Here's the closest picture I could find to what I imagine Kichi looking like. (URL: .; she's the second girl down). If you guys find any better-fitting pictures, (or feel like creating one), please review and leave the url. I'll pick the most suitable one and post the results.


Chapter 7

Everybody is good at something. There is always one special talent that a person excels at, and, given the opportunity, it is something they can truly be great in. Unfortunately, few people ever discover this talent, and fewer have the resources to truly take advantage of it.

Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin are one of those few who have.

Their talent for enhancing natural beauty was discovered at age three, when they managed to transform their previously unremarkable nanny into the woman their father would have an affair with for two years. If they'd known the results of their work, they undoubtedly would have sat on their chubby toddler hands rather than make the woman who'd rip their family apart beautiful.

However, their talent for finding beauty—despite its negative consequences—could not be ignored. After the divorce, their mother smiled at her sons and began teaching them all she knew. Perhaps the smiles were a bit forced and the lessons were a bit cold, but she taught them well.

It was one of the few pieces of herself that she ever gave to her sons.


"Are you ready, yet?" Hikaru demanded, pacing the floor, "You girls take forever."

He was beginning to regret revealing Haruhi's secret so easily. After Kichi had explained why she'd made her request as well as her suspicions, they'd voluntarily revealed the true gender of the Host Club's "natural type." It had been Kaoru's idea to have them take a shower together.

"Haruhi will keep her from taking forever," was his logic, "She's Haruhi. She's too boyish to take a shower forever."

So much for that, Hikaru thought grumpily. Apparently, in the presence of Kichi Sakura, Haruhi's feminine side came out. Behind the bathroom door, he heard a squeal, some laughter, and a small thump. Resisting the urge to pound on the door again, he sighed in frustration. "This wouldn't be so hard if they didn't make so much noise."

Kaoru muffled a laugh. "Or if you didn't keep distracting them from whatever they're doing." The younger Hitachiin twin was setting up one of the many vanities that filled the room, fingers flying as he worked. "Relax. They're probably washing each other's backs and stuff."

"Yeah, stuff." Hikaru said wryly. He flopped down on the couch directly parallel to the bathroom door and groaned, putting his arms over his head. "Thanks for the mental images, Kaoru."

"It's your brain, Hikaru. Don't blame me for your perverted thoughts."

"Who said my thoughts were perverted?" Hikaru smirked, "I was just imagining them destroying our lovely shower just to spite us." Kaoru blushed as he laughed, "Who's the perverted one now?"

"Who's perverted?"

The boys looked up to find Kichi poking her head out, wet hair falling past her shoulders. "Finally," Hikaru said, leaping up from the couch and crossing the room in three quick strides. He grabbed her arm, and pulled impatientl. "Come here."

"No, wait!" Kichi said, but it was too late. Hikaru flushed and let go, and Kichi ducked back behind the door with an equally red face. There was an awkward silence.

"Uh, I'll get you a smaller robe," Hikaru said, and all but ran from the room. Kaoru chuckled, ignoring the flush that was threatening to creep up his neck at the brief glimpse he'd caught from his position.

Haruhi, dressed back in the clothes she'd arrived in, walked out with a grin. "You guys are really something, you know that? Kichi's face is the color of a tomato."

A muffled, "It is not," came from behind the shower door, followed by Kichi's head. She was still blushing as Kaoru studied her face. "'S'not my fault the robe was too big."

"You're hair," he said, surprised. Kichi's hair wasn't the unnatural golden Masumi had dyed it, but an unusual mix of auburn, brown, and blonde. As she turned to look at him he caught flashes of gold. "Is that all natural?"

Kichi's nodded, "I used to sell my hair for food-money," she said, fingering a lock self-consciously, "The wig-makers liked the color."

"Colors would be more exact," Hikaru said, rushing back in. He thrust the smaller robe at Kichi, who disappeared and reappeared in moments. Kaoru studied her, noting the natural waves in her hair. They wouldn't have to do much with it except maintain its natural curl.

"Yo, are your eyes naturally black?" Hikaru asked, peering up at her face.

Kichi shook her head, "They're contacts. My eyes used to be brown, but they changed when the experiment took effect. I have to wear contacts because Captain Carter says they're too noticeable." She sat down obediently as Hikaru pushed her into the vanity and ordered her to take off her contacts.

Kaoru walked up behind her, and when she looked up to meet her own gaze in the mirror, he caught his breath. It was true, Kichi Sakura's eyes were extremely noticeable. They were still mostly a liquid caramel, but flecks of gold danced in the pupils if the light caught it right.

The sound of whirring snapped him out of his reverie as Haruhi handed him the blow-dryer. "Go ahead," she said, smiling, "Kichi's been kicking my butt at Physics all morning, and I'm tired of being the only one you guys subject to getting dressed up."

"You know you love it," Kaoru teased back, but Haruhi just rolled her eyes and handed Hikaru the comb.

"The day I love being treated like a doll is the day hell freezes over."

Some things never changed.

OHCHCOHCHC

Kichi had been dressed up more times than she could count. It was a daily routine for her—get up, get dressed by a sibling's maids, go perform her duties. She'd gotten used to the smell of hair product, the feel of contacts in her eyes, and even the various outfits she'd been given.

Now, looking at herself in the mirror, she realized that she barely remembered what she looked like.

Her hair was longer than she remembered, falling in waves almost to the middle of her back. When let free naturally, they framed her face differently and made her look older, more like a first-year, though the big, baby-doe eyes sort of ruined it.

"Stop squinting," Hikaru ordered as he brushed a strand of hair across her forehead, "It makes you look constipated."

Well, then.

"Are you always this tactless?" she asked, resisting the urge to squirm as Kaoru started applying lip gloss. The pressure wasn't exactly foreign, but tickled all the same.

"I prefer honest." Hikaru studied her face in the mirror and smiled—not his customary smirk but a real smile of satisfaction and pleasure. When Kaoru finished and stepped back, she found he had the same expression on his face. It made them look younger, sweeter. Handsome.

She'd never truly understood the attraction of the "loving-brothers act." Sure, the sly looks and devilish grins made her heart pound for awhile, but then one of them said something that made her lose her temper and the attraction vanished. Watching them tease each other as they worked, however, was a whole different story.

The hard edge to their smiles disappeared and they relaxed, pushing her into the bathroom to change into certain outfits and pulling her out to critique each others' choices. Haruhi mediated, calming them down when they got too aggressive and reminding them that she wasn't a mannequin.

It wasn't normal, by any means, but it was—nice. Fun, even.

She liked throwing her two cents in, refusing to put on anything too skimpy or too flowery. She learned that she liked skirts and shorts and that she hated plad and stripes. Time flew by as they laughed over ridiculous hats and tried to get Haruhi to dress up to.

The twins both ended up wearing different outfits than they'd started out with, and Kichi's arms were getting sore, when when the twins finally proclaimed her in her best natural outfit.

She looked at herself in the full-length mirror and found herself in a white and red summer dress and a soft cap that fit comfortably over her wavy hair.

The clothes were her in a way that she'd never experienced. She felt cute, even pretty, and despite the red that was staining her cheeks she knew she was smiling. It was far more feminine than anything she wore for Kaisei, too impractical for anything she wore for Tachi or Yumi, and too simple to belong to Masumi's arsenal of choice.

She liked it.

The spell was broken when she glanced at the clock and froze, eyes widening in horror. "I was supposed to pick up Tachi ten minutes ago!" she said, racing back into the bathroom, "Where are my clothes?"

Hikaru exchanged a guilty look with Kaoru. "We, uh, might have thrown away the nanny outfit."

"What?" Kichi raced out of the bathroom, face pale, "I have to go. Can I borrow—"

"Yeah, and we'll take you," Kaoru caught on to the urgency of her tone, remembering another dress that had been stained red on Kichi's pale skin as she struggled to recover from the bullet that had just passed through her, "Let's go."

OHSHCOHSHC

Tachi hated it when Kichi was late picking him up for school. It meant he had to spend extra time listening to Rima talk about how they were going to get married someday. Ew, as if he'd actually want to marry a girly-girl like her. She wanted to hold hands and play together all the time.

Kichi was cooler. She listened when he talked about becoming a pilot even though Kaisei told him he'd have to help in the family business when he got older. She was really pretty too. Tachi didn't let anyone know, but he when he seven and a baby, he used to sleep with her during thunderstorms.

She'd patted his back and he'd looked at her pretty eyes and hair and promised he was going to marry her someday and take her away from his stupid dad. He was going to save her.

Tachi knew that Kichi got in trouble when she was late for things, which was why he hadn't called home yet even though she was fifteen minutes late. He'd rather stay outside the school forever than let his dad punish Kichi again. At least Rima was gone, but the air was getting colder and he was shivering when the unfamiliar black limo pulled up and Kichi shot out of the back seen.

He felt his cheeks growing hot as she hugged him, apologizing profusely for being late. She looked like she had when he'd watched her sleep as a kid, all natural without the outfits that his siblings put on her. The dress was new, though.

"I'm sorry I'm late," she said again, "I was, uh, at a friend's house and we lost track of time."

Tachi's ears perked up. A friend?

Kichi didn't usually go to friends' houses. "Who is it?" he asked.

"Oi, are you two going to stand there all day or get back in?" a familiar voice demanded, "It's going to rain and I'm not letting all our hard work get destroyed after five minutes." Tachi glanced at the strange car, and caught a glimpse of red hair and amber eyes.

"Come on," Kichi said, taking his hand. He let her push him into the car, and found himself looking at one of the twins who'd crashed his birthday party. Kichi stumbled in a couple seconds later and the car started moving.

"Hikaru, Kaoru," she said, "This is Tachi, the bravest, best little brother in the world. Tachi, these are the Hitachiin twins. You know, the ones Masumi's always talking about."

"Oh, you two are the homosexual twins struggling between your friendship and your incestuous love," he said, eyes narrowing. Kichi didn't say her friend were boys.

"Charming kid, aren't you?" one twin snarked back.

"Sweet as sugar," the other one agreed.

"And this is Haruhi Fujioka," Kichi said, gesturing towards the third strange face. Tachi studied the boy-girl who'd crashed his party, noting the warm way he smiled at his Kichi.

"You look like a girl," he said bluntly. Strangely, the boy-girl didn't seem to mind. He just turned the smile on him and gave a small bow.

"Nice to meet you, Tachi. Sorry about crashing your party—it was all Tamaki's idea."

The politeness caught him off-guard and he squirmed. "It's ok. It wasn't a real party anyway. We all knew there might be an attack that day—there were threats. We just didn't know when or where, so dad told me to entertain the guests and celebrate my birthday."

"It didn't occur to him that they might target the room where all the potential heirs and heiresses were?"

Tachi shrugged. "Kichi was there." He turned to her, "What were you doing at their house anyway? I thought you went to study for finals."

Kichi blushed. "I did, but then Hikaru sent a car for me and Haruhi saying he wanted us to study at their place. We got a little carried away." She smoothed her dress, "I feel ridiculous now."

"It's pretty," Tachi said, "You should dress like that more." She looks like a person, not a doll. Maybe dad will see that.

He didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until Kichi's face paled. "I can't let him see me like this," she said, "Hikaru, could you tell the driver to drop us off at the back? I think the servants will let me in without spreading rumors." The car rounded the bend and they arrived. Hikaru passed on Kichi's directions and the car glided smoothly to a side door, where a maid was emptying a dirty barrel of water onto the grass.

Kichi leaped off the car, pulling Tachi with her, and sprinted for the door, only to freeze as it opened to reveal none other than Mr. Sakura himself, accompanied by Captain Carter and about two squads of men. "Kaiya Sakura," the man said icily, "Where have you been?"

Tachi felt his fists clench at the fear on Kichi's face. No one should be able to make her look like that.

"It was my fault," he said, "I wanted to play hide-and-seek and Kichi couldn't find me." Hide-and-seek's for babies, but you wouldn't know that.

"And the new clothes?" Mr. Sakura asked, his face stony, "The presence of the Hitachiin car?" He waved his hands at Captain Carter, "Get rid of them."

The man nodded, the lines around his eyes deepening just a little as Kichi followed Mr. Sakura into the house. He knew what was in stock for the girl, and the part he'd be forced to play in it. For now, however, he could do his best to hold off the punishment.

"Make it slow," he said for the ears of his deputy's ears only, "We'll give her as much time to prepare as possible."

The man nodded and barked out orders, and the squad headed towards the car. Captain Carter spared on last look at the side door to the biggest mansion on the block and closed his eyes, trying to block out the knowledge of the training Kichi would be forced through—that he would force her through.

Struggle lads, he thought as he heard the Hitachiin boys yell, struggle for as long and hard as you can. Every minute may save your friend a lifetime of pain.