A/N: Here it is! Chapter seven for your viewing pleasure! I hope you're all excited and have come up with tons of theories about Kasanoda's sudden calls while you waited for this chapter! I've officially started classes again, so updates might be slow in coming, but never fear, they'll still come. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: Nothing owned, nothing earned. Entertainment purposes only. Thanks!
Htelobbihs: Can You Say It?
Chapter Seven
By: Rae
-An "Ouran High School Host Club" Fanfic-
I'm disappointed in you, Suou. While I know you don't have nearly the brain capacity to solve my clues, much less to figure out what they mean, I never expected you to employ such a large amount of people to help find your Haruhi. This is, after all, a private venture that you were supposed to undertake. To have your idiotic father and ridiculous friends helping you as well as recruiting the recovered victims to your cause makes me lose what little respect I might have had for you.
Because of that, I've decided not to leave you another clue about the whereabouts of your dearest one. Not this time. I'll let you stew in your juices as you search for poor Shiro. But don't worry, Suou, I can't stand to see your sniveling, little self suffering for too long. You'll have another clue about the girl once you find the kid.
Have fun searching, Suous... and unlikely company members!
"How dare they!" Yuzuru contemptuously spat as he finished reading the end of the note Kyouya had translated. "These people are playing with fire, and I won't let them insult my family this way."
Kyouya looked dispassionately at the older man as he replied, "With all due respect, Suou-san, I have to say that the kidnappers must know the Host Club very well to have planned out with such exacting steps each person, each place, each clue. We are up against someone who knows us and knows how we think. Why else do you think we were warned not to involve the police? That even excludes my own special forces as they are partially employed by the government in times of crisis."
"Do you think the person who did this is someone we know, Kyo-chan?" Hunny asked, eyes narrowing fiercely as he thought of what kind of person would want to hurt them.
"I've been doing some research on the people who were kidnapped, and the only things that truly link everyone are the host club and the help we've given them," Kyouya said. "Only I think there's more to it than that. There's a problem with thinking that the Host Club itself is being targeted."
"Tamaki," Mori said, solemn eyes coming to rest on the young man who was still on the phone.
"Exactly, Mori-senpai," Kyouya said, nodding his approval at the gentle giant's insight.
Yuzuru honed in on the connection to his son, eyes widening slightly before he asked, "What do you mean, Kyouya? What does Tamaki have to do with this?"
"I can't say for certain, but Tamaki has always been at the center of the club as the founder and president," he replied. "And to top it off, Haruhi, who came in at the beginning of the change in the club. I think that Tamaki's and Haruhi's relationship is what is at the center of this. If you'll recall," Kyouya paused a moment when Tamaki's voice raised in something like exasperation or fear. Then he repeated, glancing at the cousins, "If you'll recall, the progression went down the line of people kidnapped, gaining in momentum and strength from when we originally helped Toru-san and Kasugazaki-san with their relationship on to the others."
"But Kyo-chan, that doesn't account for Renge, does it?" Hunny asked, looking at Kyouya with shrewd eyes. "She came in before we even met most of these people, so what is her connection to all of this?"
"I believe, Hunny-senpai," the young man answered evenly, "that Renge is related to this through the same means as Reiko and Haruhi."
Hunny's eyes grew wide as he took in the implications of this statement. The former host had grown in stature and wisdom after graduation, and his first impression of this news was a shared look of surprise and understanding with his cousin. Both Hunny and Mori knew what this meant for all the hosts involved and wondered at how this would inevitably raise the stakes.
Meanwhile, Tamaki had been having a conversation with the kidnapped Kasanoda that caused him to react in violent fear, knowing what the situation could mean for himself and for Haruhi.
"Kasanoda? Is it really you?" Tamaki asked, voice shaking with unease.
"Yeah, Tamaki, it's me," Kasanoda's tired voice trailed over the speaker. "I want to know what's going on. After I got kidnapped, I saw all these people from Ouran, and I know something's wrong. You've got to tell me what's happening now."
Tamaki took a deep breath and then said, "Please tell me one thing, Kasanoda-kun. What happened to you that you are calling me now? I already knew you were kidnapped, so how did you escape?"
"What do you mean you already knew?! I was in that blasted shed thing for hours, and you knew I was kidnapped!" Kasanoda's enraged voice filled the speakers, and Tamaki pulled the cell away from the volume. "Look, Tamaki, I'm only calling because I'm worried about the others. There were... I don't know how many there were actually, something like six of us, and we were stuck down there until they started taking people one by one," he finally said with a calmer voice.
"Is anyone with you?" Tamaki now asked, realizing they might not have to rescue everyone on their list now. "And how did you get out?"
Kasanoda sighed over the phone before answering, "After I woke up from being knocked out, I sat there and watched these big goons take away the Ouran kids every hour. I was waiting for my turn when I heard this big commotion outside. It was like all sorts of explosions were going off at once or something, and all of a sudden, two men came flying into the room. Only Reiko and I were left, and the men looked like they'd been in a war."
Taking a breath, he paused a moment before saying, "Then another man was shoved into the room, and all I could do was try to move in front of poor Reiko. Man, she was white as a sheet, and I was scared, too. Then I saw Tetsuya running into the room with a few of my men behind him, and they knocked the other guys out before coming over to let us go."
"I don't understand," Tamaki said, brows knit in concentration, "how your men knew where you were. And if they knew where you were, why didn't they rescue you sooner?"
"Well, Tetsuya and the guys followed me when I was kidnapped," Kasanoda said. "I wasn't far from home, and one of the men saw me getting beat up, but because there were so many men surrounding me he ran back to the compound to get the others for help. By the time they got there, they had a few seconds to see this van tearing out of the area. So they grabbed a car and ran off after the van. They said it was an awful chase once those idiots knew they were being followed."
"Your men followed them; that's incredible," the former host breathed, feeling varying emotions well within him.
"Yeah, and it wasn't easy," Kasanoda rejoined. "They lost sight of the van and had to regroup, sending out different guys in cars to figure out where I was taken. But then one of the cars got lucky, I guess, and he saw the van right before it pulled into this private drive that was all stuck in the middle of nowhere. It's a fortress, man, with locked gates and this crazy mansion and everything. And these goons were just living like kings in their ridiculous house while they did this job!"
"A mansion..." Tamaki mused, wondering why this bothered him. "So what happened next, Kasanoda-kun?"
"Tetsuya grouped all the men to make a break in," Kasanoda answered, "but then the van came tearing out of the driveway, and they had to hide. After they called for reinforcements, Tetsuya made a plan for getting into the compound, and they followed the van in the gate when it returned. Apparently the gate was mechanical, and no one seemed to notice them running into the yard after the van came through, and there were no lights or nothing. So they got in and then they had to find this place, and it's back in the middle of these wild woods, Tamaki."
A coughing fit overcame him then, and Tamaki sat back in his seat digesting all the information he'd received. Thinking about it, he now knew they wouldn't have to find the last two kidnapping victims because they'd been rescued ahead of time. It was obvious the men who'd kidnapped them hadn't finished their jobs, because Tamaki assumed each person had been taken to a different place based on what Toru and Kanako had told him.
With Kasanoda's new information, Tamaki knew they had a place to start looking for information. And if the Kasanoda family had left any survivors--Tamaki shuddered with the impact of that thought--they would be leaving valuable witnesses for the hosts to question. Perhaps he could figure out who had hired them and find the kidnapper! Or even get Haruhi's location!
"Sorry about that, Tamaki," Kasanoda said as he cleared his throat.
"It's fine, Kasanoda," Tamaki replied. "Please continue with your story."
"When Tetsuya finally figured out a plan, they'd already taken the rest of the people," Kasanoda continued. "They untied us and took off those awful gags, and we were able to tell them our stories. Now we're sitting here at this mansion, and one of the goons told us not to call the police, that you would know what was going on."
Tamaki was floored at that. He carefully asked, "They knew my name? And they told you I could tell you what was going on?" That explained a bit of the hostility he'd heard in Kasanoda's voice originally at least.
"Yeah," the other man replied roughly. "The guy who talked to us said they were hired under the stipulation that if they were found out in any way, they would direct whoever found them to you. Do you know what this is all about?"
Tamaki sighed and took a deep breath before telling Kasanoda, "Look, this will take a while, and I need to talk to Kyouya and the rest of the host club. But Kasanoda-kun, I'm not behind these kidnappings. I and the host club have been searching for all of the people who were kidnapped, and we're on our way to find Shiro now."
"The kid?" Kasanoda asked, sounding surprised.
"Yes," Tamaki replied, feeling quite tired as he realized how little time had truly passed. "We've already found Kasugazaki-san and Suzushima-san; now we only have Shiro, Nekozawa, Renge-chan, and Haruhi."
"Haruhi?!" The shocked sound of Kasanoda's voice made Tamaki realize Kasanoda didn't know about the last kidnapping.
Tamaki sighed once more before saying, "Listen, Kasanoda-kun, I need to talk to Kyouya about your escape because this might become a problem if I ever want to find Haruhi."
"All right, Tamaki," Kasanoda replied. "Talk to the host club and let me know what you come up with. We'll keep these annoying goons here."
Tamaki closed his cell phone with a decided snap. He turned to his best friend and father, looking at them anxiously before announcing, "Kasanoda-kun was rescued by his men. They followed Kasanoda when he was kidnapped and found the place everyone was taken."
"Does that mean they also found Reiko then?" Kyouya quickly asked, picking up on the order of the kidnapping victims.
Hunny's eyes grew huge as he prodded, "Did they, Tama? Did they rescue Reiko-chan for us?" He gripped his cousin's arm with a bracing grasp and watched Tamaki's face anxiously for a response.
"Yes, Hunny-senpai," Tamaki replied, smiling a little at his older friend. "They found Reiko-chan for us. She's safe with Kasanoda-kun and his men at the moment, and they've detained the men who kidnapped everyone and are waiting for us to join them at some old mansion."
Hunny's face, which clearly showed his relief once he knew of Reiko's condition now tightened, his eyes growing dark as he said, "Let's go now, Tamaki." The group stared at the change in the young man as his lips thinned out into a tight line and he clenched his fists. "Let's go, and we'll force them to tell us where the rest of our friends are. And we'll find out just who is behind this," he added with a malicious grin.
Tamaki shivered and opened his mouth to protest too much violence, but Kyouya was faster. "We can't do that, Hunny-senpai," he replied to his martial artist friend. "We need to go find Shiro as fast as we can. The way things are going, we're running out of time to find everyone, and if news of Kasanoda's escape reaches the kidnappers, who knows if we'll find Shiro or Nekozawa? We'll let Kasanoda and Tetsuya deal with the thugs for now, and then we'll go talk to them, and you can do as you please..."
Tamaki's face paled at the gleam in his friend's eyes, but he calmed considerably when Kyouya added, "You can do as you please in the context of the law, that is."
Mori grabbed for Hunny when he would have lunged at the Shadow King. "No, Mitsukuni," he said. "Now is not the time. She is safe." Hunny stared at his cousin for a long moment, but Mori never flinched, and finally Hunny nodded, settling back into his seat silently.
"Now, Tamaki," Yuzuru broke the silence once the tense moment had passed, "what are we going to do about the rescued victims of this kidnapping? We need to let the others know what's going on. Perhaps you should call those twins of yours and let them know that Kasanoda is free."
Before he could reply, Tamaki felt his phone vibrate, and he looked down to see that he had a text message. Flipping the cell phone open, he pressed 'Receive' and saw that Kaoru had texted him. He hit the button and grew pale when he read, "Hideyo is sick! She passed out in the car, Milord! We need to pull over somewhere and see what's wrong. She won't wake up!"
--
Beppe glared at Renge, his eyes narrowing at her triumphant expression. "What have you done?" He whispered furiously, voice low and dangerous.
"You won't let me go," she spouted with righteous indignation, eyes flashing with suppressed emotion. "I had to do something."
Beppe looked across the room at his charge's angry facade. Emilia was currently sitting on the sofa, arms crossed over her chest, and foot beating out an impatient tattoo. "I'm sure there was only a simple misunderstanding," he finally ground out, walking to the woman who glared at him. "Now, tell me again what's wrong."
"I don't know who I am or where I am," Emilia replied, eyes lowered in thought. "You won't tell me what's happened, and you won't let me leave the house. I don't feel comfortable here, and from what I understand, you won't let Renge out either."
Emilia was more comfortable with the strange girl who'd been with her through her ordeal, and while she wasn't sure what caused her to like Renge, she knew instinctively that the girl was there to help her and not to harm her. Unlike Beppe, who consistently kept everything close to the vest and refused to really open up to her, Renge came in and talked with her, trying to help her remember her past in a very subtle way, and though she realized Renge probably wasn't supposed to be doing that for whatever the reason, Emilia appreciated her efforts. Beppe was more or less trying to woo her, and that made her uncomfortable with the man whose seductive looks intrigued and at the same time repulsed her. Something was very wrong.
Beppe kept his eyes veiled as he watched Emilia think. She was a strong-willed woman, and he knew from experience just how determined stubborn women could be. However, he couldn't risk letting her leave just yet. He needed more time to convince her that she was a part of this world, even if she had questioned him about her language and obvious Japanese appearance. He'd brushed aside her concerns, reminding her that she'd been a study abroad student before they fell in love; Emilia had not been convinced.
Before he could decide what tack to take, however, Beppe was surprised to see Emilia regroup and begin to tear into him again.
"I don't know my full name, and that bothers me," she was saying. "And I don't see why you won't give me any information! Renge says you know what's going on and that she isn't allowed to talk to me about any of it. So why won't you tell me the truth? I feel like a child or-or a prisoner! If I know this place and am a part of it, why am I not allowed to simply go outside? Shouldn't I recognize it?"
Taking a breath, she continued to rant, now marching back and forth between the sofa and the table, "And if I've lost my memory, then why hasn't it returned? I know these things take time, but this is ridiculous! You say I belong here, but my name doesn't even feel like my own!"
Renge hid a smile at that comment, knowing full well why Haruhi--ahem, Emilia--was so confused by her identity crisis and current memory loss. Seeing Haruhi take a breath, she decided a bit of prompting was in order and quickly interjected, "Perhaps if you were to tell Emilia about her family and her past, she might be more inclined to regain her memory?" She raised an eyebrow when Beppe scowled at her, trying hard not to laugh at his ire. "Besides, you are the one she loves, correct? Wouldn't that also make you the one most interested in getting her memories back?"
Emilia stared at Renge, noting the veiled triumph on her face, the straight-backed posture that bespoke her tension, and the calculative glances she directed at Beppe. Something she said stuck out to the lost woman, and she turned to Beppe to gage his reaction.
Beppe felt cornered, like a mouse between two hungry cats. On one side Renge stood, looking rather nonplussed and pragmatic, but he could sense her careful scrutiny and desire for him to make a mistake. She would pounce like a mountain lion and tear him apart in whatever way she could. On the other side, Emilia stopped in her pacing and stared at him, eyes blank. For some reason this expression scared him even more than Renge's calculating one, and Beppe knew caution was in order.
"I believe Renge-chan is right," a new voice entered the fray to say. The three in the sitting room were visibly startled as their new member entered the room, a decided sway to her hips and gleam in her eyes. "Beppe, dear, you should make all haste to tell Emilia of her history. She'll get more out of it than hearing it from Renge, who can't tell her the story of how she fell in love with you."
Renge felt stymied at this new twist. She wasn't sure where the two were going with this, but the balance shifted heavily in their direction. Now that control was taken from her grasp, she wondered what would become of her decision to push Beppe to talk to Haruhi.
"And I can go outside?" Emilia asked. Her eyes narrowed as she placed her hands firmly on her hips. Nothing was going to stop her from figuring out what was bothering her about this situation.
"Of course," Beppe smoothly replied, looking very much relieved. "I wouldn't dream of keeping you cooped up all day. We merely wanted to give you time to recover from your injuries, bella. Don't worry; we'll go out tomorrow and take a walk around the grounds. How does that sound?"
Renge made a sound suspiciously like a growl that Emilia, who had paced back over towards the woman, noticed and wondered at. Something in the way things had turned made her a bit anxious, but she desperately needed to get some fresh air, so she replied simply, "That will be fine."
With the crisis averted, Beppe excused himself and walked out, the fourth member of their party in tow. Renge and Emilia watched curiously as they moved, and it was only after the door had closed that the two breathed a sigh, almost in concert.
"What's wrong?" Renge asked Emilia, wondering at her friend's reaction to the whole debacle. "Are you okay?" Emilia had been suffering minor setbacks as she returned to health, mostly dreams that confused her, but sometimes she had moments when her vision swam and she had to sit down until she could focus again.
"Yes," Emilia answered uncertainly, her lower lip caught between her teeth in concentration, "but...don't you think they looked rather close? I mean, Beppe moved very close to her, and he was kind of protective towards her, don't you think?"
Mind racing, Renge worked to come up with something to say in reply. "Well, I'm not really the best person to ask," she said, "but they do seem a bit close, don't they? And they sleep on the other side of the mansion...it's strange, isn't it? He's supposed to be in love with you, and yet, he left with her."
Emilia, who had already come to that conclusion, was surprised at the fact the two slept at the same end of the mansion. She wasn't aware that they were even living in the home with her, and now this new bit of knowledge made her more curious about their relationship than before. Perhaps she should investigate this situation she found herself in.
Renge watched the wheels turning in her friend's head. Despite losing her memory, Haruhi was still as sharp as ever, and something in the tense set of her shoulders told Renge that Haruhi would be pursuing this avenue of thought. She smirked for a moment before schooling her features into mild curiosity as the door opened to reveal Arianne.
"Miss, I believe it is time for you to go back to your room if you don't mind," the meek maid said, gesturing to the hallway for Haruhi to precede her.
"Let me come, too," Renge said, smiling at her new ally. "We still have more stories to discuss, don't we?"
Emilia, almost too caught up in her own thoughts to pay attention to the two leading her, was shocked when she caught the tail end of something Renge was saying. "...but that's Ouran for you."
"Excuse me," Emilia interrupted, a strange light in her eyes, "but did you just say Ouran?"
"Yes, I did," Renge replied, holding her breath as her friend's eyes grew hazy for a moment. Knowing she couldn't tell the whole truth, she gave as close to it as she could, "Ouran Academy is the school I attended in Japan for three years. It's a lovely school and has a host of clubs that students can join."
Haruhi's eyes sharpened when she heard the word 'host' in conjunction with Ouran. It reminded her of her dream, and she wished she knew why it seemed so familiar. Before she could ask any questions, however, the two opened the doors to her room and allowed her to enter.
As the door closed, Emilia heard Arianne say, "Now, what can you tell me of my Tamaki?" The voices ceased with the soft click of the latch, but Emilia's heart was racing at the name 'Tamaki' for some unknown reason.
--
"Who are you, and who are you working for?" Tetsuya's angry voice lashed the men in front of him. Four brawny men, mostly the same ones who had taken their captives to one place after another, were seated on the floor, arms tied behind their backs and feet tied together at the ankles.
Kasanoda flipped his phone shut before striding over to his underling. "Calm down, Tetsuya. I just spoke with Tamaki, and he said they'll be coming over here shortly. Let's see what we can figure out before we beat the crap out of these guys." He cracked his knuckles and smirked at the men, enjoying the fear he saw on their faces for what it was: fear of someone ugly and scary. Fear that was finally serving Kasanoda's interests.
"Now," he said, having captured their attention, "I know you all are being paid to transport your victims to where ever the heck you've been taking them. And I know this is all connected to Tamaki and the host club. What I haven't figured out is who you're working for. With that said," he stretched, allowing his shirt to raise a bit to show off his muscular body, "you should know that we can do this the easy way...or the hard way."
"Kasanoda-san," one of his men said, walking into the room, "all we found were some notes and a small notebook." He held out the offending objects, which Kasanoda took from him. "The notes don't make much sense, but we think they were meant for you and Kanazuki-san."
"Let me see the notes, Kasanoda-kun," Reiko said, walking into the room slowly. "I'll see if I can figure them out." She held out her hand, and Ritsu reluctantly handed over the notes.
"You won't get very far," the brunette in the far corner sneered. The two looked at him steadily as he continued, "Those notes aren't for you. They're for Suou."
"Then why don't you tell us what this is all about," Kasanoda said genially as he stepped over to the man who sported several growing bruises on his cheek and jaw. "Like I said, you can do this the easy way or the hard way."
The man glared up at his captor balefully. "I just want my money. Once I get that, I don't care what you do to me," he said. "Besides, we don't know who hired us. None of us do. We each got a package in the mail with 5,000 yen and a note telling us what to do to get twice that."
"You're lying," Reiko said, staring at the man with her dark eyes. She quirked a grin at him before saying, "That's not true, and you know it. Why don't you be a good boy and tell the truth?" Her voice turned darker and deeper as she spoke, and the light in her eyes grew brighter with each word.
"H-how would you know that? I'm not lying," the brunette stated uneasily, fighting his bonds. "That's the truth, and the only thing I can tell you is that Suou should be the one you're talking to if you want to know what's going on."
"That's right," the biggest man agreed with his cohort. His black hair and eyes made him look even more intimidating while standing, but sitting he seemed rather innocuous. "All we know is that Suou's the one who knows what this is all about. We were just recruited to kidnap everyone and take them where they were supposed to be left. The man didn't tell us anything other than that."
His fellow kidnappers glared at him, making sounds of disgust at his lapse in judgment. The black-haired man's eyes widened as he realized what he'd given away.
Tetsuya and two other men came up to flank Kasanoda and Reiko as Ritsu said, "And who would that man be exactly? And don't bother lying. Reiko here is a master of black magic and can curse you into the next century if you lie to us."
The men looked nervously between two of their former kidnapping victims. Reiko was as stoic as ever, but her eyes gleamed even more as Kasanoda praised her. Ritsu on the other hand was glaring in a formidable way. They wondered what they were thinking to get involved with such powerful groups as the Kasanoda clan and the Ootori Zaibatsu, not to mention black magic wielders. This was becoming more costly by the minute.
"Look, man, he said his name was VP and that he would provide us with information about you guys, your names, locations, families, everything we needed to do the job," the brunette said, looking resigned to the fact he would not get out of this without telling the truth. "We've got the files he gave us over behind that wall," here he inclined his head towards the fireplace, "and he said Suou-sama would know what kind of files they are. I don't know what he was talking about, but since he gave us the money and the information, I didn't care. We were just doing a job."
Tetsuya and another man were carefully searching the fireplace for any kind of trapdoor or hidden opening. Leaning his hand on one of the wall sconces for support as he bent over, Tetsuya grunted when the sconce turned to the right, and the fireplace moved to the side with a grating sound.
The two men entered the small room and returned bearing file folders with papers spilling out. Handing one of the folders to Kasanoda, they dumped the rest on the nearby table. Ritsu pulled out a few papers and handed them to Reiko; the two began to go through the pages of facts concerning the kidnapping victims.
"I know these files," Reiko suddenly said, her face paling with comprehension. "These are our personal school files from Ouran. They document everything from our families to our grades! But how did you come by them?" Her eyes moved to each thug in turn, pinning them to the floor with icy intensity.
--
Two limos pulled unceremoniously into a nearby parking lot. People walking out of the store in front stared as the limos parked next to one another, and young men spilled out of one car to clamber haphazardly into the other. A moment later, two adult men climbed out of the first limo and moved to lean into the open doors of the second limo.
The twins were in shock. Kanako was kneeling on the floor of the limo over the unresponsive Hideyo and patting the girl's cheek with no success. Toru's face was lined with worry, eyes wide and mouth thinned into a straight line as he watched his fiance's efforts.
"We don't know what happened," Kanako said without looking up from Hideyo's prone form. "She started complaining about not feeling well and then curled up in a little ball, clutching her stomach before she fell in the floor of the car."
Yuzuru glanced worriedly at his former student before saying, "Should we call for an ambulance? She looks very ill."
His observation was correct. In her unconsciousness, Hideyo was still clutching her stomach while lying on her side. Her face was sheet white and contorted into a grimace. She lay still but looked in pain, and Kanako was growing worried about the woman.
Tamaki felt sick just looking at Hideyo. "Do you think she's been poisoned?" His mind began to whirl, filling with all manner of plots against the club's new ally. "What if someone wanted to hurt us for finding the others? What if the kidnappers decided to start killing people off because we're going too slowly?" His voice escalated both in speed and pitch with each new theory.
"Tamaki, stop," Kyouya said from his place in the seat Hideyo had occupied. "You're just tossing out ridiculous ideas, and it's getting us nowhere."
Before the shadow king could continue, Tamaki nearly yelled, "Kyouya, what are you doing with Hideyo-san's purse?!"
All movement stopped as every pair of eyes turned towards the dark-haired young man. Tamaki and Yuzuru stared agape as Kyouya continued his task, slowly emptying the contents of Hideyo's purse into his lap and examining them one by one.
"This was the only way I could determine whether Ayanokoji-san was really trying to help us or not," Kyouya replied, not looking up from his task but pulling out a notebook and flipping idly through the pages. "It was for your own good, Tamaki."
"How dare you!" The blind rage in Kaoru's voice was enough to scare even Hunny-senpai into cringing a bit. "You poisoned her?! How could you do something like that, Kyouya-senpai?"
Everyone stared at Kaoru before swiveling to look at Kyouya. "I did not poison her," he replied calmly, still flipping through the notebook. "I merely gave her a mild sedative in order to see if she was working for the kidnappers."
Kanako gasped as Yuzuru turned pale. The twins uttered outraged shouts, and Hunny exchanged glances with his cousin, eyes narrowing at this information.
"You think Hideyo-san had a part in the kidnappings, Kyouya?" Ranka asked, speaking up from his place halfway outside the car.
"I wanted to know one way or another," Kyouya replied noncommittally. "It was rather suspicious for her to be given the first note and then to continue to help us the entire time? She had nothing to gain from helping us, and that nagged at me. I decided to investigate."
Kaoru growled, having recovered enough to say, "That's low, Kyouya-senpai! Even for you, that's low! Hideyo was helping us of her own free will, and you know it. She wanted to get Haruhi back just like the rest of us!"
"Did she?" Kyouya asked smoothly, tearing a sheet out of the notebook and pocketing it. "How do you know? If you'll recall, Kaoru, Ayanokoji-san is the same woman who once tried to sabotage Haruhi's position in the host club. Why would she suddenly come back to Japan, receive a suspicious kidnapping note, and then help us try to find the victims? There's more to this than meets the eye."
"But she's been helping us because she felt bad that she got the message in the first place," Hikaru said. "You were the one who said sending her the note let the kidnappers get Haruhi away faster, senpai! She didn't want to just stand by and watch after you said that!"
Hunny put a restraining hand on Hikaru's arm and then asked, "Kyou-chan, how did you manage to get the sedative to Hideyo-san?"
Kyouya looked up to his older friend and shrugged, saying, "I merely asked Shin-san to pour a bit of it into the drink she had for lunch. I wasn't sure when it would take effect. But she won't be asleep long, so there's no need to worry." Thus saying, he placed the items in his lap back into the unconscious woman's purse, dropping them unceremoniously inside.
"Um, I hate to interrupt, but we have a problem." Kanako's voice tore their eyes from the self-assured young man to look down where she sat with Hideyo. "I think she's having a reaction to whatever you gave her, Kyouya-san. She's got a fever and is beginning to thrash around."
Looking at Hideyo, everyone could see her condition had worsened in the moments they'd been arguing. Her body convulsed, her arms wrapping more tightly around her middle, and her forehead had a thin sheen of sweat on it. Her eyes snapped open, revealing a blank, unfocused gaze, and then they closed as she moaned pathetically.
"We need to get her to a hospital now," Kyouya's no-nonsense voice told them all they needed to know.
Hideyo was in trouble.
...
A/N: I apologize if the characters (especially Hunny and Kaoru) seem a bit OOC this time around. It wasn't intentional, but it will be explained in further chapters if you didn't figure out the connections already. As for poor Kasanoda, I honestly like the guy, but I truly was using the anime/manga's tendency to show him as the ugly guy who just scares people because of his appearance. I personally think he's a great character. And, finally, I know I'm making Kyouya a bit of a villain in this chapter, but there's a reason for that as well. Overall, this isn't my favorite chapter, but it needed to be written.
My story keeps giving me more twists, by the way. I didn't intend on having Kasanoda rescued, but for some reason Tetsuya wouldn't let me leave his beloved leader remain in that hovel. Now I have to figure out why Hideyo's decided to react badly to Kyouya's sedative. Don't worry, though, I have some idea of what's happening, but there's something important that's missing here as they rush Hideyo to the hospital. Can anyone tell me what it is?
Thanks for reading and for the reviews, everyone! I really appreciate it, and they encourage me to write more! I do hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please feel free to let me know what you thought!
Until next time...
-Rae-
