Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, I've been suffering from severe writier's block and was hesitant to write the parts of the Host Club, even though they're not that big in this chapter, but will be in upcoming ones. Also, I forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter when Maaya is talking about "maths" that's not a typo, in England math is called "maths", just so you know.

For the next few hours Maaya showed him her essays and letters she'd had to send in, also the questions they might ask him during the interview. She'd helped him start a rough plan for his letter and told him what he should put in and how he should phrase it so he sounded worthy of the scholarship, but not too pompous or anything. Kyouya liked spending time with her; his heart sped up a little every time he saw her. He still didn't understand why he worried about her a little when she and Rina left in the mornings. He'd never actually seen them leave, every time he set his alarm clock; it seemed someone always set it a half hour later while he slept. He wondered who it was but knew that with all the mischievous and scheming people in this house, it could be almost anyone.

Maaya left once he understood what to write since she said she needed a break and went to her room to paint. They were going to pick up Tamaki and the Host Club at five from the train station, their flight had been delayed due to the weather, it was horrible in London. Kyouya leaned back from his desk where'd he'd been starting his rough draft when he heard soft and gentle music coming from the room down the hall, Maaya was painting again. Kyouya wondered what it looked like in that room, Rina was always bugging Maaya about her artwork when Maaya came out or finished a sketch. She also kept saying how Maaya rarely let anyone in and Maaya replied that it meant a lot more to her than any of the sketches she did. He remembered what Avery and Alec had told him a few days ago when he'd asked why Maaya's art room was so important to her.

Flashback

"So, why does Maaya always say that it's different when it comes to her art room when Rina tells her she should let more people see her artwork?" Kyouya asked as Aver flipped through the channels on the TV an Alec read a book called Tuesdays with Morrie. As soon as he asked this, Alec turned off the TV and Alec set his book aside.

"Well, you know that Maaya doesn't really show her emotions like Rina does. She needs some way to vent and let it out so she does that through her artwork, most of which is in the art room," Avery began, "When she first moved to Pennsylvania with Jack and I met her, she didn't say a word, all she did was nod when Garrett introduced us and disappeared into her room. Then she went to boarding school and came back for part of her Christmas break; she was a lot happier and started actually talking, but it was a looong time before she started drawing in front of me. Maaya was better, but still really depressed and lonely since she missed her sister and was homesick. That's when Rina and Jien put their plan into action and created the art room so that she could express her feelings. Whenever she'd sad or really happy, she paints what she feels on the walls."

Alec nodded in agreement, "It means a lot to her because she's been working on this mural that spans three wall so far since seventh grade and it's everything she's felt since then. It's like you can see her emotions and actually get a good look at what she's really feeling for once, instead of just a glimpse. It's very personal and means a lot to her, it's not just about her artwork, it's about what it says and the memories it brings," he added. Kyouya leaned back and thought about this, so art was the way she let everything out and he realized it must have helped her get over her parents' death and what she missed about home and her family when she'd had to leave.

 End Flashback

Kyouya suddenly noticed that the music had stopped. He looked at the time, it was one thirty, Maaya must have gotten something to eat. He got up and went down to the kitchen to fill his empty stomach. In three hours they were leaving to pick up the Host Club. Kyouya would never admit it to anyone, but he was looking forward to seeing Tamaki and the rest of the Host Club, they'd been the closest thing he'd ever had to friends. As he entered the kitchen, he knew where pretty much everything was in the house, he noticed Maaya sitting around the table with Iris, Ally, and Avery while Angie talked to them and asked Maaya how she was. Maaya waved a hand over, glad for the distraction, and he sat down next to her. "You should really talk to a doctor, Maaya, this just isn't normal and you look a little pale," Angie said worriedly.

"I'm fine, Angie, honest. It's nothing, I've been running a bit more than normal, so my body's just a little tired, that's all. Don't worry, you're overreacting," Maaya assured her. Angie then sighed, unsatisfied, and walked back to the stove to finish cooking.

"Maybe she's right, Maay, maybe you should talk to Aclarion or someone," Ally said as Iris nodded in agreement. Iris and Ally were twins but looked nothing alike, Ally had long blond hair while Iris's was short and black with white streaks. It was impossible to mix them up even though they were the same height, thin, but not extremely, and muscular. They were a few inches taller than Maaya and the same height as Avery.

"Guys, I'm fine, it's nothing don't worry. I'll go to sleep early tonight, I promise," she replied, clearly wanting to drop the subject.

"O.K., O.K., but if you faint again, we're taking you straight to the hospital. Anyway, on to lighter topics, such as when you're cousin and his friends are arriving," Avery said, knowing they couldn't convince Maaya to talk to a doctor, she was too stubborn, just like a lot of people he knew.

"We're going to pick them up at the train station at half past four so we'll get there around five, which is when they're train arrives," Maaya explained as Angie brought over the food and gave everyone a plate before returning to the sink to clean.

"You know, all seven of them won't fit in the Cadillac," Iris said matter-of-factly.

"Seven? I thought that there were only six other than Kyouya," Ally asked.

"There are, but since Kyouya's going too I assume along with Jack, Rina, and Maaya. That Cadillac doesn't seat more than eight, six in the back and two in the front counting the driver," Iris explained.

"That's why I'm not driving the Cadillac, Raven's letting me take her car since it can seat ten people which is what we need," Maaya told them. Kyouya was taken aback; he didn't know she could drive.

"Wait, I thought you didn't have your license yet, how can you drive?" Avery asked, eyes widened in surprise, while Iris and Ally didn't even look up from their food.

"I don't, not yet, but I do have my permit and Jack's old enough so that I can drive with him in the front seat. You know Jack taught me to drive when I was fourteen and I've been able to drive on the highway since I was fifteen and I'm almost seventeen now, just a few more weeks," she replied calmly.

"I know, our little baby's all grown up," Ally said, faking tears and adopting a high-pitched, motherly voice as she pretended to wipe tears from her eyes.

"I still can't believe how he got away with that," Avery said, referring to Jack teaching Maaya to drive in eight grade during the summer in Pennsylvania.

"Well since it was his car and in the parking lot of an old vacant building or in the back-roads behind Johnny's house, no one found out," Maay replied.

"Who's Johnny and when's your birthday?" Kyouya asked, unable to follow the conversation.

"Oh, Johnny is a friend of Jack's from Pennsylvania and is also Garrett's step-brother. He moved in with Johnny and his younger brother Duke who's Garrett's best friend after Evelyn went psychotic and tried to kill him," Maaya explained.

"Yeah, that was fun, everyone's just hanging around in the basement in the summer before tenth grade watching a movie and Evelyn suddenly storms downstairs, back hands him so hard her ring slices his face open and freaks out. She went crazy; it took half the soccer team to hold her back," Avery added, shaking his head at the memory.

Maaya nodded in agreement, "And my birthday is on January first, New Year's Day 12:01. Rina was born a few minutes before me on December thirty-first at 11:59, so we're twins but were born on different days and in different years." She smirked as she ate, it clearly amused her that she was only a couple minutes younger than her sister, yet they were born in two different months, days and years.

Kyouya just turned to his food and tried to look indifferent, but on the inside he was reeling. Maaya and Rina's birthday was in a few weeks, as was Christmas. He head to buy gifts for them and the Host Club but couldn't afford to buy anyone else gifts since he was low on cash for the first time ever in his whole life. It was quite shocking really. Other than the fact that his funds were limited, he had no idea what to get them. He knew they liked music but probably had all the music they wanted and the best quality instruments money could buy. He'd have to ask Garrett or Avery later since they knew Maaya and Rina better.

Just as Kyouya was considering what he knew not to get Maaya, Rina walked in with curly hair instead of her naturally straight hair, glasses, and an outfit identical to Maaya's in every way. They both wore blue v-necked sweaters with a white camisole underneath, dark blue jeans, and white socks with no shoes. The only difference at all was that Maaya's hair was a dark brown while Ree's was a dark blond bordering light brown. Kyouya remembered how on the first day he'd seen Rina and Maaya next 

to each other he'd thought they looked nothing alike and wondered if they were really twins, but now there was almost no difference and it was hard to tell them apart for once.

"Whoa! Rina looks like Maaya, or does Maaya look like Rina?" Iris said, looking up from the notebook she was analyzing, astonished at Rina's appearance.

"Ree looks like Maaya since her hair is curly, but then again, Maaya's is impossible to straighten. We tried for three hours once and it just wouldn't straighten, it was actually sort of funny," Ally said, not seeming shocked by her step-sisters' appearances.

"Why are you making an effort to look the same, though? I mean Ree's usually in contacts and has straight hair, this only happens on rare occasions for certain purposes. So explain, now," Avery said, he didn't look surprised, just puzzled.

"Well Tamaki's arriving and it's the first time we've seen him in over three years, so we figured we'd confuse him a bit in retaliation for him waking us up at two in the morning when we'd only had four hours of sleep the night before," Ree explained as she and Maaya shared a devilish grin that he'd seen on Hikaru and Kaoru too many times before, this was going to be an interesting day, that was for sure.

"Oh, ok. I should have expected this, knowing you two. A deed never goes unpunished, or un-rewarded, in this household," Avery replied with a smile.

"Indeed," Maaya answered. "I don't think there's anything else to do now but wait to leave, Raven's car is out front, the bedrooms are all clean and prepared, so all we have to do is pick them up now," she muttered to herself, going down a checklist in her head.

They finished lunch and went off to do something to pass the time, Maaya and Rina were reading, Ally and Iris were working on a car they'd bought a while ago and were seeing how long it would take to make it into a decent car (or in their terms: able to go at least 150 mph), and Avery was hacking a soccer ball around with Garrett , Alec, Twi, and Aaron in one of the empty ball rooms so they would damage anything. There were quite a few ballrooms strewn about the house, the fourth floor contained a gym with a treadmill, weights, bikes, a track, and an Olympic size swimming pool. The third floor had guest bedrooms, an few locked doors, presumably offices and a huge library stocked with every kind of book imaginable. The second floor had a few sitting rooms, guest bedrooms on the east wing, the west wing was the part that contained his room, Tyler's room, Maaya and Rina's rooms, their study, the music room, and Maaya's mysterious art room.

Kyouya found himself restless without anything to occupy his mind. He donned a coat and wandered around the grounds, there was a huge gate that bordered most of the land, but ended where the woods began. There was a small stables that held a horse for Sam and Cale's pony, Maaya and Rina didn't have horses since it was too much of a hassle to carry them from school and back and they weren't home often enough to take care of them so they just used the ones at school on occasion. There was a huge field to the right of the house where a few people were playing soccer in the freezing cold 

winter, a garage held all of the cars a few yards away from the house, and a pond to the left that was about fifty feet all around and entirely iced over, he could see Maris, Ariya, Chris, Aaron, Aranel, and Ben skating on it. Ben was dating Maris and his family had been friends with hers for a long time. Also, Ben had an older cousin named Matt that everyone called Kaine for some strange reason who was dating Raven. They'd arrived a few days ago to the surprise of everyone. Sadie and Shadow were running around with Devon, her younger brothers, and Elly. He eventually went back inside to warm up and discovered it was almost time to go. He got dressed into something appropriate and got ready to go.

"Hey, Kyouya, we're leaving now, so come on," Maaya said, jingling the car keys she'd gotten off Raven as she walked by his open door. He got up, shutting the door securely behind him. Kyouya was actually looking forward to seeing Tamaki, believe it or not, he missed his friend and the rest of the Host Club. He'd kept in touch to make sure they didn't go bankrupt or anything and to make all the arrangements for the upcoming events Tamaki planned.

They all piled into the SUV hybrid that had ten seats, three in the front, three in the second row, and four in the third row. The trunk was almost non-existent since it was tiny so Kyouya figured they rarely used the last row and just kept it folded down. Maaya was in the front seat with Jack sitting in the window seat next to her, Rina was in the middle of the first row with Cale on her left so he got in next to her. "Cale wanted to come along too after he learned we were going to pick up Tamaki. He was only two that last time he saw him, so we figured he could come," Rina explained as Maaya started the car and they drove off to the train station. It was a short drive through the town, Kyouya saw that it was a small town with a huge cathedral and a few other small churches for other religions and houses of pretty much the same style. There were a few small storefronts and a movie theater. They reached the train station a little early to find that their train had been delayed another half-hour.

It was clear that Jack, Maaya, and Rina knew their way around the train station and Cale was familiar with it, but was only five so he didn't know much. They sat down where they were supposed to arrive and waited. Snow was falling again and seemed to be coming down thicker every minute. "Blizzard's coming early, it wasn't supposed to start snowing for a few more days," Jack noted as Maaya handed Cale a coloring book and a box of crayons to keep him happy. He was smiling innocently as he colored the pages, almost staying in the lines.

"Well that's English weather for you, unpredictable as ever," Maaya replied. Just then two boys on bikes ran by and circled back, much to the annoyance of everyone else walking around in the train station. One had shaggy brown hair and blue eyes and wore blue jeans, a black hoodie, and skater shoes while the other had dirty blond hair, brown eyes, blue jeans, an open button up shirt over a t-shirt and a jean jacket with flat black and white sneakers. They were grinning from ear to ear as there was a sign that clearly stated: No rollerblades, no skateboards, and no bikes and there wasn't a security guard in sight.

"Well hello, Rina, Maaya, Jack, random guy, and little boy, fancy seeing you here on this fine day" the blond haired one said as they faced them with their feet on the ground, ready to speed away in case a guard showed up. Maaya and Rina burst out laughing, Jack smirked and shook his head, Cale 

looked puzzled, and Kyouya was shocked.
"Hi, Conner, Caleb, this is my cousin Cale, and our friend, Kyouya. Kyouya, Cale, this is Caleb and Conner," Maaya said, gesturing to the brown haired boy, then to the blond one to distinguish them.

"And what are you guys doing here, other than causing mischief and annoying or entertaining people?" Rina asked, folding her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow in question.

"Just that, nothing else. We were bored and didn't have anything better to do today," Caleb answered honestly with a smirk.

Maaya rolled her eyes, "Very nice, guys. We're here to pick up my cousin, Tamaki, and his friends."

"Oh, the one from Japan that you haven't seen in three years because of your evil grandmother?" Conner asked.

"The very same," Jack answered.

"Cool, we'd stick around to meet him and his friends, but we better get going cause I see a guard at three o'clock," and with that, they hopped on their bikes and rode off towards the exit.

"See ya at the festival!" Conner called back as they biked away, turning back to wave. Maaya and Rina laughed as they saw five guards, all of them either old, fat, or both running behind them, desperately trying to catch the boys, but failing utterly.

"Oooh, was that a hint of a date I detected in CJ's voice?" Jack asked teasingly towards Maaya. Kyouya had no idea why, but he felt a wave of anger and jealousy pass over him as Jack said that. This was ridiculous, he shouldn't care at all who Maaya dated, but for some strange reason he did. Was it that he liked Maaya as more than a friend? Impossible, he didn't have time for a girlfriend, he was busy and this was Tamaki's cousin he was thinking about, besides she didn't have time for a boyfriend, she was too focused on her schoolwork, art, music, and sports to think about having a relationship with anyone, let alone someone she'd met a few weeks ago.

"No," Maaya replied without a hint of a blush, "There is no me and CJ, there is an Anna and CJ, there's an Aaron and Bria, there's an Alex and Sabina, and a Caleb likes Tyler and Tyler likes Caleb, but they're too stupid to tell each other, and there is a me and nobody. You know I don't have time or an interest in boys at the moment." Kyouya felt a rush of relief when he hear her say that, but it was followed with disappointment when he heard that last sentence , he known it was true, but hearing it was worse because now he couldn't say he didn't know for sure. She turned to Kyouya, "And just so you know, Conner and Caleb are friends of ours that go to St. Judith's with us so you'll be seeing a lot of them, they're notorious for their pranks and practical jokes; it's quite funny, really."

"OK, OK, I get it. You know I was just joking around," Jack said. "What did those other people have to do with my remark though?"

"She's referring to the giant love circle octagon thing from ninth grade. The basic gist was Aaron liked Bria, Bria liked Conner, Conner liked Caleb's little sister Anna, Anna liked Conner's friend Alex, Alex liked our friend Sabina, Sabina thought she liked Caleb, and Caleb, being our other gay friend, likes Tyler. Now it's all straightened out and the confusing circle thing is over," Rina explained, only calling Caleb gay for Kyouya's sake. Cale wasn't listening; he was too busy concentrating on his coloring.

"Ah, okay," Jack replied, understanding now.

"Festival, what festival?" Kyouya asked, curious to know what they were talking about.

"Festival, oooo, are we going this year?" Cale asked, bouncing in excitement.

"Yes, of course, we go every year," Rina replied, ruffling Cale's hair.

"The festival we're referring to is the Christmas festival that occurs every year in the old cathedral. It's this huge event that goes on for a week, there are a few acting groups made up of kids and people from the community and the choruses perform, there are a ton of bands and groups that perform. It's a lot of fun because you can try all this Christmas food from other nations and stuff during the food fair. There's a festival for every season and the winter one just sort of became the Christmas one too," Maaya explained.

"Yeah, and it's a lot of fun! Daddy buys me all these presents like chocolate and there's these really funny plays, and good music, it's a blast! Then Aunt Elise and Auntie Lisa's families come over on the twenty-third and we all exchange gifts after seeing the play and eating dinner. And then it's Christmas Eve and Santa comes, giving people even more gifts!" Cale exclaimed, a smile lighting up his face as he explained about their holiday traditions.

"Do all the little kids still believe in Santa?" Kyouya asked, wondering if anyone other than Cale knew.

"Yep, Gabe and Cole are seven so they have slight doubts, but are still pretty sure Santa's real," Maaya replied. She then stood up as an announcement came on saying that train 425 from London had arrived at Platform 5.

"Let's go, Platform 5 is just over there," Rina said as Maaya picked Cale up and put him on her shoulders so his hands rested on her head. Cale smiled gleefully and to Kyouya's surprise, Maaya didn't seem to mind the added weight. Jack put the coloring books and crayons back in Ree's bag and gave it to her. They walked down to the platform to wait. Soon they saw Tamaki gesturing widely as he spoke words they couldn't hear, Haruhi was looking around curiously, the twins were laughing presumably at some prank, while Mori was carrying a smiling Hunny on his shoulders. Tamaki soon caught site of Kyouya leaning against a pillar and ran over to him, squeezing him in a death hug.

"Kyouya, mon ami! It's so good to see you!" he cried out in Japanese. Since Jack, Maaya, and Rina were all fluent in it, they had no trouble understanding him, but Cale he wasn't sure about. Then Tamaki saw Maaya and Rina as Maaya set Cale on the ground and grabbed Ree, spinning her around 

before doing the same to Maaya. (A/N: Note the following conversation takes place in Japanese, but I'm not fluent and don't want to create the hassle of making my readers read stupid footnotes.)

He went to hug Jack, but he held up a hand and said, "Hug me and I'll break your legs," just as everyone else caught up.

"But…but...but…Mommy, Jack's being mean!" he cried, looking for a corner to hide in.

"No, that's just the way he is, Jack's not a very huggy person," Cale replied, standing next to Jack and holding his hand.

"Oh, who is this adorable little boy?!" Tamaki exclaimed in delight as the Host Club and everyone watched.

"Has he suffered any head-trauma in the past few years? Any memory losses you can recall?" Maaya asked the Host Club, to which they shook their heads. "No? Then you're a baka and have no excuse, this our cousin, Cale, he was two when he last saw you. Remember? My father's brother, Sam's, son? " she said to Tamaki.

"Tama-chan doesn't remember me?" Cale asked, his eyes brimming with tears as he realized what was being said. It surprised Kyouya that he knew Japanese, perhaps Sam had taught him when he was younger.

"Of course!" Tamaki cried, realization dawning on him as he remembered, "How could I forget such an innocent and sweet child!" And with that, he grabbed Cale into his arms and hugged him fiercely.

"Well, now that that's done with, shouldn't we all introduce ourselves and get acquainted?" Jack suggested as he hoisted Cale up onto his shoulders. And so they all introduced themselves and after piling everyone's luggage onto a few buggies, they walked to the car into the heavily falling snow. They all piled in, Cale was forced to sit on Rina's lap but neither minded, and somehow Maaya and Jack managed to fit everyone's baggage into the limited trunk space. As Maaya drove with Haruhi sitting next to her and Jack at the window, Kyouya wondered how everyone was going to react when they met all of Maaya's friends and family. It was surely going to be an interesting Christmas break now that the Host Club had arrived.