"And then there was a big story about a fancy fundraiser for the children's hospital and do you know who I got an interview with? None other than Ootori-san's personal limousine driver of course, because I am a brilliant reporter," Takeshi said.

Daisuke groaned inwardly. "When is he going to wind down?" he thought as Takeshi did a world class impression of the energizer bunny, running circles in his small dorm room, and talking animatedly about all of the stories he had covered in his first semester of his after school internship with the local paper. He had been at it all morning and into the afternoon already. Still it was good to see the young journalist again and he guessed could survive a while longer. It had put him a couple of hours behind his schedule but that wouldn't matter in the long run. Besides, the guy was so excited it was kind of cute. Apparently his oldest friend was thriving in his new surroundings. He still had plenty of time to case the school before he went in to actually steal and seal the artifact tonight, if he could get away from Takeshi somehow to do it.

Suddenly Takeshi stopped talking, an odd look on his face. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a noisily vibrating cell phone. "Takeshi Saehara here," he answered and went on in excited tones throughout a short conversation. From what Daisuke overheard, there was some sort of a famous person spotted in town and he was being sent out to cover the story. This turned out even better than he expected when Takeshi got off the phone and informed him they were going to Ouran High School to interview someone named Gunter.

000ooo000

"It is obvious to me what is going on here," Tamaki said, standing and striking a pose for effect. Once all eyes were on him, he held up one finger. "First, Yuuri is a foreign ruler of some small European principality, maybe near Luxemburg, and he is considering attending this school, but he is traveling incognito, and that is why he tried to hide in the fountain when he spotted Haruhi walking nearby. This also tells me that he is not smart enough to pass the admission test because that pool is nowhere near deep enough to hide in."

"Excuse me!?" Shori cried, irked by the description of his little brother. "He is smart enough to run an entire country. Well, with the help of some advisors to sort the paperwork for him and tell him what the political situation is in words he can understand."

"Hey!" Yuuri complained. He stood, scratching the back of his head a bit, embarrassed by Shori's words.

Tamaki had barely paused for breath, before continuing and, holding up another finger, he stated, "Second, coincidentally that same pool is the place the world-famous model Gunter picked to stage a scene, hoping to garner the attention of the fashionable elite here at Ouran and salvage his flagging career before he winds up selling I can't believe it's not butter in television commercials."

Gunter felt a tug at his memory…… oh yeah, he had seen a commercial for that once, in New York. There was a man on a white horse and… "Oh, how bad-mannered!" he muttered, affronted. He wandered over to where the military leader of Shin Makoku was eating cake with the smallest host club member. Gwendal wouldn't let him kill this Tamaki fellow, and he was the only one there that could physically restrain him, and if that boy said one more insulting thing...

And sure enough the next thing out of Tamaki's mouth was, "And since there is no way someone who looks like Gunter-sama and works as a model is straight, obviously the tall one he just ran to is his faithful lover who accompanies him everywhere and quietly watches in jealous misery as adoring fans throw themselves at his love all day long. It must be terrible being burdened with loving a man with such popularity, kind sir…"

"Uh, I wouldn't go there if I were you," Josak said softly to the ranting blond.

"Why not?" Tamaki asked.

"That's it!" Gunter said, lunging toward the boy, only to have his arm caught in a vice like grip. He tugged futilely a time or two, looking back into the scowling expression on Gwendal's face. He swore he could almost feel the earth trembling even without a pact between the Earth's elements and the sullen general.

"We are here to find Wolfram and these fools are our allies in searching for him," Gwendal ground out, looking as if he hated every word he uttered.

Gunter took a deep breath, letting it slowly out his nose as he calmed himself down. "You're right," he said quietly.

"Oh," Tamaki said, nodding at Josak, as his question was answered. "Wait a minute... is that my Mayan Prince outfit?"

"Oh it was yours?" Josak asked with interest. "Well, I want to thank you very much for loaning it to me."

"You're welcome..." Tamaki replied, a bit flustered at being thanked so politely.

"It really is wonderful, roomy and flowing, yet still pretty with lots of color, and the gold trim is exquisite," Josak added, fluttering his fan girlishly out of long standing habit.

Tamaki smiled. "Yeah... I know! And the designees love it too."

"Perhaps you could tell me where to get a few of my own before I go home?" Josak asked with a pleading look.

"Uh, sure..."

000ooo000

This was an interesting puzzle in Satoshi's book. There was definitely more going on than met the eye. He was getting some serious magical vibes from both of the Shibuya men and something like a faint echo or a trace magical essence from Gunter and Gwendal. The rest didn't resonate with any magical aura, but there was something very different about the one named Ken Murata. He couldn't quite place it, but it was the same kind of feeling that had led him to suspect Daisuke would be the tamer for Dark when he first met him, a gut instinct telling him that there was more to Ken Murata than was apparent.

000ooo000

Yuuri walked away from Shori and Haruhi to face his old friend, Ken, and ask the question that had been burning a hole in his brain since the others had arrived. "Did Shinou tell you where to look for Wolfram?"

"Yes," the great sage Ken said, nodding slowly with a slight smile gracing his features, "Japan."

"Japan?! Couldn't he narrow it down a bit?! He could be anywhere!" Yuuri exclaimed.

"Yes, but I did get Shinou to go from all of Earth to Japan. I think I was doing well. He was in one of his moods." Murata shrugged with the last part.

Yuuri groaned with frustration. "Great! Of all the times for him to get moody..."

"Yeah, but what can be done about it? He's already dead..." Murata said with a sympathetic look.

"Tell me about it..." Yuuri sighed, thinking up several new and inventive ways to torture the first king's spirit… maybe one of Anissina's inventions…

"We'll find him, Heika," Conrad said with a reassuring smile as he joined in the conversation. Shori followed him, rolling his eyes once he noticed how Murata was dressed but not commenting otherwise.

"I don't get it." one of the twins, possibly Hikaru, said as he joined the group loosely forming around Yuuri. "If you were traveling together how did you lose this guy so badly that you weren't sure he was even in Japan?"

"I don't know," Yuuri mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought. "I grabbed his hand and I didn't let go… did I? No, I remember. So I didn't let go of him but somehow I ended up alone in the water outside here," he muttered, quietly trying to put the pieces together.

"Haruhi is right. He scrambled his brains out there," the twin, most definitely Hikaru, observed.

"Poor thing..."Karou said sympathetically as he stepped slowly out from behind his brother, the effect looked like some sort of single cell organism dividing into two. "You know, my dear Hikaru, if you ever had scrambled brains, I would still love you," he purred, as he tilted his head demurely and looked at his twin from the side, fluttering the long lashes of his golden brown eyes.

"I know you would, Karou-chan," his doppelganger replied. "As I would do the same for you..." Hikaru declared, reaching out and pulling his brother into a warm embrace.

"Save it for the customers," Kyouya told them gruffly as he walked by. Both twins stuck their tongues out at him in synchronized retaliation. Moving into a pose where each leaned against each other in a relaxed fashion, they watched to see what their shadow king would say to the newcomers.

"You can't expect us to believe that you lost your, uh... friend somewhere else in Japan, while you were playing around in the fountain outside. You should not have been able to get on the grounds at all. This is a high security campus and you would have to have had help from the inside to get in without being noticed like you did," Kyouya said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Now, you're going to tell me exactly how you got in here and why the focus on the fountain below, understood?"

"Okay, I don't want to waste any more time on this than I have to, so everyone listen to me," Yuuri said as he took center stage, seeming a bit agitated. He stood straight, perhaps a bit taller than usual. "Now, last night I was talking to Wolfram as we got ready for bed… Actually, we were arguing about something but then it was like something weird happened like an air version of my water black hole thingy… It sucked him in, and I managed to grab hold of his hand. I came up here, in the fountain outside, earlier today. I don't know what it was that grabbed him or where Wolfram is and I am very worried about him."

"About that," Ken spoke up, taking his glasses off and wiping them on his shirt tail. "It seems that Wolfram was summoned here by a powerful spell. You must have been so intent on staying with him that you used your own abilities unconsciously to follow him here, which explains the wet landing," he concluded, placing the glasses back on his face, and adjusting them to once again catch the glare from the large windows.

Haruhi couldn't believe it, this was a totally absurd tale the guy was telling and the people with him were playing along with it as if it were truth. It didn't make sense unless they were all delusional or something. Maybe Yuuri had escaped from a mental institution and they were just playing along and trying not to upset him?

"You can't expect me to believe this," Kyouya grumbled.

"Believe it or not, it makes no difference," Ken said with a shrug and an apologetic smile.

"I would be careful about what you say about his majesty, I wouldn't want to think you are accusing him of being less than truthful," Conrad said as he gave Kyouya a steel-edged smile, with a look in his eye that said, 'I have killed for less.'

"Of course not," Kyouya said quickly.

Shori walked up to Yuuri. "If Wolfram is in Japan he will be trying to get to our folk's place first, so it is only a matter of time before we hear from or about him. He knows the phone number and the address," he told his little brother, supportively placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Oy, kiddo, Wolfram is a very resourceful person. I am sure he will turn up soon," Josak added with a grin and a wink. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was talking to your mother and planning your wedding right now."

"You think Mom's heard from him?" Yuuri held onto that little glimmer of hope with both hands.

"It is possible," Conrad said.

"Yes, let's not forget your fiancée is a leader in the Shin Makoku military too, Heika. He will be fine," Gunter reminded him.

"Fiancée?" Hunny asked innocently.

Gwendal nodded at him in reply.

"But I hear Wolfram's a guy... you allow that sort of thing in your country?" Hunny asked.

"It is not uncommon there," Gunter said quietly, thinking he had heard this conversation somewhere before…

The mechanical grinding of a heavy motor drowned out the rest of the noise in the room. Some sort of platform slowly spun in circles as it rose upwards from the floor. A lone female figure dressed in the buttercup yellow dress of the Ouran women's school uniform stood upon it, laughing maniacally.

"Hohohohohohohohohohohoho… Did I hear the beautiful sound of Moe?" Renge asked as the platform ground to a halt.

"Moe?" Shori asked with a confused look. "Moe implies that there is something cute and loveable, there is nothing moe about it."

"It is too cute! A sweet young boy in the first throes of passion, his heart wounded as he searches for his lost love!The knight in armor out to rescue his fair damsel in distress! It's the stuff of fairytales! So who, my tall dark and handsome stranger, is this fair girl who is so cruel enough to break her sweetheart's heart?" she finished, delicately wiping away a tear from her eye.

"His name is Wolfram," Shori deadpanned, reaching up to adjust his glasses, and frowning slightly. This girl was cute enough but kind of annoying, that should shut her up.

Renge blinked a few times. "His… Wolfram?" she asked. She stood there, lost in thought for several seconds. "So this is a yaoi love story?! Amazing!!" she cried delightedly. "Something for a mature palette, this can also be the stuff shojo romance is made from... yes... it is moe with a twist! I love it!! Tell me more..." she purred.

"Wolfram is the son of the ex ruler of the country he is from, so if anything Wolfram would be more like a prince than a knight..."

"Oooh, a prince? Oh be still my beating heart!" Renge warbled as she clasped her hands to her chest, and sighed.

"Miss, I assure you this situation is not at all like one of those trashy yaoi novels, my little brother is way too innocent for anything like that."

She smiled. "More like a shojo romance, then, how sweet!"

"Actually more like a dating sim gone wrong," Shori muttered under his breath.

"There's nothing like a good bit of shounen-ai to get a girl's heart fluttering with the sound of romance," Renge said as a profusion of glittery hearts flew out from around her collar.

She paused, turning to face him. "Did you say something about a dating sim?"

"Uh, yes?" Shori said, nodding nervously.

Renge fisted her hands and bringing them up, she let out a loud ear piercing squeal of delight. "Just like that new online game! Angelic Desire!!" she gushed.

"More like Pocky Park III, if you select the wrong gender in the beginning by mistake..." Shouri corrected, but Renge was not even remotely listening to him.

"I love it! It's soooo full of gorgeous bishonen you could die! You should try playing it some time. You'd be great at Raphael the art dealer... He's got glasses just like you and dark hair too!" Renge raved.

"Really? I haven't seen that title, but it sounds, interesting. Tell me more about it," Shori said, leaning in to hear her description better.

"Well, there's all these hot bishonen and they live in this big city like Tokyo only better, and there's Raphael the art dealer, Sergio, the florist, Ricardo the butcher..." Renge bit her knuckle as she held back her squeals. Just thinking about the guys in the game had visions of her rich fantasy life dancing in her head.

"And then there's Lucien, the teacher at the all boys school... he's tall blond and smoking..." she added."It's the best game out there! It's so much better than Yuriville, which is some cheap rip-off with all girls Boring doesn't even begin to cover what's wrong with that one. They call those state of the art graphics? I could do better on my laptop!"

"I wasn't happy with that one either, even if the title was appealing, there really wasn't much to do in it," Shori agreed, "but the other may not have anything that interests me in it, if it is all handsome men and no female characters."

"Oh, well there is the school nurse, and then there is Kieji, he's very feminine and even wears woman's clothing too," Renge told him dismissively.

"So you play these yaoi titles a lot?" Shori asked, curiosity piqued, "Aren't they all about gay male sex?"

"Yes... But that's the fun of it! No stupid girls getting in the way to ruin a beautiful relationship! The romance and power of a forbidden love and having to overcome prejudice to find true happiness, that is why those titles are so popular with us girls," Renge explained. "And there are so many great titles to choose from! Little lamb lost, Sweet babycakes pie, Angelic desire, Royal Love Academy! The list is endless!"

"Wouldn't that mean that all of the other players are either gay men or other women?" Shori asked; something niggling at the back of his mind.

"So...?" Renge said as if that thought had not occurred to her. "They do have their yuri equivalents. Sweet Tender Roses, Kittens and Puppies, Rose Heart Academy... I suppose mostly guys, lesbians, and prepubescent nerds play those too... "

"Hehe hehe" Shori laughed with a nervous cough... "But if a guy were to play, say the Angelic Desire game, what are the odds that the person playing a new character he met would be female?"

"Ummm... I'd say about 3 out of 4 of the players are female, why?" Renege asked perplexed.

Hmm those are some good odds --- "Oh no reason."

"Hohohohoho! For a minute there it sounded like you were interested in playing," she giggled. "But someone as gorgeous as you are must get lots of girls..."

"Well uh, not really.... I have had to focus on my career a lot and it doesn't leave much time maybe an hour here or two there just enough to-"

"Log on and play a game," she finished for him

"Uh, yeah. Sad but true" Shori sighed.

"Ever play, Sweethearts and gumdrops?" Renge asked him.

"No?"

Renge nodded. "I would suggest playing that one. It is slightly shounen-ai, so there is a large female fanbase but it isn't overtly yaoi like some of the other titles..." she giggled. "In the yaoi ones... well, let's just say the reward scenes can be like watching gay porn. I think you might be more comfortable with the more relationship driven titles. That is unless you enjoy watching that sort of thing," she added, her eyes wide and an almost hopeful expression on her face.

Over the course of the conversation everyone had drifted off, letting the otaku go on about games and such but the words "gay porn" did draw a few eyes their way.

"Uhm, I think I will stick to the regular bishojo games for now," Shori said. "But I will think about the online idea," he added at her crestfallen look.

"Here," Renge said, writing something on a scrap of paper, and handing it to him. "Take this." She stuffed the paper into his hand just as a high pitched squeal rang across the room.

"Yuu-chan! Sho-chan!" Jennifer Shibuya shouted as she rushed into the room. "Mamma is here boys!"

"Excuse me, Ma'am, but how did you get past the security and into the school?" Kyouya asked, stepping forward to stop her from getting any further into the room. "Don't tell me you are magic too?" he asked sarcastically.

"Magic? Don't be absurd," Jennifer snorted. "No one stands between a mother and her children if they have any common sense," she added, smiling sweetly as pained moans and groans can be heard echoing from the halls behind her.

Kyouya stepped back out of her way before he realized he was doing it. 'What is this?' he asked himself 'I am in charge here, aren't I?'

"Who are your new friends, Yu-chan?" Jennifer asked as she approached her youngest son. "That one reminds me of Bob-san somehow," she added, nodding in Kyouya's direction.

"These guys are members of a club, the host club of this school. They have been kind to me, I guess, they did give us all dry clothes and they didn't call the police when I showed up here earlier unannounced." Yuuri shrugged. "Anyway, let's see if I can remember their names. The dark haired one behind you is Kyouya, and the blond over by Josak there is Tamaki. I can't remember the real name of the one eating cake there with Gwendal, but everyone here calls him Hunny. His friend is… I can't remember," he said, stuck.

"Mori," Hunny chimed in to help.

"Yes Mori, thanks, Hunny. The one that looks like me a bit over there, talking to Conrad is Haruhi and the twins are…" he pointed at each as he said, "Hikaru and Kaoru."

"Not quite, kiddo," Josak said with a grin.

"Oh, then Kaoru and Hikaru,"Yuuri said as he pointed them out again.

The twins looked at each other then at Josak. "I make my living being observant," the brawny red-head explained with a shrug.

"Oh, Haruhi, aren't you just the cutest!!" Jennifer squealed as something occurred to her like a light bulb going off in her head. "I would love it if you would come over to my place maybe I could even talk you into playing dress up with me?"

Haruhi stuttered, "S-s-s-sure," not sure whether this strange lady had guessed her secret or not.

"That settles it! Everybody is coming to my place I will make my special curry and we will celebrate my boys being home tonight."

"Mom, please tell me you have heard from Wolfram," Yuuri said, suddenly remembering that there was someone missing from the group.

"No, I haven't. You mean he hasn't found you yet?" Jennifer looked stunned. "I thought for sure with all of the good looking guys around Wolfram would be here keeping an eye on you," she added, starting to look worried herself.

"Could he have called after you left the house?" Yuuri asked looking at her with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Let Mamma check the voicemail," Mrs. Shibuya said. She used her cell phone to check for messages on her home number.

"Mama, this is Wolfram. I am in Japan somehow, I am lost but I will find a way to your home, hopefully soon. I will call back later; I don't know where Yuuri is. If you hear from Yuuri before I do tell him ... Tell the wimp that he'd better not be cheating on me with some girl or anything before I can get there!"

Jennifer grinned from ear to ear as she held out the phone to Yuuri, replaying the message for him.

Yuuri felt weak with relief. Wolfram was all right! He was making his way to the Shibuya household… "All right everybody, you heard my mother, let's go," Yuuri said. "We should be at the house if Wolfram calls back so he doesn't get the answering machine again," he said with a smile, watching relief wash over the faces of the rest of his advisors.

000ooo000

AN/ Well this is going nowhere fast… but it is fun. I intended to get a little more of the DN Angel guys (and some of the actual plot) in here this time, but I think it's better to wait till next chapter than to cram it all into the end of this one. Wolfram and Nekozawa will also put in an appearance next time in case anyone may have missed them.

As always I want to thank my reviewers:

Morena Evensong:

I do intend to have some of the Shori Ken 'friend of my brother, brother of my friend' flavor if I can remember to work it in. When Yuuri first came to Shin Makoku he didn't have a pact with the elements and couldn't do magic as far as Gunter knew… I am sticking with that idea for the guys when they travel to Earth too, less fires to put out that way :D

kuroneko1571:

Thanks so much for the compliments! I try to keep them close to character but at times I feel I fail epically. I am glad you are enjoying the story and look forward to hearing more from you…(let me know when I drift too far from what the guys should be)

Kira: hugyou hugyou hugyou. Thanks for commenting even though I rarely leave one on your writing because I forget to go read it again after you post it!!! Me bad 