(A/N):Ohayo minna! Here is the next installment of 'A Phoenix's Ashes will Be Reborn!' Ranka and Yorisha's relationship to each other will be explained more in the part and we will find another allied with Chika and Haruhi! Please guess before scrolling further (no peeking-its bad luck) Is the person A)Akito Ootori, B)Umehito Nekozawa, C) Ritsu Kasanoda, D)Renge. or E) Usa-chan Chapter 7- Conspiring Parents can be oh so embarrassing!

It was almost noon when Yorisha Haninozuka stepped past the front door of the Kurosaki Bar downtown. His watchful dark eyes scanned over the crowd in search of his old friend and almost choked on the diet soda he was offered. The appalling costume Ryouji Hamanako donned in no shape or form resembled the respectable-'proper' attire he wore at their graduation from Ouran University nearly seventeen years ago. Not even his dark red hair was combed neatly in its crisp ponytail. No.

If he did not know his old childhood friend so well Yorisha would have mistaken this girly individual to be a close look alike or even an unmentioned younger sister. 'Ranka' was serving several servings of sherry temples and alcoholic pina coladas while wearing a short frilly green skirt with a matching vest over a crisp white button-down neatly accented with floral shaped buttons and snaps. High heels made his height slightly taller than normal (another usual function beside smashing Tamaki's head to the ground) and white gloves finished the attire.

Yorisha bit back a laugh at his friend's antics and felt proud he was able to express himself freely without worry of others' negative opinions. This was the reason why he condoned Mitsukuni's participation in the host club even now after graduation and why he turned a blind eye to the nightly cake consumptions and bunnies. If Yasuchika could find his own true strength then he was more than certain that Haruhi would be the only one to unlock it.

"Ryo-bozu nice to see you again after so long." Yorisha greeted his old friend.

Ranka couldn't agree more. He and Yorisha sat down in a private booth after signaling to the manager that he was taking a fifteen-minute lunch break. "How is my little girl's relationship developing? Did that sorry excuse for a gentleman interfere?"

Holding both hands up in protest-Yorisha extinguishes any unneeded concern-a.k.a melodrama. "According to my spies-Yasuchika took her out for a date yesterday and although the majority of the host club-Suoh-kun included-were nearby they did not interfere." With this simple sentence peace returned to Japan.

Ranka presses upon a more tedious topic as they continue their talk. "Have either of them found me out yet?"

The Haninozuka patriarch shakes his head slowly from side to side. "Of course not. Even if you hadn't sold the family crest and bribed several government officials into erasing all proof of your previous existence you are quite the escape artist. But where is Kotoko? Its been so long since I've seen my cousin. Haruhi resembles her even more now than before when she was only a few months old."

Swallowing before gazing into the alcoholic drink-Ranka sighs. "She passed on about thirteen years ago when she contacted pneumonia. I would have contacted you on the day of her funeral-but it would have been far too risky."

Yorisha bowed his head. "It is no wonder Haruhi grew up so quickly and is able to maintain order in that farce of a club. Although I pictured her ending up with either Takashi or Mitsukuni."

"Takashi-kun is much too focused on Mitsu-kun to chase after one oblivious girl. And Mitsukuni-kun appears to view Haruhi more as a younger sister than a lover. But is Chika-kun REALLY that dangerous? I heard him accuse Mitsu of being an alien the other day!"

Face-palming a few times and making a mental note on 'borrowing' one of Satoshi's shinais...just kidding. His wife-Mie-would destroy him. He just needed to sit the boy down for a 'heart-to-heart' later. "Yasuchika may be extremely different from his aniki in every way-but he is not violent in an outward way outside of the dojo. And the alien accusation is rather old and I will need to reprimand him later for that thinly backed insult. And he does have a fetish for small cute living animals-especially baby chicks."

Squealing-the redhead okama envisions the younger but more mature son of his old friend nursing several newly hatched chicks while whistling a cheerful tune. He wonders what kind of marriage proposal will take place…..and asks another question. "Have both of them realized their feelings as of now?"

"Chika more than likely has as he initiated the meeting yet Haruhi most likely has not-seeing as she still has not realized the the majority of the host club-save for Takashi-Mitsukuni-and Kaoru-have fallen for her."

Ranka leans back in his chair. "I'm not surprised at all since Haruhi lacks the ability to place a curse on a toad or read between the lines of a confession letter. But perhaps Neko-chan could help with a certain potion…"

~cell phone alarm rings in my ear~stir and wake~~Yawn~I really need more sleep if I keep falling into dream world at my uncomfortable desk~~

Tall lit candles with the heavy aromatic scent of freesia and lilacs stood themselves all around Umehito Nekozawa's large bedroom as he listened to the instructions transmitting from the old fashioned dial phone he balanced between his right shoulder and neck as his left hand carefully painted out several names-those that needed to be restrained in order to ensure Haruhi and Chika's happiness. If he hadn't seen Haruhi in that pink dress and her full c-cup breasts while she vacationed at his beach home last year he would have thought that this whole errand was a fangirl's yaoi fantasy.

But he decided that since Haruhi had helped him improve his relationship with Kirimi and Yasuchika-kun was the younger brother of someone who never bullied him-this would be a debt repayment-while a side joke as well. Tamaki needed to suffer for stepping on Belzeneff (a cat's grudge can last about seven generations...I suppose it applies to cat worshippers as well) and the insufferable twins-Hikaru and Kaoru for their obsession with light and stealing his green hairpiece.

"Onii-chan?" Kirimi poked her head through the door hiding her older brother from view. Now four-she was no longer afraid of the dark and trusted small kittens-like the speckled one she named Aiko and was currently resting on her shoulder which was covered by the thick velvet of a mini cloak identical with Umehito's.

"What is it Kirimi?"Even Belzeneff temporarily abandoned the old parchment detailing the recipe for animal transformations in favor of the petite girl.

Kirimi sniffles-her ever expressive azure eyes threatening to brim over crocodile tears like Honey's. "I h-had a terrible n-nightmare about a fire-eating lion and that it l-lived under m-my bed."

Scooping her up-Umehito dabs away her tears and carries her toward her nursery. He shines a flashlight underneath the well-lit canopy bed after carefully moving the excess flounce upward to reveal that only the normal drawers for extra pillows and blankets were stored there.

"Kirimi-that was only your imagination. No animal could have broken into the fourth floor of the mansion and if they did I would fight them off like last time-" he remembered that time he dove through the glass window of the second floor of Ouran Academy and in the scorching sunlight of mid-morning. He highly suspected that the window damage bill was added to Haruhi's debt even though he insisted on paying the repair fee.

Kirimi pouts lightly-still clinging onto Umehito's dark cloak. "Could you read me a story first?" She points at the heavy volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales sitting on the writing desk nearby.

Smiling gently-not the devious farce created with the intention of scaring Tamaki-he sits down with the book before flipping to a failsafe story-Cinderella. Sitting Belzeneff down on the vacant bed table he begins with the famous line of every fairy tale known in Europe. "Once upon a time there was…."

A few hours later the old fashioned grandfather clock that stood in the Nekozawa parlor room chimed eleven o'clock at night. One hour from the magic hour that turned Cinderella's carriage back into a pumpkin and the famous 'Raven' scene from Edgar Allan Poe's writing. Umehito had successfully finished the inu potion that would be intended for Tamaki. Fortunately he would have no problems in having him consume it as he had a few 'eyes and ears' in the Suoh Second Mansion. He poured the now cooled sparkly blue liquid into a handy empty bottle alike that of a perfume's and handed it over to a small bat familiar sitting outside his balcony window.

But the drug meant for the Hitachiin twins was still unfinished as he was missing the 'several petals of a rare black rose', 'eye of a toad', and 'five sprigs of rosemary.' He cursed silently-knowing that he would have to leave now to retrieve the items from the Blood Moon Forest that sprung in the distance and was always dark and menacing and which Kirimi stayed away from-even when Umehito gave her several moonflowers that grew wild in the area. He was caught in two places. For one thing-both his parents were away at a conference and would not return until the fortnight was over and the regular maid who kept Kirmi company was ill.

"ONII-CHAN!" The piercing wail from his only sibling halted his minimal movements and train of mind. He leaped with a speed that he rarely had-forgetting Belzeneff on the prayer table and rushed immediately to Kirmi's room.

"What is it-imouto?"

Kirimi sniffles-using the silky bedsheets as tissues. "I had a scary dream about evil stepmothers and talking animals."

Sweatdropping-Nekozawa settles down into the plush chair. "I'll read you the new manga mother sent." In his head he was cringing from the thought of reading suggestive themes and reverse harem.

Immediately recovering-Kirmi brightens up and her eyes guilt him. "Really?"

"Of course." Oh well. It seems as though that last revenge potion simply needed to wait until tomorrow.

~Belzeneff continues to sit in his place on the offerings table~face palming~hey! anyone there~!~only the moon obliged his woe~that kid forgot about me again…..

In the Second Manor the Suoh lineage owned only the bat familiar and Tamaki were still awake at this ungodly hour. The bat familiar hid herself in the nearest washroom before taking on her true form. Anju Maaka (from Chibi Vampire Karin!) was a petite 5'1'' maiden with silvery below knee-length hair and a pair of silent somber amber eyes that seemed to hold even more sadness than before her older sister's passing about thirty years ago. But she knew that the human transformed Karin remembered her on her deathbed and that her offspring still needed protection so she watched. And watched. Being a trusted friend of the Nekozawa family regained her some purpose in life.

Moving as quietly and silently as before-Anju slips into the young master's room and uncorks the bottle-carefully tipping the contents into the teacup of milk which sat next to a plate of raspberry tarts. She leaves just as quietly as before.

Had Tamaki awakened just three seconds earlier than he did he would have seen the quiet girl morph into a bat and flutter away in the midst of night.

But he did not and only finished the snack with no pastry crumbs or a drop of milk remaining. The Turkish silk blankets around him covered the half-Frenchman like a cocoon as he fell deeply asleep dreaming of chasing shady twins and calling a greedy accountant/vice-president 'Mommy.' He remained unaware and ignorant of the gentle blue light surrounding him-changing his form….