Chapter Ten – Reunion

"So, are you going to tell me your sister's name?" Kyoya asked, tapping his fingers irritably against the seat of the limousine.

"Nope," Shuuchi said all too cheerfully. "Now, stop glaring at me like that. It'll set my hair on fire and waste all the hours I've spent styling it."

Kyoya's eyes twitched. He redirected his wrath.

"Stop growing mushrooms in my limo," he snarled at Tamaki who was sulking in a corner after Haruhi had flat out refused to come along to watch the touching reunion between Shuuchi and his twin sister whose name Kyoya had yet to know. And Kyoya didn't like not knowing.

"Shuuchi, help," Tamaki whined, clinging onto Shuuchi. "Mommy is being mean to Daddy again."

"Why do you call Kyoya Mommy?" Shuuchi asked. "Do you guys have some role-play like Hikaru and Kaoru as well?"

Kyoya smiled.

The rest of the Host Club scooted to the other side of the car, as far away from Kyoya as they possibly could in the enclosed space.

"Takashi, normal people shouldn't have fangs," Honey wailed.

"No kidding," Hikaru and Kaoru muttered through their teeth, clinging to each other.

"Jeez, you look like my grandmother when you smile like that," Shuuchi said. "She has an impressive set of fangs as well."

"You're fast challenging Tamaki for the title of most bothersome nincompoop," Kyoya said.

Shuuchi shrugged. "That is too great an honour, Kyoya. I wouldn't dare usurp Tamaki's position in your heart."

There was a great deal of sputtering as the twins tried and failed to rein in their laughter. Kyoya spared them a cold glance before continuing, "You are either very confident in yourself or have no notion of self-preservation whatsoever."

"Neither. I have just lived with my grandmother for a very long time," Shuuchi said. "You should meet her one day."

"I'd be honoured to meet the matriarch of the Kisaki family."

"I know." Shuuchi smiled, meeting Kyoya's eyes.

Everyone else in the car shivered.

Shuuchi's phone rang at that moment.

"Oh, Shiori, you're here?" he said. "Where are you?"

Kisaki Shiori.

Kyoya made a note on his tablet.

Shuuchi took out a photo from his pocket. "Eh, but I don't see you anywhere?"

The Host Club crowded around the photo. It was of a girl with jet black hair tied into a high ponytail, wearing a middle-school uniform. She was nothing extraordinary. Except for the fact that she was surprisingly familiar.

"Hey, isn't she…" Hikaru began.

"Haruhi's friend at the bakery?" Kaoru finished. "What's her name again?"

The picture vanished as Shuuchi pocketed it and left the car, waving a careless goodbye to them.

"Do any of you remember her name?" Kaoru asked again. They shook their heads.

"I can't remember but I don't think her surname was Kisaki though," Honey said.

"It was Nakamori Shiori," Kyoya said, looking up from his tablet. "I'm assuming she took their father's surname while Shuuchi took their mother's. But from my records, she doesn't have any siblings, let alone a twin brother." He frowned.

The Kisakis' information was certainly well-kept. All the more satisfying to get to the bottom of this then.

X

Could it be?

Haruhi paused in the stirring of her stew.

Shiori did have a twin brother who moved to America with their mother when they were six. Haruhi couldn't remember his name though. Shiori rarely talked about him.

But Shuuchi's surname was Kisaki, not Nakamori. Besides, Shiori would tell her if Shiori's brother was coming to Ouran right? They hadn't talked much since the summer holidays ended. School was so busy and Shiori lived so far away. But Haruhi had sent Shiori a card for Christmas and Shiori had sent back a card for New Year.

Haruhi wondered if she should have gone with the Host Club to see their reunion. But it was snowing and her Dad was actually home for dinner for once. Haruhi shook her head and gave the stew another stir.

She would give Shiori a call later though.

X

"Shuuchi," Shiori called, spotting her brother in the crowd.

Shuuchi turned around, looking everywhere except at her.

Shiori sighed and stopped right in front of him.

"I'm here Shuuchi," she said, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

Shuuchi stared at her. "Shiori?"

"No, I'm not Shiori, your twin sister; I'm an alien sent from Mars to impersonate her and kidnap you," Shiori said sarcastically.

"What happened to you?"

Shiori rolled her eyes. "I cut my hair. Why, you don't like it?" She messed up her already messy spiky short hair.

"Erm, er, well… when did you cut it?"

"Last October."

Shuuchi looked his twin sister up and down.

They had been the same height three years ago but now, Shiori was slightly shorter. Her silky black hair which had reached down to her waist was now all chopped off. She wore dark jeans, a black coat and combat boots. The only colour on her was the colour of her skin. It was a far cry from the soft pastels and hues he remembered she wore three years ago.

"Well you've changed," he said finally.

"So have you," she replied. Not as much as her though. He was just taller, broader shoulders, more defined features. Other than that, her brother was as transparent as ever. His face all but screamed "What the hell happened to you?" as he took her in. She smiled wryly. "How does it feel to be taller than me?"

"Great. Jealous?"

"Very."

There was a pause as they both hesitated, unsure of what to say. Three years was a long time. There had been emails and letters but they had dwindled down to the occasional card on Christmas or New Year or the birthday they shared.

Shuuchi opened his mouth to bring up the preparations he had made for their little reunion but the words caught in his throat. He now realised – far too late – that he didn't know his twin sister anymore. She could hate what he had prepared for all he knew. There was a chance, a tiny chance, that she might, that their twin telepathy survived. But the risk of his plan failing was too much. Even if she didn't like what he had prepared, he knew she would pretend to and then it would be horribly awkward. It would expose every single gap and hole and crack that had emerged in the three, no, ten years they had spent apart.

"Shuuchi, remember there was this little ramen shop we used to go with our family every weekend?" Shiori asked, breaking the silence.

"Um, not really?" He smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay," she said. "I only remember it because Grandma used to take me there quite often."

"Grandma?"

"Our paternal grandmother," Shiori explained. "Not the one you lived with, silly."

"Oh yeah."

"Come on, it's already snowing. Let's go to the shop and get out of the cold."

Shiori put her hand in Shuuchi's and pulled him along, like the bossy older-by-only-three-minutes sister she had always been.

XXX

Your reviews for the past chapter literally made lol. Love you guys so much; yall are hilarious. Question for this chapter: how are yall finding Shiori's twin brother so far?

Thanks for reading. Again, please review!