A/N: Hi, saltyavocado here! I'm new here on FFN, but expect to be seeing a lot more of me soon, especially in this fandom. I hope that the idea behind this story tickles all those Glee and xxxHolic lovers out there just like it tickled me! This was intended to be a oneshot at first, but is seemed to be getting a bit to long, so I decided to divide it into more manageable pieces, which now gives me the unintended side benefit of threatening not to update if I don't get reviews. Not that I would be that mean (probably).

So, enjoy!

The room was horribly messy as Himiwari walked in, dust lying on old sheets of music and old stands tilting lopsidedly in a bunch in the corner. She coughed, covering her mouth as she held open the door for her companion. Mr. Reed really hadn't bothered clearing out the place before he left, she thought with a sigh as she made her way through the chaos, trying to find the score they needed. Maybe it was over there on the shelf?

"Hey- Hey, Himiwari! You don't know what's over there, you know! Be careful! For all we know, the director might have been breeding rats in here or something! Really, look at this mess!"

With more muttering the boy behind her followed, his careful steps making him look almost comical as he tried not to step on anything. She hid a smile. While Watanuki might be his uncle's replacement for now, it still didn't change the fact that he was a senior and just a teacher cadet until the school could find someone else for the job. That is, if anyone else wanted it. Being the director of the biggest group of losers in school wasn't a job everyone was exactly jumping for.

Her eyes scanned the rows of files and books as she looked for the title she was looking for. "Walking on Sunshine, Parade, Hello…" she murmured under her breath as she fingered the spines. "Aha!" She pulled out the score she was looking for and brandished it cheerfully at the still floundering boy behind her. "This is definitely what we should do for Sectionals!"

He looked up at her with a scowl as his glasses tilted further over his nose. She giggled and adjusted them for him before making her way over to the door again. With cries of "Hey, wait for me!" Watanuki followed her out of the storage room, grumbling about only making it halfway across the room before being forced to go back. She ignored his complaints blithely as she made her way into the main room, waving cheerfully at the girl who was sitting in one of the rows.

"Kohane-chan! So you were able to make it after all!" The young accelerated student nodded shyly before making her way down the tiers that were on the far side of the choir room, scampering over to help carry the papers in Himiwari's arms. The older girl smiled fondly. As gifted as Kohane was, she found it hard to fit in at the high school and was often the target of harassment from upperclassmen. Although that overbearing mother of hers wasn't any help, with the way she hustled her daughter from one lesson to another, without a thought to how visible it made her to other students. Visibility was not a good thing to have in this school.

"Himiwari." She looked down at her side to see the young girl looking over thoughtfully at Watanuki as he stomped around the room, straightening chairs. The guy was such a fusspot.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but if we want to make it to sectionals, don't we need more boys? Mr. Watanuki is a good singer and all, but other than him it's all girls. It'll be kind of hard to balance out our sound."

She snorted. "Look, for one, Kohane, you don't have to call him Mr. Watanuki. He's the same age as me after all, even if he is a teacher cadet. And as for what you said, honestly, to tell you the truth I don't know what we're going to do. I don't any boys at school that are able to sing very well, and even if we were able to find some, I doubt that they would be willing to associate with us. We're not the most popular people in school after all." Kohane nodded in silent acknowledgement as she continued to sort through the papers. The lull in the conversation was broken as the sound of the door banging made all three of them jump.

"Sorry we're late," said Ame as she walked in with her umbrella, not sounding sorry at all. Her sister was dragged in behind as she stalked over to us, looking at the music in our hands. "Don't tell me you guys still want to go forward with that whole Sectionals thing. Even with Kohane as our pianist, we still don't have the funds to get all the stuff we need, never mind the transportation and busing and all the other stuff that I'm probably forgetting right now. And he's useless when it comes to choreography, even though he's that creep's nephew," she said, jerking a thumb over at Watanuki.

"Hey, what are you saying- OW!" A smart rap across the head ended the boy's tirade before it began. He rubbed the spot rebelliously as he glared at the redhead. "If you haven't forgotten, I'm the one in charge here! If it weren't for me, there wouldn't be any more glee club after my uncle disappeared!"

"You make it sound like saving the glee club was doing us all a big favor," she huffed as she sat down. Her sister, who had stayed silent until then, looked over to Watanuki in apology before going to join her. Zashiki was the quieter of the Warashi sisters, although she tended to loosen up more when Ame wasn't around. Why the two of them were still in the club was beyond Himiwari, although she had a sneeking suspicion that Ame had only joined because Zashiki wanted to. Her loud voice came in handy at any rate, perfect for the prolonged notes that usually ended one of their more dramatic songs. They really would be a rather good group, if only they had another boy…

"By the way, the gym coach wanted to meet you in her office during lunch tomorrow. Something about you owing her after that incident where we used the auditorium during the time her Cheerios booked it."

A pregnant silence stretched through the room as everyone held their breath. Himiwari counted in her head. Five, four, three, two…

"ARRRRRGGGGGGGHHH! THAT WOMAN! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH MISERY SHE BRINGS TO MY LIFE? YOU CAN'T GET ANY KIND OF FAVOR FROM HER, ABSOLUTELY NONE! THERE'S ALWAYS SOME KIND OF CATCH! THAT DEMANDING, MISERLY WITCH, JUST WAIT UNTIL -"

Himiwari grimaced, looking over at the others as they all shared the same thought. It seemed that it would be a while until practice would be able to begin.

xxxGlee

The coach was sprawled over her desk chair, her sweat jacket zipped all the way down to expose a low tank top that she was using to wipe her fingers. An outsider might have wondered how she managed to get away with such revealing attire, but everyone at school knew the truth. Coach Ichihara had the principal wrapped around her little finger. Rumors had it that she had some juicy blackmail that had the man at her beck and call, although no one really knew the nature of said blackmail. It was just another mystery that made up the intimidating woman who was the head of the Cheerios, the competitive cheer squad who had made it to nationals year after year.

Of course, Watanuki wished she was a little bit more mysterious and distant and, well, just not so there, during times like these. He fidgeted on the other side of her desk uncomfortably as his stomach rumbled, making him wish that he wasn't missing lunch.

"Oh, I doubt lunch would have been very nice anyway, Kimihiro. After all," she said with a twitch of her lips, "there are always those unfortunate accidents which occur, hmm? It would be a shame to have a slushy spilled all over that nice shirt of yours."

He ground his teeth, choosing to ignore the fact that she had voiced his thoughts aloud. How inconsiderate could this woman get? Sure, life at school wasn't exactly a field of daisies, but to have his arch nemesis rub it into his face was a bit too much. Especially when the Cheerios were doing fabulously as usual while the glee club was struggling just to stay together.

"So did you call me in here for something other than antagonizing me? I'm a senior, you know. I have a lot of stuff I need to do." Belatedly he realized that reminding her of their age gap was probably not the smartest thing to do.

She chuckled, a smug look crossing her face. "Actually, there was something I wanted to talk about. I have a Cheerio of mine that injured themselves during the last competition, and I was hoping that you could let them participate in the glee club while recuperating. They need the extracurricular credits for a scholarship, you see, and I was just thinking that something calm and low key like glee club would be perfect." A grin widened the band of dark read that was her lips. "So, what do you say?"

He sputtered, choking before he could manage the words. "And what makes you think that I would let one of your oh-so-perfect cheerleaders into my club? We're going to be preparing for Sectionals! We don't have the time or resources to deal with some bumbling girl who can't tell the difference between a half note and a hair tie! And glee club," he added with a glare, "is definitely not low key! It is an intensive group that requires commitment and passion, something I think a complete outsider to the world of music would fail to understand!"

Coach Ichihara suddenly leaned forward, her eyes cold. Watanuki felt goosebumps rise on his flesh as he tried to meet her gaze straight on. The tension around them grew, and suddenly he looked away in disgust as she leaned back and smiled, some victory evidently won in her mind.

"I must insist, Kimihiro, that you think this over carefully. After all," she said with a chilling finality, "you realize this is not a request. I have means and connections in high places, and a small group like glee club is very much in danger of getting the axe in these economic times." She let her implied threat hang in the air a moment before getting back to business. "So I expect that you will welcome my Cheerio with open arms starting with your next meeting, which is, if I am not mistaken, next Tuesday. Understood?"

Since when had she ever been mistaken, Watanuki grumbled to himself, as he tried to figure out how she knew when their next meeting was. After all, he had only just told the rest of the club yesterday. He finally gave up and met her eyes grudgingly to give a nod of unhappy consent. She suddenly leaned forward, all trace of malice gone from her eyes as she gave his cheek a happy pinch, cooing cheerfully as she did so, "I knew you would see sense, Watanuki. That's one of the things that's so nice about you."

Again, he thought to himself, if this was any other school this crazy lady would be sued for harassment. But no, Yuuko Ichihara always gets her way. With this cheering thought he pulled away to make his escape, hurrying so fast he almost ran into the glass of the door.

xxxGlee

It was an overcast the day of their next practice, in more sense than one. No one had really welcomed the thought of having an outsider among them, particularly not someone who was probably one of their usual antagonists. Girls, after all, could be a vicious bunch, the popular crowd of Cheerios being only more so. Kohane was practicing her scales listlessly as Zashiki nervously looked over her sheet music, Ame standing guard over her warily. Watanuki was probably the worst though. He hadn't even been hanging around her making those hopeless hints of his as he usually did, only looking over club expenses grimly in the corner. Himiwari sighed, and tried to think of a way to lighten the mood.

When the door opened everyone jumped, turning towards the newcomer. A petite girl stood in the doorframe, her pink hair a shocking contrast to her drab surroundings. Another head sporting blue peeped over her shoulder, looking around curiously before coming forward to stand at her friend's side. They stared for around them for a moment, the others apprehensive as they observed their movements, not knowing what to make of these intruders. Obviously they were part of the wild crowd. Who else would dye their hair like that?

A giggle erupted from the pink girl, closely followed by one from her companion. This was followed by gasps, sobs, and then more giggles as they collapsed against each other, the blue haired one falling to the ground and rolling around like some deranged piglet. Ame gaped and seemed lost for words. Watanuki was an entirely different matter. As they continued, with no sign of the storm of laughter abating, he grew pink with anger, which soon transformed itself into a rich shade of scarlet as one of the girls started to pound her hand on the ground in a fit of hilarity. He stormed over to them, pulling one of them - Pink?- up from the ground before taking her firmly by the shoulders.

"Hey, I know that this isn't exactly what you might have expected, but while you're here you could at least make the effort to be polite to us. It's not like any of us exactly wanted this arrangement, you know. Hey, you, are you even listening to me?"

"Listening to me?" The girl peered up at him with a mischevious look on her face. "Am I listening to me?" Her friend pulled herself up enough to join in the mimicking. "Hey you, are you listening to me?"

They circled him, dancing around in a circle as they parroted what he had said. "Are you listening to me? I don't know, are you listening to me? Are we listening to him?" They both paused for a moment before speaking in unison. "Nope, definitely not!"

"Hey, what do you guys think you're doing? What, hey, stop that dancing thing!" He turned to look at Himiwari, an lost expression on his face. "Are they stupid, or just broken? Hey, you two, I'm trying to talk to you!" He turned towards the one closest to him, the one with long blue hair. "Just wait a minute there. What are your names?"

"That one's Maru." A boy was sitting by the entrance, his figure dark against the incoming light. Himiwari blinked. There seemed to be something a little off about that profile.

"And how would you know? I haven't even seen these two before, and here they are acting like its the night before Christmas! And I'm the tree, evidently! This is what I get for going along with Coach Ichihara's suspicious plans. No, coercion is a better word for it! Dirty dealing, that's all that woman does. I don't even see any serious injuries on these two, unless you count injury of the mind."

"Injuries?" The boy at the door stirred, his outline visible against the bright light of the hallway.

"Yeah, she made me take on one of her cheerleaders who were stupid enough to injure their stupid self so that they would have to leave the stupid Cheerios for our glee club!" He didn't even seem to care at this point that he was talking to a complete stranger, although Himiwari was starting to get a sinking feeling that she knew who it was.

"Is that so." The other student paused for a moment before coming into the room, wheeling himself in on a wheel chair. "I'm sorry to intrude then." His voice was mild as he made his way to Watanuki, who was still trying to fight off the pair who were now firmly fastened to his legs.

"Huh?" Watanuki looked up to see the other boy staring at his predicament with a bored expression on his face. "What did you say?"

"I said, I'm sorry to intrude." He spoke slowly and clearly, to make sure his words were heard. At Watauki's continuing look of bewiderment, he sighed, sticking out his hand.

"I'm Shizuka Doumeki, Cheerio." He paused, before adding as an afterthought, "Nice to meet you."

Haha, I was planning to make Yuuko in charge of the Glee club at first, but it was much more fun making her Sue Sylvester. She makes a pretty good one, don't you think? And yes, I pretty much pulled out all the stops when it came to bringing in characters, because a Glee club needs more than the usual three of HimiWataDoumi. I am also trying to make a lot of parallels between the characters in this AU and the characters from the show, so watch out for those connections. Will be updating soon!