Author's Note: I was worried I wouldn't get Arisa and Saki in character, but it turns out I had a lot of fun using them in my story! They will definitely be in a later chapter, and they'll have to meet the Host Club. At the least I want Arisa to meet Tamaki! THAT I'll have fun with!
To all those who are concerned about Tohru's being in class 1-A: Even if placement is because of intelligence, it doesn't mean that every school does it that way. And besides, this is fanfiction. But just because you don't care for Tohru (and I'm thinking of the person who originally brought up the matter), or don't like her, or whatever your reason for thinking her dense, it doesn't mean she's not smart enough to be in the same class as Haruhi. She was in Yuki's class at Kaibara and he's pretty smart. But anyway, please don't submit anymore reviews just to say something on this matter. If you want to say what you like about the story and mention the issue, that's fine. I like hearing your input and all y'all's thoughts, but its getting a little annoying to see comments only about Tohru's level of intelligence or how Japanese students are placed in classes. Just read the story and enjoy it for what it is. If it bothers you so much that Tohru is in Haruhi's class, try to over look it. But don't leave any more reviews solely about this issue. I only say this because apparently it's a bigger concern than I originally thought it was. Ok, thanks. On with the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or Fruits Basket, nor do I claim to. Any and all characters belong to Hatori Bisco and Natsuki Takaya respectively.
Chapter VII: Of Storms and Brothers
Haruhi woke up no later than usual, despite the fact that it was the weekend. She obviously didn't have school so of course it wasn't necessary to get up so early, but sleeping in was such a waste of time to her, so she got up anyway. Her dad, having been out late with his job, was still sleeping, so she let him alone and wondered into the kitchen.
Fixing herself a light breakfast—simple, yet nutritious—Haruhi took it to the table and sat down. Pulling out her textbooks, she decided to get started on the history paper she'd been assigned the previous day as she ate. After all, it never hurt to get a jump-start on things, and what else could she do on a weekend? Surely nothing productive at any rate.
Just as she had gotten submerged into her studies, making notes on what she needed to research further, a loud ringing noise interrupted. Startled, Haruhi scrambled to the phone only to realize it wasn't the phone. It wasn't the door. Concerned that the noise would wake up her father she worked quickly to find the source. As her scanning eyes came across her book bag it dawned on her—the cell phone the twins had given her was what was ringing.
Digging it out of the bottom of her bag, for it was something she rarely (if ever) used, she looked at it aggravated, taking a moment to remember how to answer it in her panic. When she opened it the ringing stopped, and she nervously glanced towards her father's room, expecting to hear him stirring. When all remained silent she sighed in relief and placed the phone to her ear.
"Hello?" she inquired.
"Haruhi!" Hikaru bellowed into her hear. She jumped and pulled the phone away, wincing as his loud voice continued ringing in her years a moment after.
"What are you doing up this early on a weekend morning?" she asked bluntly, checking the clock. Seven twenty-one—it was definitely too early for them to be up without having some reason. The next question was what did they want?
"Morning! Up already I see," Hikaru chuckled. She could hear the grin in his voice. "Kaoru and I were wondering if you want to go to the mall with us."
"No," Haruhi spat dryly. She didn't care for the mall, and certainly didn't care to waste good study time in one on the weekend. The weekend was one of the few times when she could get away from the Host Club and get some work done without having them distracting her. She didn't spend her weekend with them knowing she'd get no work done if she did.
"Ok, we'll be there in ten minutes!" Hikaru replied.
"What?" Haruhi gasped. "Wait, not I said—"
"Don't worry about it, just be ready when we get there," Hikaru told her. "Ok, see you then. Bye!"
"No, Hikaru!" Haruhi shouted, but her protest was met by a click. Sighing, she shut the cell phone. She chewed on her lower lip in thought, trying desperately to think of a way to avoid the twins. She could just not answer the door when they got there and let them knock. Perhaps they'd go away. But knowing the twins they would persist until their knocking woke up her father and they'd be let in anyway. But if she weren't there, she wouldn't have to answer the door. And if she didn't tell her father where she was going exactly, they couldn't find her.
Smiling she got up to dress. Quickly she pulled on a pair of loose jeans and a quarter length sleeve, button up shirt. With the nice weather outside, she could take her homework to the park to work on it there and avoid Hikaru and Kaoru's uninvited visit. Cramming her books into her bag, she slung it over her shoulder. She took a brief moment to jot down a note informing her father that she was going out, and left if on the table. Slipping on a pair of sandals, she moved to the door. To her surprise and dismay, when she opened the door there stood the twins, arms thrown around the other's shoulders, grinning like the little devils they were.
"Going somewhere?" they asked rottenly, their grins widening.
"What are you doing on my door step!?" Haruhi demanded in shock.
"We came to pick you up!" Hikaru replied.
"It hasn't been ten minutes!" Haruhi exclaimed, pointing at the clock on the wall behind her to help make her point.
"No, we've been here at least five already, though," Kaoru retorted.
Haruhi gawked at them in disbelief. "We knew you wouldn't want to go out with us," Hikaru explained with a nonchalant shrug. "It was easy enough to guess you'd try to run if we called ahead of time."
"So we decided to call you from your porch and wait for you to come out," Kaoru continued with a triumphant grin. "That way, you'd be dressed and ready to go when we got here."
Haruhi's eye twitched involuntarily. I've been HAD again! She thought. Before she could speak or even move they reached in and ceased her, each of them grabbing one of her arms.
"Come on, Haruhi!" they said, voices harmonizing. Pulling her outside they added, "We brought the limo, so we can ride to the mall!"
"But—I-I don't want to go to the mall!" Haruhi objected. She reached for the door in vain as they slammed it shut behind them. "I have homework and studying! Don't you need to do research for that assignment?"
"We can research next week," Hikaru replied with a disinterested shrug.
"Yeah, we have all of next week before it's due," Kaoru pointed out as the drug her down the stairs towards the limousine. "We're not going to waste time doing homework on the weekend!"
"Some people don't like to wait until last minute to do their work, though," Haruhi growled in frustration.
Hikaru and Kaoru stopped next to the limousine, dragging Haruhi around to stand in front of and face them. "Its only one day," Hikaru said. "You can study tomorrow," Kaoru added. Hikaru and Kaoru's driver opened the back door behind her. "Spend the day with us!" they finished in unison, shoving her in the car. Climbing in behind her, they yanked the door shut and said to the driver, "Drive!"
Haruhi checked her watch for what felt like the hundredth time within the past hour. Twelve o'clock and I've gotten no research done, she thought with a heavy sigh. She placed her hand absent mindedly on her bag, wondering if she'd get to do even a little of the homework inside it before the day was over. She had managed to convince Hikaru and Kaoru not to take her to the mall, however. It was such a nice day she didn't want to spend it inside an artificially lit shopping complex. Instead they went downtown and hit the shopping plazas and outlet malls.
Now they were sitting on a street side bench. After having been drug all over the city, it seemed, Haruhi had gotten them to sit down and let her rest; yet they were still overflowing with energy. She had to wonder how they kept going for so long, but credited it to their excitement of seeing what they'd dubbed 'commoner shops' for the first time.
"Where do you want to go next?" Kaoru asked, looking Haruhi square in the eye.
She was surprised he'd asked. All morning long they'd been leading her around, she didn't expect them to ask her where she wanted to go. "Home," she replied hopefully.
"Where's the fun in that?" Hikaru scoffed. "We should go to a clothing store. I'm sure Haruhi could use a new wardrobe, considering what she's wearing."
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Haruhi muttered, glancing down at her outfit curiously.
"We could help you pick out some outfits," Kaoru offered. "If you're worried about the money, we could pay for it."
Haruhi took a moment to consider the offer. It couldn't hurt to have some new clothes. Then she realized what kind of clothing they'd pick out for her. Picturing the impractical, frilly, girly dresses and skirts they'd no doubt try to get her to wear was enough for her to decide against the idea. "No thanks," she said. She glanced up at the clear skies. "So, why'd you guys kidnap me anyway?" she wondered.
"We didn't kidnap you, we took you out," Hikaru corrected, matter of fact.
"But I didn't want to go out," she pointed out.
"You were going out when we found you," Kaoru retorted.
Haruhi's eyes narrowed in frustration. "That was because I was trying to get away from you," she muttered.
"We wanted to spend some time with you," Hikaru confessed, leaning back on the bench. "It's been a while since we've done something together."
"Usually we wait and do something with the club," Haruhi observed.
"True, but isn't it less of a hassle this way?" Kaoru asked.
"What do you mean?" Haruhi questioned, confused.
"When we go out with the club, there's a lot of commotion," Hikaru explained. "But with just the three of us, there aren't as many of us to handle. Its easier on you, right?"
Haruhi thought about it for a moment. She wasn't sure what they meant but she shrugged anyway. "I guess," she replied. "If you wanted to spend time with me, you should have asked. We could have set up a time to do it, I'd just rather of had today and tomorrow to study."
"When though? You won't go anywhere on a school night," Hikaru pointed out.
Haruhi sweat dropped. "I guess that's true," she said sheepishly. She didn't like going places on weeknights, unless it was to the store to buy something for dinner. Smiling she turned to Hikaru. "All right, where do you want to go—"
Haruhi's stomach growled rather loudly, interrupting her before she could finish her question. Placing her hand on her abdomen she glanced idly down at it. "I'm kind of hungry, though. I didn't get to eat finish my breakfast because of you two," she explained.
"Don't pin that on us!" Hikaru scolded lightly.
"Well, we can buy you something to eat then. I'm getting hungry, also, where shall we eat?" Kaoru offered.
"That's not necessary, I don't need any favors, I can pay for mine," Haruhi declined. Do they think I can't afford it? I'm not a charity case, she thought. Pointing across the street to a street side diner she added, "Let's eat over there. They have good food, but reasonable prices."
They stood up and headed for the nearest crosswalk. As they stood there waiting for the 'walk' signal to change, Haruhi spotted a familiar face walking down the street towards them.
"Yuki-kun?" she wondered in surprise.
Yuki looked up equally surprised to see her. "Ah, Fujioka-san! And Hitachiin-san and Kaoru-san!" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," she said, smiling. Taking note of Tohru standing beside of him she added, "And Tohru-chan, too. What brings you out?"
Tohru held up a small stack of books. "We went to the town library to check out a few books for our research project!" she explained.
"See, I'm not the only one who studies on the weekend," Haruhi mumbled, glancing back at the twins.
"We don't care!" they retorted, shrugging indifferently.
"What are you—" Yuki began.
"Shopping," Hikaru replied.
"More like browsing. They haven't bought a single thing," Haruhi corrected. She smiled. "We were about to have lunch though, would you like to join us? If you're not busy, that is."
"I don't mind," Yuki replied. He turned to Tohru with a smile. "Would you like to?"
"I'd like that, thank you!" Tohru replied.
The light turned red and the walk signal came on. Haruhi motioned across the street. "We're going to eat here," she explained as the five of them began to cross.
"Ah, that's fine," Yuki replied.
The diner had tables set up outside with umbrellas to shield from the sun. Haruhi sat down at one of those tables, the twins on either side of her with Yuki and Tohru opposite the three of them. They ordered some drinks, their meals, and waited while the waiter went to turn it in.
"So, um, Haruhi-san," Tohru began with a pleasant smile. "Have you and um, uh, ah! Um, I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced, I don't know your names," she apologized to the twins with the realization she'd only seen Hikaru and Kaoru at school, but hadn't actually met them properly.
"That's right, you weren't were you?" Haruhi realized.
"I'm Hitachiin Hikaru and that's my brother," Hikaru introduced.
"Hitachiin Kaoru. But don't worry, we already know who you are," Kaoru finished. "Be careful you don't get us confused!"
"Don't be rude," Haruhi admonished, her brow furrowing slightly.
"I wasn't," Kaoru objected with a shrug.
"Ah, its ok," Tohru exclaimed quickly. She smiled at the Hitachiin brothers. "I've never met twins before. I'll do my best to tell the two of you apart!"
"I can't tell them apart, and I've known them a while longer than you," Yuki admitted. He looked uneasily at them. "Just now, before they introduced themselves to Honda-san, I couldn't remember which one was which."
"That's nothing out of the ordinary for us," Hikaru sighed.
"Yeah, don't worry about it too much," Kaoru added indifferently. "Haruhi's the first one who can tell us apart."
"Hah! That's amazing!" Tohru exclaimed with excitement. "You must be honored to be the first who can know such a thing!"
Haruhi laughed. "Well, not really," she admitted. She hadn't thought of knowing the difference between the twins as an honor. "I suppose though, it is 'special', in a way."
"Its miraculous," Yuki commented with a smile. "I don't see how you do it."
Haruhi shrugged. "Its easy though," she said nonchalantly. "At first they seem the same, but they're different once you get to know them. It's mostly the little things that differentiate them, but there are some main aspects as well."
"Like what?" Hikaru and Kaoru wondered simultaneously.
"Haven't I told you before?" Haruhi asked curiously. She knew she'd mentioned some of their differences to them before, like the time they staged a fight just to get her to agree to let them come to her house. Perhaps they were pretending not to remember to play with her? "Oh well, anyway, here comes our food!"
The waiter served them, and attended them well throughout the meal. The five of them chatted about various things, but when Haruhi and Yuki turned the conversation to school subjects, Hikaru and Kaoru got bored. To Haruhi's relief though, they didn't cause any mischief like they usually did when they were bored. They ate their food and sat there looking uninterested until everyone was finished.
Haruhi had made sure her bill was separate from Hikaru and Kaoru's. Yuki paid for his and Tohru's and the twins plopped their mother's credit card, which was given to them by her, on the tray. But when Haruhi reached in her bag for her wallet it wasn't there.
"Ah, I don't have my wallet with me," she said. She looked remorsefully at the bill. "I guess I left it at home. I didn't plan on spending any money."
"We'll pay for it, don't worry about it," Hikaru offered.
"Are you sure?" Haruhi asked.
Kaoru chuckled with a wide grin on his face. "Of course we're sure! Its not like it's anything for us," he replied.
"I guess its ok then," she agreed, placing the bill with theirs. I suppose I'll just save the money I would have spent for groceries she thought with a grateful smile. "Thanks!"
"Don't mention it," Hikaru said as he sent the bill off with the waiter.
Haruhi noticed Yuki giving her an odd look. It was almost a realizing gaze as if he'd just discovered something about her. "What is it?" she asked curiously.
Yuki shook his head to rid himself of the thought for the moment. Smiling, he said, "Oh, its nothing. Shall we go?"
Once the bills were paid and the twins got their credit card back they left the diner and headed down the sidewalk.
"I suppose we should get back home then," Yuki said.
"Yes, I need to go home myself," Haruhi said, giving a firm look to the twins. They ignored it and she figured out then that they weren't planning on taking her home any time soon.
"It was nice having lunch with you, Haruhi-san," Tohru said, bowing politely.
"Yes, I enjoyed it myself," Haruhi replied with a smile. "And you don't have to be so formal with me as to say '-san'."
"Haruhi-kun then?" Tohru wondered cautiously.
Haruhi smiled. "Yes, that's fine!" she approved with a nod.
"Hikaru, where'd we leave the car?" Kaoru wondered, glancing up at the street name.
Hikaru shrugged. "Somewhere downtown in a parking lot with the driver," he replied.
"That was several blocks back, wasn't it?" Haruhi asked. She pointed at the street corner to a bus stop. "Why don't we take the bus then? This one runs near my apartment, and you can call your limo to pick you up there."
"You're going home already?" Hikaru and Kaoru objected.
"I spent all morning with you! Besides, I didn't tell Dad where I was going, he's probably worried I need to at least stop by and tell him what I'm doing," she explained.
"I guess that's ok then," Hikaru sighed. He matched Haruhi's pace and walked along side of her as they headed for the bus stop. "Can we stay and hang out a while though?"
"If you don't distract me from my studies," Haruhi stipulated. She paused, looking back at Yuki and Tohru. "Are you coming? This bus should get you closer to home as well. My home isn't far from where we part ways when we walk home from school."
"Ah, that would be faster then," Yuki agreed. He glanced up at the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain soon. It'd be better not to walk anyway. You can tell us how to get to the right street from there?"
Haruhi nodded. "Of course! Come on then, the bus is arriving just now."
They reached the bus stop just as the bus was pulling up to it. There was a crowd of people waiting to get on and Yuki looked uneasily at them. Haruhi deduced he was probably worried about coming in too close of contact with a female while trying to get on the bus. Smiling at him she said, "Don't worry, you can wait and get on last. I can go ahead and save you a seat."
Yuki smiled gratefully. "Thank you," he said.
"Yuki-kun, I'll go, too," Tohru offered, stepping up to the bus's doors. "I'll reserve your seat with our books until you've gotten on."
"Thank you, Honda-san," she said with a smile.
Haruhi and Tohru were the first two of the group to get on the bus. They found a few seats about halfway back and sat down, Tohru sitting directly behind Haruhi and placing her books in the seat next to her. Hikaru managed to worm his way into the crowd and get on, quickly sitting next to Haruhi and making sure to keep a seat available for Kaoru. Kaoru couldn't get past some of the passengers because of their girth and got separated from his brother in the process. So he decided to wait until everyone else had gotten on before he boarded and went to stand next to Yuki by the bus stop's bench.
Haruhi glanced out the window as she watched the remaining passengers file onto the bus. "How many people can fit on this at a time?" she wondered aloud.
"Hopefully at least two more after everyone else gets on," Hikaru added anxiously, noticing his brother standing at the back of the group, waiting semi patiently for his turn to get on.
Haruhi turned her attention to the front of the bus, watching as the various people entered and dispersed throughout the public transportation vehicle. As the last of the strangers got on, Yuki and Kaoru moved to board also, but the driver shut the doors.
Hikaru stood up in alarm, realizing Kaoru wasn't on yet. When the bus started moving he panicked. "Hey! Stop the bus, everyone isn't on yet!" he demanded to the driver.
The driver barely glanced back at him in his rearview mirror. "I know, but they'll have to wait for the next bus, this ones full," he said, motioning back at the full seats. There were even people standing in the aisle, holding on to the poles that were designed for such an occasion.
"But my brother's still back there!" Hikaru objected.
"Not my problem! He has to wait for the next bus," the driver barked.
Hikaru leaned over Haruhi to look out the window, watching helplessly as his brother was left behind. "Kaoru!" he called.
"Hikaru, calm down, you're making a scene," Haruhi said attempting to sooth him.
"Kaouru!" Hikaru called again, rushing to the back of the bus. Beating on the back window he called again, "Kaoru!"
Kaoru was running down the sidewalk along side the bus, shouting out to the driver in vain. Haruhi rushed back to Hikaru. "Hikaru, come sit down!" she coaxed, pulling on his arm.
Kaoru stopped following the bus at a street corner when it picked up speed and he could no longer keep up with it. Haruhi noticed Yuki trailing up behind him.
Haruhi pulled Hikaru away from the window. "Hikaru, there's nothing we can do!" she exclaimed. "Sit down. We'll get off at the next stop and catch the next bus back. Kaoru will probably have the sense to wait for you."
Hikaru reluctantly took his seat, but sat uneasily, biting his nails and drumming his fingers on the window seal as he stared anxiously out of the window.
"Yuki-kun was left behind also," Tohru observed worriedly. She glanced outside, up at the darkening sky. "I hope he'll find shelter from the storm in time."
Haruhi flinched when she heard the distant roll of thunder. She glanced at Hikaru wondering if he'd heard it too, but he was too busy worrying about being separated from Kaoru to have noticed. "I'm sure they'll be fine," Haruhi replied, telling herself the same thing. The only thing she heard of the storm though were raindrops as they sporadically hit the window. It didn't take them long before they arrived at the next bus stop, but with Hikaru's fidgeting and fretting it seemed longer than it actually was.
The three of them quickly got off and it was all Haruhi could do to convince Hikaru it wouldn't be faster to run back to the previous bus stop on foot.
"The busses run frequently, the next one will be here within a few minutes," she explained. Heading to the bench she motion for him to follow her. "Come sit down, and we'll wait for it. Kaoru will—"
A loud clap of thunder cut her off and she startled. Screaming she flipped around and looked pleadingly at Hikaru. "O-or maybe we should wait inside with the storm and all?" she suggested hopefully.
Tohru placed her hand on Haruhi's shoulder in concern. "What's wrong, Haruhi-kun?" she asked.
"Ah, Haruhi, I almost forgot, you're scared of thunder," he said, pushing his worry over Kaoru to the side for the moment.
Another crash of thunder made Haruhi jump and she leapt into Hikaru's arms, burying her face in his chest. Hikaru placed his arms comfortingly around her shoulders. He glanced up at the sky as the rain started to fall faster. "We need shelter," he observed.
"Here, this bench has a cover," Tohru pointed out, drawing his eye to the bench as she pointed at it. "It's the closest. I don't see anywhere else we can seek refuge."
Hikaru tugged Haruhi with him under the shelter. Sitting on the bench next to her he held her as close to his body as he could. "Haruhi, you're shaking," he sighed regretfully. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to block the sound this time."
"I-its ok, I'll just—" Haruhi began, but was silenced as more thunder rolled ominously overhead. She clamped her hands over her head and drew closer to Hikaru.
Tohru sat down on her other side. "Haruhi-kun, this might not help, but when I was little and I got scared, my mother always told me not to think about it," she said. Haruhi peeked at her curiously so Tohru smiled and continued. "Mom said if she wasn't there to comfort me, the best way to deal with my fear was not to focus on it. She told me to imagine myself somewhere safe, where I was happy or to recall a nice memory, and focus on that. She said that would make me feel better." Tohru paused long enough to put her hand on Haruhi's shoulder. "So, even though you have someone to comfort you, you're still scared. So close your eyes cover your ears and think of something happy. Before you know it the storm will be over and we can go find Yuki-kun and Kaoru-san!"
Haruhi buried her head against Hikaru's neck as thunder continued to boom above her. The rain was pouring down now and the wind had picked up a bit. Haruhi closed her eyes tightly and clamped her hands over her hears as hard as she could to block out the sound. She searched her mind for something cheerful to think of or a fond memory that she had. She recalled the times she'd spent with her mother as a little child. Though few they were, she dwelt on them and replayed all the happy moments they'd shared together and with her dad. Somehow the storm seemed to fade into the background, and though Haruhi could still hear the thunder she felt a little more at ease.
Relaxing in Hikaru's strong, comforting arms, Haruhi let the memory of her mother flood her mind and surprisingly she wasn't as afraid anymore.
Yuki was surprised when the bus doors shut practically in his face. He was even more shocked when the bus started moving. Hikaru, who'd gotten on before Yuki and Kaoru, was shouting for his brother at the window.
"Hikaru!" Kaoru called back. He watched in what appeared to be horror as the bus started to drive off without him. Breaking out into a mad dash he chased after the bus. "Hikaru! Hey, stop the bus!" he cried after it, running along side it. "Stop! Stop the bus! Hikaru!"
Yuki chased after Kaoru, not wanting to let him run off by himself. They ran until they reached the street corner. Kaoru gave up on his chase when the bus accelerated, leaving him with no hope of catching up. The Hitachiin paused and stared after the vehicle in despair. Yuki came up behind him a little while later, out of breath from the sudden and unexpected dash down the street. Bending over he leaned his right hand on his kneed, grasping at his chest with his other hand. He could feel a tightening pressure in his chest, which made him realize it wasn't a good idea to run in the cool air with his condition.
Kaoru turned away as the bus drove out of sight. He gasped when he saw Yuki's doubled over figure and noticed he was holding his chest and panting excessively. "Are you ok?" he wondered with concern.
Yuki nodded, trying desperately to catch his breath. Kaoru took his arm and pulled him over to the curb where he helped him to sit down. "Catch your breath," he said, sitting next to him.
After a few more minutes of gasping and panting Yuki had calmed his breathing enough to speak, though he was still out of breath. "I'm ok," he said panting. "I just have a problem with my bronchial tubes. Its nothing, I lose my breath sometimes, especially if I run in cool weather like today."
"You're not going to have an attack or anything like that? Do you need medicine or a shot or something?" Kaoru exclaimed in panic.
"No, nothing like that," Yuki said, waving his hand to calm Kaoru. He laughed at his overreaction but the laughing made him cough.
Kaoru patted Yuki on the back until he stopped coughing. Glancing off down the street in the direction the bus had gone he sighed heavily. "I guess we'll have to wait for the next bus. I hope Hikaru doesn't try coming back for me. Maybe we should wait for them?"
"You're Kaoru-san then," Yuki confirmed.
Kaoru nodded. "Yeah, that's right," he said. He sweat dropped and laughed sheepishly. "Its easier to tell us apart when we're separated. If who your with is freaking out because we're not together then its Hikaru! I'm the calmer one when we're not together—especially when we've been separated in this manner. At least, that's what Haruhi told us."
Yuki held his hand out, palm up, when he felt a raindrop hit his brow. Gazing up at the sky, which had grown rather dark with gray cloud cover, he sighed. "I guess now its going to rain," he said, observing as the rainfall steadily increased.
Kaoru stood. "I guess we should find shelter then, and wait until the storm passes before we go looking for them," he sighed. A clap of thunder had an expression of concern washing over his face. "Haruhi…"
"Fujioka-san? What about her?" Yuki wondered, standing up and dusting the back of his pants off.
"Ah, well, its kind of her weakness, but I guess she wouldn't care if I told you," Kaoru explained. He turned his gaze on Yuki. "Haruhi is afraid of thunder storms. I doubt they'll be going anywhere for a while. At least not until this storm is passed."
"Well, I guess its better we wait it out ourselves somewhere," Yuki concluded. He looked around but didn't see any stores or business buildings they could seek refuge in. Noticing the street name for the first time he realized where he was.
"Where should we go then?" Kaoru wondered, looking around only to find the same situation Yuki had.
Yuki felt his stomach knot up at the thought. "Well, I know this part of town," he confessed, a glum look over taking his expression.
"Why the face? What's wrong?" Kaoru asked. He cocked an eyebrow, crossed his arms and added, "Something you ate not sit well with you?"
"No, well, something like that," Yuki replied. He heaved a heavy sigh. The rain was starting to come down faster and harder. They needed to get out of it or they'd catch colds or pneumonia. He had no choice. Sighing again he pointed in a particular direction. "Let's go this way. Just down this street there's a store we can wait in."
"A store? How do you know the owner won't mind us waiting there?" Kaoru asked, following Yuki down the street.
"Because," Yuki replied dryly, "he's my older brother."
Kaoru sweat dropped, increasing his pace to match Yuki's as they hurried to get out of the rain. "You don't sound too happy about that," he observed.
Yuki felt absolutely disgusted. The last thing he wanted was to have to take someone from Ouran to Ayame's shop. With the way his brother had behaved around Kakeru, he could only dread and imagine how he'd act around someone rich. He didn't want to go there, but he saw no other option. They needed to get out of the rain—unfortunately, Ayame would provide that shelter, whether Yuki wanted it or not.
By the time they reached the shop they'd had to increase their speed to a jog, but despite their efforts were already soaked. Kaoru read the sign out front and gave the building a skeptical look. "What is this place?" he asked.
"Never mind that, let's get inside where it's dry," Yuki said, opening the door. He shut it once he and Kaoru were in and turned around to survey the inside. It was how he'd remembered it, but Ayame nor Mine were anywhere to be seen. Shivering as the cool store air met his wet clothes, he had hope for a brief moment that they weren't there. But that hope was crushed immediately.
"Welcome!" came Mine's voice from the back. She came around the corner already smiling, most likely expecting to greet a potential customer, but her expression brightened all the more when she saw Yuki. "Otouto-kun! I'm so glad to see you! It's been a while," she exclaimed, rushing to his side. "Oh, your all wet! Come in, come in. I'll get Boss."
"No, if he's busy don't—" Yuki attempted, but she had already disappeared into the back room calling for Ayame. Yuki sighed, wrapping his arms around his torso, his teeth chattering a bit. There was no way he was going to avoid having to see his brother.
"You hate your brother that much?" Kaoru asked.
"Eh? No, I don't—" he paused, glancing away thoughtfully. Had he really given the impression he hated Ayame just by the little he'd said already? Yuki ducked his head and added solemnly, "It's complicated."
"Yuki! It's been so long!" Ayame's hyper voice caused Yuki to wince. As he immerged from the back room, thankfully he wasn't dressed in one of his absurd costumes. "Welcome, please, come in. You're soaked! That simply won't do, I'll give you something to change int—"
Yuki grabbed hold of his sleeve before he could leave to find him something to wear. "That's not necessary," he insisted strongly. He knew what kinds of clothing Ayame made and wasn't about to wear one, no matter how wet he was.
"But you'll catch a cold!" Ayame objected worriedly.
"I said its fine!" Yuki snapped, forcing a tight smile.
"Ah, but you've brought a friend!" Ayame just then noticed. Yuki was amazed at the tunnel vision he had; when he was focused on something or someone he tended not to see other things and people around him. Perhaps it was selective.
"Nii-san, this is Hitachiin Kaoru-san. He's from the school I was transferred to. We're in the same class," Yuki explained with a sigh. He could already feel a headache coming on due to his brother's energetic personality.
Ayame smile brightened with excitement. "Ah, Hitachiin! You wouldn't happen to be related to the famous Hitachiin Yuzuha?" he inquired.
"She's my mother, actually," Kaoru replied with a somewhat condescending look.
"Just as I presumed! She told me she had two sons, but I never expected to meet one of them so suddenly, and in my own shop, no doubt!" Ayame explained.
"You know his mother?" Yuki exclaimed.
"Of course, dear Yuki! I know many fashion designers. After all, I am a locally known designer myself," Ayame replied with a hardy laugh, placing his hand to his chest proudly. He quickly wrapped his arm around Yuki's shoulders and pulled him close. "Does that make you proud? I'm sure it does, how could you not be proud of such a magnificent brother?"
"Get off!" Yuki growled in warning, his eyes closing in aggravation. His hands involuntarily clenched at his sides and he felt his cheeks flush in irritation.
"Did I hear you mention Hitachiin Yuzuha-sensei?" Mine asked excitedly, rushing in the room once again. She had two towels in hand and quickly dispersed them to the two young men.
"Yes, this is her son, Kaoru-kun," Ayame replied with a hand gesture to the aforementioned.
"How did you meet my mother?" Kaoru demanded skeptically as he received the towel. "When?"
"How? I went to one of her fashion shows," Ayame replied. He winked at Kaoru. "I've always admired your mother's taste. And Mine is one of her biggest fans. She adores the elegance and feminine charm of Yuzuha-san's clothing line. As a matter of fact, we use her clothes as inspiration for our own."
"Yes, I absolutely adore your mother! I love trying on her latest fashions," Mine giggled.
"Really? Mom never mentioned any wacky shop owners before," Kaoru mused curiously. He shrugged with an awkward grin. "Then again, Mom doesn't really talk to us about work much. Unless she wants our help on her clothing line."
Mine's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands on front of her chest. "You help your mother design? How exciting! I can't imagine, what's it like?" she enthused.
"I should have known your mother would pass her genes on to her children," Ayame said knowledgably. "Has she told you about her current line? Mine and I had a few questions about it, but are unable to ask her."
"You could ask me. Hikaru and I talk to her about fashion all the time," Kaoru offered. He had an eager gleam in his eye that expressed his interest in the topic. It was actually the first time Yuki had seen the younger Hitachiin express interest in anything. Usually he looked bored, but apparently he too grew excited over things. Yuki couldn't help but smile.
Yuki sighed as the three of them began discussing Yuzuha's various clothing lines. Drying his hair with the towel Mine had given him, he found a chair by the window to sit in. Deciding not to even try to understand, much less join, the conversation, he settled for gazing out the window at the storm. A crash of thunder caught him off guard and startled him, which made him think about Haruhi. She was afraid of thunder as Kaoru had said. He never would have guessed that about her. She seemed like such a strong young woman, he almost couldn't imagine her having such an irrational fear. Yet she did, for why would Kaoru lie about the matter? She was similar to Tohru perhaps, but he was noticing some differences between them. The fear of thunder was one of them. The other instance when he'd noticed a difference was earlier that day at lunch when Haruhi was unable to pay for her own meal. She accepted the twins' offer to buy her lunch without even offering to pay them back. Tohru, on the other hand, wouldn't have so easily agreed to it and would have promised she'd pay them back when she got her wallet. Now that he thought about it though, it was logical; she was a completely different person. He'd been somewhat foolish to assume she was so much like Tohru as to not have any individuality of her own.
With her individuality from Tohru though, she didn't seem to have the same 'effect' on him. Before he'd seen these differences she was someone he felt comfortable around and someone he felt like he could talk to without being judged. Most likely she was still that kind of person, but had the only reason he liked her so been because those aspects of hers were so similar to Tohru? Is that why he detested the idea of her memories being erased so much?
The storm had died down and passed without Yuki even noticing. Kaoru's cell phone rang, pulling Yuki from his thoughts. "It's Hikaru," Kaoru said, his face brightening as he checked the phone's caller I.D. before answering it. He quickly opened the phone and brought it to his ear. "Hikaru!" he exclaimed happily.
Haruhi stepped off of the bus last, Hikaru and Tohru having gone before her. She was glad the storm was over, but appreciated the clean, refreshing smell the rain had left behind. Avoiding a puddle so her feet wouldn't get wet as she was wearing sandals, she stepped up next to Hikaru.
"He's not here, where is he?" Hikaru asked, panic ringing in his voice. As soon as the storm had passed and Haruhi wasn't scared anymore he'd gone back to fretting about Kaoru.
"They probably took shelter somewhere," Haruhi said. She glanced at the sky a moment in thought. Smiling as an idea came to her, she turned to face Hikaru. "You have your cell phone right? Does Kaoru have his as well?"
"Well, yeah, we always have them with us," Hikaru replied.
"Then call him," Haruhi suggested. She laughed at Hikaru's dumbfounded expression. He obviously hadn't even thought of that. But it was just like him to forget something so simple when he was worrying over his brother.
"I hadn't thought of that," he muttered in confession, averting his gaze in embarrassment as he dug his phone from his pocket. Kaoru's number was on speed dial 2. A few seconds passed before Hikaru's expression brightened. "Kaoru!" he cried into the phone upon hearing his brother's voice. "Are you ok?"
Haruhi turned to Tohru. "Tohru-chan, I wanted to thank you," she said.
"Eh?" Tohru replied with a confused look.
"For earlier, during the storm," Haruhi clarified with a smile. "What you said was sweet. And it helped; so thank you."
Tohru smiled. "I'm glad," she said. "You're welcome!"
Hikaru shut his phone and turned to them again. "Kaoru said he's in a shop down the street," he explained. He looked at Tohru. "He said Yuki told him you'd know where it is. He says its Ayame's shop?"
Tohru nodded. "Yes, I thought I recognized this street earlier," she said. She motioned in the direction they needed to go and headed that way. "Follow me, I'll show you. It isn't far from here."
And it wasn't. Haruhi gawked at the sign when they arrived. What kind of place is this? She wondered. As they entered she wasn't sure what to expect, but she was relieved when the inside wasn't abnormal.
"Kaoru!" Hikaru exclaimed when he spotted his brother.
"Hikaru!" Kaoru called back joyfully. They embraced warmly, in a genuine family love towards one another, unlike the way they hugged while hosting.
"Ah! Twins!" Mine exclaimed. She turned to Ayame enthusiastically. "Look, Boss! Yuzuha-sensei's son's are twins! Identical at that."
"Why are you surprised?" Yuki wondered dryly.
"Yuzuha-san never mentioned that her sons were twins!" Ayame exclaimed.
"Eh? Who are these people and why are they saying Mom's name?" Hikaru asked.
"Hikaru, Ayame is Yuki's brother," Kaoru explained, smiling with excitement. "Mine works for him. They've met Mom and apparently know her pretty well. They're huge fans of my Mom's clothing lines."
"Really?" Hikaru said with a hint of interest.
"You're mother inspires my designs with her own," Ayame informed him.
"Yuzuha-sensei is so fashionable. I love her designs!" Mine cooed.
Haruhi tuned the four fusionists out as she walked over to Yuki. "You're wet. I guess you got caught in the rain after all," she observed.
"Yuki-kun, are you ok? You'll catch a cold," Tohru said.
"I'm fine, Honda-san," Yuki replied with a smile. He held up the towel. "I have this. I won't catch cold." He turned to Haruhi. "Are you ok? Kaoru-san said you were afraid of thunder."
Haruhi sweat dropped and looked over at the younger Hitachiin sheepishly. "Ah, that—he told you about that?" she asked. She shrugged, deciding to forget about it. There was no use worrying over it since he'd already been told. "I'm ok. Tohru-chan helped me not to think about it and Hikaru was there. So it was ok."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that," Yuki sighed with relief.
"So, that's your brother?" Haruhi wondered, glancing over at Ayame. She smiled. "He's very energetic. He kind of reminds me of sempai in that way. I wondered how you seem to deal with him so easily; you're used to it with your brother I guess."
"I suppose. He is like Suoh-sempai, but I think Nii-san is worse when it comes to enthusiasm," Yuki admitted. He looked over at Ayame, observing how arrogant and proud he was being as he talked to the twins. He quickly looked away in disgust, muttering, "Nii-san is far more annoying in my opinion."
Haruhi smiled, holding back a chuckle. "He seems nice," she said.
"Yuki, you must introduce me to your other friend! Does he go to Ouran as well?" Ayame insisted, suddenly coming up behind Yuki and putting his arm around his shoulders once again.
It took a moment for Haruhi to realize he meant her. Apparently it took Yuki a moment as well, because he didn't reply immediately. "A-ah, this is Fujioka Haruhi-san," Yuki introduced. "Sh—I mean he's also in my class."
"He's very feminine," Mine observed thoughtfully.
"In an elegant way," Ayame assessed. He placed his hand under his chin and stepped back to look at Haruhi. "Yes, very elegant. Haruhi, would you mind trying on my newest design?"
"You mean that one?" Mine gasped in excitement. She gave Haruhi a once over. "Yes, with his feminine features he would look good in that."
"Not with the that one thing again," Yuki groaned. "Nii-san, really, Fujioka-san won't be interested in—"
"What do you say, Haruhi?" Ayame asked boldly, cutting Yuki off before he could finish.
"Wait, what is that?" Hikaru demanded protectively.
"Eh? I really don't want to try anything on," Haruhi said nervously. She took a step back.
"I'll run get it, Boss!" Mine exclaimed, rushing to the back immediatly.
"It won't take long at all! Come now, imagine it!" Ayame persisted. He stepped up next to Haruhi and reached to slink his arm around her shoulders in the same fashion he did Yuki.
Yuki gasped, reaching out in objection. "Wait, Nii-san, don't—" Before he could say anything more Ayame had already wrapped his arm around Haruhi and pulled her up against him. Hikaru and Kaoru started to protest but before anyone could say anything else a 'poof' sound followed by a cloud of smoke surrounded Ayame.
Haruhi's eyes widened. What had just happened? The cloud of smoke that encircled her was similar to the puff of smoke that surrounded Yuki when he transformed, but she was starring right at him. She felt something still draped around her shoulder. Slowly, still in shock and confused about what had just happened, she looked down. There, on her shoulder, was a long, thin, white snake.
Blinking at it a moment Haruhi's eyes widened a bit more in utter confusion. "Eh?" she gasped.
