Since I got so many reviews for my first chapter, I posted the second chapter immediately after. So remember, the quicker I get a ton of reviews, the faster the next chapter goes up on . 'Sides, it would be terribly lonely without the great advice coming from you guys. I appreciate it, really. Thanks.

Anyways, one of you guys mentioned about the issue of memories:

Let me clear this up for you. When I say they remember only vague memories, the more prominent or important an event, the sharper and more defined would the memory be. Other memories just fall to the sidelines.

Since the reviewer has made a specific reference to the Weasleys, its not really confusing at all. While it's true that Bill and Ginny have a large age gap and they may be confused if they retained their memories, but like I said, they don't remember everything.

What I mean is, Bill and the other Weasley brothers remember their own lives vaguely, and of course, they remember each other, or at the very worst, their relationship with the others. For example, Bill would remember being brother to Ginny, Ron, etc. but there wouldn't be much emphasis in the age difference, just the relationship. Besides, I never noticed the Weasleys kept a formal hierarchy of the siblings according to seniority.

Hope that answers your question. Now on with the show!

P.S. Thanks for reviewing and oh, this so does not belong to me (disclaimer, if you don't know)… (I'll just go ahead and pull a Tamaki and start a mushroom farm in the corner*sigh*)

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Chapter 3: Torture of Shopping

Aoi's beauteous face screwed up in a slight scowl as he fought the pressure to wake from an unexpected restful night in a foreign place. However, to no avail as the pressurizing agent gave him a light shove. Upset and sleep-deprived, Aoi was not a happy wizard, as his eyelids finally snapped open, his eyes sparking dangerously. They landed on the (subtly shaking) form of his chief butler, and Aoi's previous irritation vanished, to be replaced with honest confusion.

"Noboru-san? Uh, I didn't want a wake-up call…" was the intelligent response from the oh-so-great Master of the Manor. Hey, come on, he just woke up!

Aoi wisely did not mention the very visible manner in which his butler uncurled himself from the undignified position when he had drawn in upon himself in the face of Aoi's earlier sleepy rage. "Yes, well. Actually, Akka-sama has asked me to wake you. Apparently she and the others would like to take in the city sights today."

A normal person would not have noticed when Noboru's voice quivered on the word 'asked' but alas, Aoi was no normal person and he didn't miss the slight inflection in the tone. He was well aware of how the cute and innocent little Akka-chan became, for lack of a better word, Lucifer incarnate, especially this early in the morning and without being pumped chock-full with her morning customary hot chocolate. (AN: She is eleven, you know. :o).

Aoi winced internally. He offered a comforting, understanding smile in compensation, unable to help from sympathizing with Noboru, who was caught at the wrong place, wrong time, and became an innocent victim of the maelstrom that was Akka in the morning. Noboru visibly calmed and his previously tense shoulders eased.

"Tell her and the others I'll be right there. They're in the breakfast room, I suppose?" Aoi guessed as he shrugged off the heavy coverlet and headed, half-stumbling sleepily, to the en-suite bathroom. Noboru nodded wordlessly, as he kept watching his new employer's receding back until he vanished into the bathroom. Noboru sighed, as he ran a hand through his own dark brown hair. He knew without a doubt that he was straight but… kami, Natsui Aoi could tempt a saint to sin.

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Aoi was surprised to say the least, to find himself as the last member of their odd family to join the others at the table in the breakfast room. Kenjou and Saiki were already engaged in their everyday spat, Kenshiki had decided he could care squat and proceeded to carry out a conversation with Shigi, resolutely ignoring his arguing companions. Chishiki, Shitsuke, Shijou and Ryuu were talking about something that probably had to do with a lot of information, dragons and ancient treasure troves. Warai and Nao were whispering with each other, either planning out a new candy to further the profits of WWW, or working out the specifics for some new prank, with their siblings as the perfect test subjects. Yuujin, meanwhile, was too pre-occupied with continuously shoveling food into his mouth, with Akka sitting beside him, ceaselessly chattering despite the lack of response from her neighbor, due to his stuffing his mouth.

It was certainly a rare sight, since it was usually he who woke up earlier than everyone else, and seeing all of them gathered here before him was a surprise as none of them were exactly what you call early birds. He shrugged indifferently and settled into an empty seat at the round table between Nao and Shigi, a nameless maid already in the process of setting up a place for him.

As soon as his siblings noticed his presence at the table, they quieted and turned to him expectantly. Aoi chucked in mild humor. It was almost a reflex action that they deferred to him. Even as their previous selves during the war, when Aoi was still the Boy-Who-Lived, whenever he sat at the table for a meal, all chatter ceased as they looked to him to speak. Aoi had been so frustrated about it, he remembered, and had grumbled more than a few times that they were all the same age or even with some of them being older than him. His friends had laughed at him, and told him basically to shut up and take it. Aoi was a natural leader through-and-through, even when he wasn't trying to be.

It seems that Magic had really cloned them down to their littlest habit and mannerism.

Aoi couldn't help smiling internally, as he surreptitiously glanced from under his eyelashes at the growing impatience displayed on the faces of his siblings, whereas he himself calmly buttered a toasted roll, dipped it into a waiting dish of warm honey, put it in his mouth and chewed slowly, eyes closed, as if savoring the taste. Aoi then took a small sip from his teacup, calmly and secretly enjoying the growing killing intent mirrored on the faces of his companions.

Noboru, who was standing behind his seat, as befitted his position, couldn't help but pull subconsciously at his collar, as he watched the mounting tension in the room, his eyes flicking repeatedly to and fro between the kids and his employer who was still calmly sipping his tea.

Aoi finally decided that he had had enough fun and put down his cup with a minute clink, before raising his eyes and asked, "So what are you planning to do today?"

The tension was broken, and the answering chatter and words ensued. Noboru breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at his employer, who was unaware of the power, and not just the legitimate power and authority as the Master, which he held over this household.

Wait, was that a smirk?! Noboru blinked and rubbed his eyes. Aoi-sama's face was angelic and patient as he listened calmly to their plans. Must have been a trick of the light… Aoi-sama is possibly the most innocent and naïve person I have ever met. I don't think he even knows how to smirk… (AN: Shows what YOU know!)

By the end of breakfast, Noboru had convinced himself that he had imagined the whole expression of mischief.

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"How did you rope me into this?" came the question that issued from Aoi's lips as he was pulled along by his sisters, namely, Chishiki, Fuushigi and Akka, at the shopping mall. The young 'Master' of the house didn't look very masterful at the moment as three female midgets with the strength of trolls in their grip dragged him along in what he just knew would be an ill-fated shopping trip.

Noboru and the rest of the boys were hard keeping themselves from snickering as the usually calm, young Master became a clump of frazzled nerves, trying to make his legs keep up with what should have been the slower speed of his sisters, due to their shorter legs.

Currently the girls had managed to pull Aoi into an optician's, while the boys (and yes, I include Noboru) followed behind, having ceased their laughter and were now more than a little confused. (AN: Remember, Aoi fixed his eyes in a magical procedure.)

"Good idea, girls," Saiki commented, as soon as they entered. Okay, I amend my statement, not all the boys were confused.

In response, the three girls beamed at him, while simultaneously pushing Aoi into a vacant seat in front of a glass display case with a multitude of frames in all sizes, colours and shapes. While the boys were looking in askance at Saiki, who seemed to be the only one who was in the know, a nervous-looking sales assistant was already twittering over Aoi, with the girls injecting comments all the while.

"Honestly, you all are such MORONS," came the unwanted, and unneeded insult from Kenshiki, in all the snarkiness he had inherited from his godfather, namely, their hated Potions Professor, Snape. "Will you guys just LOOK at Aoi-niisama?" he asked, in complete disbelief at the lack of common sense displayed by his siblings, gesturing wildly at their eldest brother, who was trying, and failing, to subtly inch away from the frantic sales assistant who looked like she was on the verge of hyperventilating. "Does he look like he can be inconspicuous without something to help him?"

And so the boys looked. I mean, really LOOKED.

The result? Well, needless to say, most of them quickly averted their eyes with red-tinted cheeks. And no, they do NOT have the taste to try incest, but hey, they knew a specimen of beauty when they saw one. Besides, they knew Aoi could only ever be in the position of Niichan with them.

"OKAY! THAT'S IT!"

The frustrated shout snapped the boys out of their appreciative contemplation of Aoi's virtues and all conversation in the small metropolitan shop ceased. Irritation and annoyance was radiating from Aoi, who was glaring at everything and everyone within the immediate vicinity. The silence was palpable, and tension was high. Well, at least until, the sales assistant burst into tears, and ran off into the back room with the three girls following to comfort her. Some of the boys looked at Aoi reproachfully, who was currently shell-shocked that he had made the sales assistant cry.

Aoi didn't know if he should go to the back room to comfort the young girl. However, he didn't know if his chances of escaping being maimed by his sisters were all that high. He was also unlikely to believe that his presence would be at all helpful since he was the one who made her cry. Similarly, none of the boys followed either, not even kind, mild-mannered Kenjou, who likewise were unsure of their chances to survive.

Noboru, meanwhile, was more than a little surprised. His jaw was gaping as he had never seen nor expected a blow-up coming from the least likely person that he had expected to… well, blow up.

"Noboru!"

The butler came to attention at the address. It was a sign of how tumultuous his emotions were when Aoi forgot the honorific and addressed him directly.

"Take care of my siblings and make sure they get home safely," Aoi snapped out tersely. He was frustrated, annoyed and pissed with himself that he had let his emotions get away from him like that. He snapped up a pair of nondescript, unattractive glasses with fake lenses (AN: think Haruhi's old glasses, except worse) from the display counter and walked out, trusting Noboru to settle the bill in his stead. After all, no sense in coming back, especially when he could make someone cry AGAIN.

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Currently Aoi was trying to figure out what the hell he was doing at the supermarket, when he had a perfectly capable kitchen staff at the manor, who were more than able to serve up five-star courses based on his whim. He chalked it down to his days as the Dursleys' house-elf, and it might be unfortunate, but a fact that he did feel more comfortable, settling into the routine of shopping and thinking about what to cook for dinner. Household chores relaxed him in a way that was second only to flying.

At the thought of the Dursleys, an unconsciously malicious smirk that did not belong on such an ethereal face, made the corners of his lips turn up. They had paid and paid dearly for belittling and making fun of him when he was a child. They never knew that the little boy that they were always so fond of putting down would one day grow up to be a strong, powerful young man more than capable of fighting his own battles. Petunia was forced to work for her livelihood as Vernon had lost his job and reputation, once it was known that Aoi owned the company that he worked for. They were both currently slaving away in some out-of-the-way diner in England. Whereas Dudley… well, he'd gone to college and grown up away from his parents' destructive influences, cutting all ties with them. Aoi really had no idea where his cousin was nowadays, and to tell the truth, he didn't really care. He wouldn't blame Dudley for the way he had been raised.

Aoi was so focused in his thoughts that he didn't notice the girl who was carrying a shopping basket walking in his direction, and thus there was a resulting collision.

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(Note: This is before Haruhi begins at Ouran Academy.)

Haruhi was looking forward to beginning school next Monday. It would be just one step closer to achieving her dream of walking in her mother's footsteps to join the profession of law. Sure, she didn't expect to get accepted to Ouran Academy. It was one of the best academies in the country, admittedly, but it was also one for the wealthy. And while Haruhi and her father didn't exactly starve, they weren't rolling in money either. Hell, she didn't even have money for the uniform, after she had bought all her books. Oh well, she could always wear that sweatshirt that her dad had mistakenly bought a few sizes too big and thus had never worn. Of course, when he had bought it, Fujioka Genma (is it?) did not think that it would one day function as his daughter's high school uniform.

Snapping her thoughts from her imminent schooling career, Haruhi perused her shopping list in her mind as she thought about anything missing. Needless to say, she didn't notice the person she was going to collide with before they collided.

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They were both knocked off balance, and the girl's, thankfully empty, shopping basket was upended next to her, the girl herself resting on her posterior on the linoleum, looking more than a little dazed. Aoi was in a similar position opposite her, though less out-of-it. He looked to see who or what he had collided with and saw a girl with dark brown hair and big brown eyes sitting on the floor opposite him.

He cursed mentally. This was so not his day. First, he'd made that poor little sales assistant cry and then he'd snapped at poor, innocent Noboru and blew his siblings off. Now, just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, he'd managed to knock an innocent girl off her feet. He just hoped she wasn't about to start bawling.

Hurriedly, Aoi stood up and offered a hand to help the girl up. "Are you okay?" he asked guiltily, as the girl was still looking a little dazed.

"Huh?" she asked, as if snapping out of a daydream. "Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry," she assured him. Aoi breathed a sigh of relief that she was not another emotional basket-case. Then immediately felt guilty for thinking about that poor little sales assistant in such an unflattering manner.

Something must have showed on his face, because the girl tugged on the sleeve of his shirt and re-assured him, "Really, I'm fine. No harm done." She offered him a smile which Aoi felt himself returning, albeit a little hesitantly.

"Okay. Sorry about that. I wasn't really paying attention," Aoi apologized. Now that they were both on their feet and relatively uninjured, Aoi appraised subtly the girl he had inadvertently knocked over. She had straight dark brown hair that reached to the middle of her back and doe-like expressive brown eyes. She was not overly feminine in her stature, but rather diminutive and radiated calm and understanding. All in all, Aoi felt drawn to her, not in the kind of way a guy would see a potential girlfriend, but more of a protective older brother way.

Must be his inner brotherly instincts surfacing.

"Hello, my name is Aoi," he heard himself say.

"Fujioka Haruhi," the girl said with a smile.

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AN:

So how about it? This starts a week before Haruhi starts at Ouran. Tell me what you think.

Oh, and thank you for your reviews!!!

As thanks, next chapter's summary…

After meeting Fujioka Haruhi at the mall, somehow, somewhere, Aoi got invited to dinner at the Fujioka household. (Drum roll, please)… The fated meeting between Fujioka Genma a.k.a. Ranka and Aoi… What will happen? Will there be bloodshed? Murder? Or *gulp* potential wedding bells?

XP Tell me what you think!! Thanks again, reviewers!