet to say a school name," Asami opens her eyes to see that everyone has turned to face her with eager expressions on their faces to discover where their mysterious classmate is planning on going.

"Lobelia Girls' Academy," she replies with a gentle smile on her face. Mr. Sato adds it to the long list of schools.

"Today, we will look at the applications of your chosen high schools and start the process." Mr. Sato tells them. After a few moments, everyone in the class comes back with the applications of their chosen high schools in their hands. Asami sits down and stares at the Lobelia Girls' Academy application. The school was on par with Ouran Academy; however, they focus more heavily on the arts. Asami can play many instruments such as the piano, flute, violin, harp, and cello. Her mother has been pushing her to focus on her musical ability and become a performer. Asami sighs and begins to fill out the application.

Name: Watanabe Asami

Gender: Female

Age: 14

Birthday: January 4th

Nationality: Japan

Ethnicity: Japanese, French

Mother: Watanabe Emica

Father:

Asami stops and stares at the blank line. Her mother never talks about her father, only briefly stating that her father died in a tragic accident before her birth. Her father was French and was an amazing cellist — Asami assumes that is where her musical talent comes from since Emica cannot hold a simple melody.

Father: Charron Beau

"Also, remember class, we are going on a field trip tomorrow to Tokyo." Mr. Sato informs the group. "We will be going to the Mori Art Museum so make sure you bring money for food and souvenirs. You can finish your applications at home. I will help you submit those later this week." The bell rings to signal the end of the day. Everyone picks up their bags and begins their chores for school. Asami groans while grabbing the mop and bucket to clean the floors.

"Asami," she glances up from her work to see two of her friends jogging towards her with chalkboard erasers in their hands.

"Hikari, Kaori," she greets happily, "you guys got lucky. I wish I got to clean the erasers." Asami whines causing the twins to laugh. Hikari and Kaori Yamamoto are both fourteen years old and are in the same class as Asami's. The two have been friends since they entered elementary together. The twins are identical with brown hair and honey-colored eyes. Like Asami, they are not fully Japanese. Their mother is from Canada while their father is Japanese. Unlike Asami, their father is still very much alive and spends a lot of time with his kids.

"I know, that is why we came over to torture you," Hikari smirks evilly before slowly lifting the erasers and slapping them together. Asami watches as the chalk flakes fall to the ground.

"How dare you," she says while lifting her mop, "make more mess for me!" She swings her mop and smiles as the water hits Hikari. The girl squeals in shock when the water droplets nail her face. Kaori laughs in amusement while observing the fight between Asami and Hikari.

"Miss Watanabe, Miss Yamamotos!" The trio froze and turn to see Mrs. Tanaka staring at them with her glasses glaring. Mrs. Tanaka is their harsh chemistry teacher who seems to make it her personal goal to make their lives miserable. "This is unacceptable behavior! I will have to send a note home to your parents!" She huffs, stomping towards her classroom to write out the behavioral notes.

"Oh no, mother is going to whoop our butts." Kaori rubs her face worriedly.

"Please, she gets like five of these a week. Who cares anymore?" Hikari shrugs.

"I know my mother is not going to be surprised by this," Asami grins, "this is the second note I am getting today."

"Second?" The twins inquire.

"I got one earlier from Mr. Suzuki for doodling during class," Asami states, granted the doodle was of Mr. Suzuki jumping off a cliff and into human-eating shark infested water so she understands why he did that. He was probably scared for his life. Mrs. Tanaka walks back out with the behavioral notes. The girls stare at their notes before groaning and leaving to finish their cleaning duties for the day.

•••

"Mom, I'm home!" Asami calls out while strolling into her house. She kicks her shoes off at the entrance and puts on her indoor slippers. She walks into the kitchen and smiles when she sees Emica cooking dinner. "What are you making?"

"Guess," Emica leans over and plants a kiss on Asami's head.

"Chirashi." Asami crosses her fingers while praying to the food gods.

"And you are..." Asami drum rolls on the counter, "wrong!" Emica moves to reveal the pot of some creamy miso pasta. Asami throws her hands up in the air in defeat as Emica laughs. "How was school?" She asks, getting some bowls and cups out of the cabinets. She fills the bowls up with the pasta and the cups with some ramune.

"Well, it was good besides the two behavioral notes I got," Asami sheepishly says while pulling out the notes from her pocket.

"What did you do?" Emica says and grabs the notes. She quickly reads them before laughing. "It is amazing to see that teachers never change. Doodling and having fun with your friends is not what I call horrible." She scoffs. The two sat at the dining room table and begin to eat their food. The night is like any other night, full of jokes and laughter as the two talk about their days at school and work while also addressing what they should do during the weekend.

"Oh, tomorrow is our field trip so I am going to need some money," Asami reminds her mother, rinsing her bowl and fork out at the sink.

"Where are you going for your field trip?" Emica asks, taking a bite of her food. She has always ate slower than Asami. "Something that deals with art?"

"The Mori Art Museum in Tokyo." Asami blinks in surprise when her mother drops her food back into her bowl.

"In Tokyo? Honey, I have told you before that we cannot go into the city. I am a wanted woman there because of my speeding tickets and if you get arrested, you can lead them back to me, and then I will have to do time in jail." Emica stresses while getting up from her chair. Her brown eyes seem a little too crazed out and her moments are erratic. Asami sighs, reaching into the medicine cabinet to take out her mother's pills. She silently hands them over and watches as Emica takes two of the pills and rinses them down with her drink.

"So?" Asami raises an eyebrow after her mother calming down a bit. "It is not like I am going to get arrested for jaywalking or something. Even if I do, I do not think speeding tickets get you a lot of jail time." She always wondered why her mother stresses over going to Tokyo. The two never go there on trips as the other families do, and Emica rarely approves of the field trips to Tokyo. Asami assumes she must have only read the name of the place and did not look at the location. "Mom, everything will be fine."

•••

Asami Watanabe wishes she never spoke that sentence because she is sure she jinxed herself. Everything was certainly not fine. Her leg bounces as she nervously looks around the jail cell she is in. "Calm down," she turns to see the twins staring at her, "our parents will come and get us out."

"Yeah, maybe yours. My mother refuses to set foot in Tokyo. I might be here for a while." Asami groans.

"I'm sure our mother would not be against posting your bail." Hikari shrugs. "We get arrested all the time."

"And she never refuses to bail us out. Why would she refuse to bail you out?" Kaori adds on.

"Because I'm not her child," Asami places her hands on her knees and holds her head. "I cannot believe you two got me arrested."

"Excuse me?" The twins say and angrily cross their arms. "You willingly went along with our idea."

"Yeah that was before I knew you two were actually serious about it!" Asami hisses.

"I thought stealing the painting was a wonderful idea," Hikari sticks her nose in the air as Kaori finishes the sentence, "considering it would've looked lovely in our room."

"You two," Asami lifts her head up and points at them, "are the most insane people I know."

"Thank you." They chorus.

"That is not a compliment!" The trio stop talking when they notice footsteps approaching their cell. The twins grin as their mother appears with a police officer.

"Mother!" They cheer and quickly rush to the jail cell door. "Can we take Asami with us?"

"Unfortunately, Asami needs to stay here," their mother replies while shooting Asami an apologetic look, "I already tried bailing her out."

"Why do I have to stay?" Asami questions. Just as she spoke, a few FBI agents approach the cell.

"Miss Watanabe, you have to come with us." One of them state. The twins gawk while looking between the FBI and their friend.

"What did you do?" Hikari mumbles quietly to Asami.

"More like what did my mother do," Asami sighs, "maybe I will finally learn the true reason why she won't come to the city." The twins pat her back in sympathy as they leave with their mother and she follows the agents to a secluded room. "Are you here to question me about my mom? She swears she was only going ten above the speed limit every time she got those speeding tickets." Asami says, sitting down at the table.

"Miss Watanabe, my name is Hanazko Mako. What exactly do you know about your mother?" The male agent questions and takes the seat in front of her. The two female agents stand next to the door.

"I don't know. She works at a marketing company, she has had six boyfriends in the last two months, she hates the color green, she loves taking me to the local ice cream shop in our village and that she loves me more than anything," Asami shrugs, "what else would I need to know about her?" 

"Asami, I know this is going to be extremely difficult to hear," Mako slowly says while putting a folder in front of her. Asami reaches over and opens it to see a younger version of herself staring back at her with the word, 'MISSING,' above the picture. She furrows her eyebrows when she reads the small print, 'NOÉMI DE GRANTAINE-SOUH, AGE 3, LAST SEEN WEARING A PINK POLKA DOT DRESS AND WHITE SANDALS ON JANUARY 4.' "The person you think is your mother is not your real mother."

"That's ridiculous," Asami whispers yet her eyes cannot leave the picture, "this can't be me. You have the wrong child." Mako pulls out more documents from the folder to reveal fingerprints.

"Your fingerprints were taken when you were arrested and they are a perfect match to the fingerprints we took off of Noémi's toys after she was taken." He pulls out her mugshot from today. "Your picture matches the aged up version the forensic artist have created," he shows her the aged up version of the missing picture. Mako sits back in his chair and worriedly eyes the young girl. She cannot deny how uncanny all the pictures look. The ears are the same, the nose is the same, and even the smile is the same. There was no doubt that Asami was in each of these pictures expect in two of those pictures, she was Noémi. Asami lets this information sink in. Her mother, Emica Watanabe, is not her mother. Her name is not Asami Watanabe. Her real name is Noémi de Grantaine-Souh. The past eleven years of her life have been a lie. Asami glances up at the agent with tears falling out of her eyes and streaking down her cheeks. She was taken January 4, that is the day she has been celebrating as her birthday for the last eleven years. She chokes out a quiet sob upon realizing she has been celebrating the day she was abducted. It all makes sense now. She never had baby pictures growing up. She never had any other family, it was always just her and her mother. Her mother was always paranoid about traveling and made Asami cover her head whenever they went into crowded places. Emica would say every January 4, 'Today is the day God gave you to me and I became a mother.' Asami thought the word 'gave' was always a strange one to use.

"This is why she was scared to come to the city," she whispers, "she was scared I would be discovered."

"Yes, that is why we also believe she chose such a remote village to stay in with you. There was a much lower risk of anyone recognizing you in Shirakawa." Mako informs her.

"Oh my god," Asami covers her mouths while sobs emit from her throat. Her entire life has been flipped upside down because of a simple action her friends and her took at an art museum. If they never stole that painting, they would have never been arrested and she would have never learned the truth about her existence. Despite the new information, Asami cannot make all the love in her heart for Emica disappear. That woman raised her for eleven years. For eleven years, Emica Watanabe was the only mother she knew. Emica was there when she got her first period, went through her first heartbreak, had her first kiss, went to her first sleepover, rode a bike, learned to swim and so much more. All these vital moments in Asami life contain Emica.

"What name is your mother currently going by?" Mako asks.

"Watanabe Emica." She replies through her sobs. He nods and quickly writes that down.

"Can you remember what she was wearing this morning? What car she drives? Anything that you can recall can help us track her." He informs her.

"Is she not at our house?" Asami wipes away her tears.

"No, it seems she fled as soon as the police called her to inform you that you were arrested." He answers, warily watching her. She bites her lips as she processes this. Emica knew she was going to be found out eventually and made sure she would not be caught. 

"She was wearing a black dress that reached her knees and it had gems on it on the sweetheart neckline. She was wearing black heels, a black hat and some black gloves that went to her elbows. She said she had a meeting today with someone important but I don't know who she was meeting or if it was the truth. She drives a Hyundai." She looks away to ignore how the agent writes everything she says down. She is essentially helping these people catch the woman she has seen as her mother for eleven years.

"Your birth father and brother are also here to greet you." Mako gently informs her. "You do not have to meet them yet if you're not ready, but you are going home with them at some point tonight."

"Where's my mother?" She asks, wanting to desperately meet the woman who actually gave birth to her.

"Your mother went missing two years ago in France," Mako softly answers, "the police force over there has been unsuccessful in finding her." Asami feels her heartbreak at the fact that she could not meet her birth mother. Did Emica do something to her? She sighs and wipes the tears away on her face.

"I want to meet them," she determinedly says. Mako nods his head and the three FBI agents leave, probably to grab her family. She stares down at her hands as she tries to imagine what her family looks like. Does her father look like her? Or does Asami take after her mother more? Is her brother older than her or younger? Will she be accepted back into this family with open arms after eleven years? How is she going to get over her past? Emica Watanabe will always be her mother in her heart, no matter how hard Asami tries to get rid of her. Shirakawa will always be her home. The people in that village watched her grow up. Her best friends live in that village. Asami wonders where her birth family lives. Hopefully not in another small village.

The door creaks open and Asami snaps her head up to watch as two new figures walk in behind Mako. The pale-blond boy with blue eyes stands easily at six foot which intimidates Asami a bit, who only stood at five foot four. He stares at her with wide eyes full of tears. She furrows her eyebrows as she thinks back to the memory of the sick blonde woman with the little boy. Was that her mother and brother she was remembering? She observes her father, who has brown hair and brown eyes and stands at an average height. Obviously, the two siblings take after their mother — who was missing as well. "Hi," Asami waves at the two.

"Noémi," Yuzuru breathes out in shock. He stumbles while rushing over to his daughter. "I never thought I would see you again," his shaky hands reach out to touch her face. She flinched away slightly which causes him to stop. "I'm sorry, this must be overwhelming for you. Noé-"

"Asami," she cuts him off. "Please, call me Asami." Yuzuru looks very surprised for a moment before composing himself.

"I see, that is the name you have been called for the last eleven years. It must be weird to be called your birth name." Asami nods her in agreement at his words.

"Also, everything about my life just got turned upside down. I would like that something stayed the same." She plays with her thumbs while saying this. She understands how her birth family may react to her saying this. Asami was the name her kidnapper had given her — not her birth mother.

"Asami," Yuzuru makes sure to use to use the name she prefers and it sounds like he has to force it out, "this is your older brother, Tamaki."

"Hello," Tamaki greets her nervously. This was his baby sister, the one that was taken out of their front yard when he was only four. He can briefly remember her wails as someone grabbed her and he did nothing to help. He observes her, taking in her similar blonde hair and blue eyes. The only notable difference between the two is the freckles that decorate her pale face. Flashes of a young boy appear in her mind yet the name is not the same.

"Tamaki?" Asami tilts her head to the side as she listens to the voices from a distant memory. "Why do I feel like your name is René?"

"He does not go by that name in Japan. That is his French name." Yuzuru quickly comments before his son could bring up his grandmother, Shizue. Luckily for the duo, Shizue is away on business for a while. Hopefully, Asami and Shizue meeting can be postponed for a while. Yuzuru is unsure how his mother would react to his daughter being found. If this makes the news, he is sure she would come home from the business trip early in order to make sure Noé-Asami can properly hold the Souh name.

"Oh," Asami realizes she accidentally touched upon a sensitive topic, "can I keep Noémi as my French name?"

"Yes," Yuzuru smiles in slight happiness that she is willing to attach her birth name to herself, "you can."

"How old are you?" She directs this questions towards Tamaki.

"I'm fifteen. I'll be turning sixteen in a couple months on April 8," he replies.

"Oh so we aren't that far apart in age. I'm fourteen, I'll be turning fifteen in January-" She stops after she once again realizes that she has been actually celebrating her abduction. "Actually, I don't know when my real birthday is." Yuzuru and Tamaki look saddened by this.

"December 28," Yuzuru softly tells her, "you were born a few weeks early. You were such a tiny baby, only five pounds and you were in the hospital for a long time. Your mother," he chuckles as he reminisces, "refused to let the nurses take you out of the room. You absolutely had to be next to her the entire time so she could listen to your breathing and heartbeat."

"Wow so I've been celebrating my birthday late," she chuckles in an attempt to lighten the mood. The three stare at each other as they realize that this is the start of their new life together.

"Let's go home." Yuzuru gestures to the door but the agents from before briefly stop them.

"Before you go, we found this picture in Asami's wallet. Do you recognize this woman?" Mako shows Yuzuru the picture of Emica and Asami eating ice cream together on a bench in a park.

"Yes," Yuzuru whispers, "I do." Asami perks up at this. "She was my assistant fifteen years ago. She would help me in organizing events and some of those events included my children's' birthday parties." He closes his eyes in regret. "I exposed her to Asami." Asami sees the guilt in her father's eyes.

"It's not your fault," Asami finds herself speaking up and catches the attention of everyone in the room. She flushes at all of the eyes on her. Having adult eyes on her felt much more hostile than having her peers eyes on her. "You didn't know she was crazy and that she would've done this." Yuzuru seems to appreciate these words from her as his guilty expression lightens a bit.

"Do you know her real name?" Mako asks.

"Miura Emica." Well at least she was telling Asami the truth with her first name.

•••

Asami was not sure what she expected, but a huge mansion was certainly not it. Ten of her houses would not even be the same size as this mansion. She stares wide eyed at all the windows and floors staring back at her. She flinches as a hand touches her back. She looks to see Tamaki gently smiling at her. "It's a bit much, I know. It'll take a while before you get use to all the rooms and servants."

"Servants?" She repeats in shock.

"Many." Tamaki nods his head. He leads her into the house where their father stands in the open doorway, just observing his children. Yuzuru Souh never thought he would see the day his children stood side by side. He quickly blinks away any tears that developed and puts on a more cold expression as his servants begin to make their way to the front door. Tamaki and Asami enter and she notes the hundred people in butler, maid, and chef uniforms looking at her in shock.

"Everyone, this is my daughter, Asami. Whatever she needs or wants, you do. If you see any journalists in the property, call the police on them." Yuzuru orders. Asami awkwardly waves at the people. "Miss Kikuchi, please show my daughter the first room on the third floor please." A young maid steps forward, bows at him and makes her way towards Asami.

"Hello, Miss Souh. My name is Kikuchi Hana, please follow me." Asami glances at Tamaki — her brother, boy does she need to get use to that — for some sort of assurance. He gently pushes her towards the maid and nods his head with a smile. Asami alresdy knows that Tamaki is going to be her closest friend. She sees the caring, positive and truthful aura surrounding him. She likes that after dealing with Emica's mixture of positive and negative aura full of lies and love. She follows the maid to an elevator which only furthers the class shock within her soul. They head to the third floor and Asami follows Hana to the room right in front of the elevator. Hana opens the door and allows Asami to enter while bowing towards her. Asami enters, slowly turning her body to take in her new room. The walls are a soft blue color with oak wooden floors. A queen bed sit in the middle of the room with a pastel blue quilt, a bunch of matching pillows and a gray, fuzzy throw blanket on the bottom of the bed. Over the bed is a small chandelier and on the wall above the bed is a painting of the ocean during a sunset. In one corner, there is a vanity with a mirror and a laptop on top of it. There are two doors in the room and Asami heads over to open them. The left door opens to a walk-in closet, there are no clothes currently in it. The right door opens to a nice bathroom. There is a walk-in shower, a stand alone bathtub, a water closet, and two sinks. Asami walks back into the main part of the room when there is a knock on the door and Tamaki enters. The two siblings stare at each other for a moment.

"Hello," Tamaki nervously rubs his hands. Usually, he never has trouble finding the words to talk to people yet when it comes to his missing sister, suddenly all the words are gone. "Father sent me up here to inform you that you will be completing the rest of your school year remotely and next year, you'll be joining my school."

"What school do you go to?" She asks curiously.

"Ouran Academy." She blinks in surprise at that and smiles at the irony. Of course her brother would be attending the one school Emica was so against her going to. 

"I was actually going to apply to that school when my mo-" She pauses with a frown, "when she told me not to. What made you go to that school?"

"Our father is the chairman of it."

"What?"