A/N: Hi. Sorry this took awhile, but this chapter refused to be written. And it was initially even longer, but the last bit wasn't working so I cut it out. This is a considerably slower chapter, after that last two faster-paced ones. We meet a new character and learn a couple of backstories. Nothing too exciting. But trust me, the next one makes up for it.

Dear BFF: I'm sorry this chapter does not contain as much of AU!Hunny as you probably would have hoped. I tried, but it didn't really fit with the rest of the chapter. I will certainly make it up to you in the next one.

Student Rules of Conduct, effective October 25, 1999

1. No student shall be outside of their assigned dormitory room after 9:00 p.m. every night, or before 7:30 a.m. every morning.

2. There will be no speaking or noises otherwise deemed disruptive in the halls before, during, or after school hours.

3. Students are prohibited from congregating in dormitory rooms other than their assigned quarters at any time. Any meetings must take place in the library, dining hall, or other public areas deemed suitable by the Headmistress.

4. It is strictly forbidden for any student to demonstrate their mutant status at any time. Any violator of this code will be punished to the fullest measures.

"This is bullshit," Hikaru hissed, waving the offending sheet of paper in the aisle space between himself and Haruhi. Around them, the other first years were muttering in confusion.

"Silence!" Kosmin finished passing out the papers and stopped in front of the teacher's desk, his arms crossed in front of his large chest. He was a boulder of a security guard, with tanned skin and eyes the color of dried blood. Where Zev looked smooth and commanding, Kosmin looked like someone who might pull a gun on a dripping faucet. Or, as it seemed now, on a group of mumbling students; his massive fingers brushed against the bulk at his hip. "Headmistress Suoh's word is law here, and I would strongly advise that you follow these rules-" He gave a crude, animalistic smile "-lest you wind up, er, absent for class the next day."

"That's sick," Renge muttered, her lips barely moving. Haruhi felt a rumble of anger deep in her throat, but she said nothing; she merely dipped her chin in agreement.

Kosmin waved one huge hand at the trembling teacher and said, "Now continue." But the teacher seemed hardly capable of standing, much less speaking, in Kosmin's presence. It wasn't until the guard took his usual seat at the back of the room that Ms. Tatenaka started back into her shaky explanation of congruent triangle rules.

Haruhi was just beginning to feel her mind wandering when, as if through an invisible quill, a short, shimmering phrase appeared on the dark wood of her desk: 9:45 in Kyouya's room.

A jolt of panic went through Haruhi's stomach, and she sent a reproachful look at Hikaru, who smirked. Then, he rubbed his fingers together in a silent snap, and the illusion shifted: Don't worry, Kosmin's asleep.

Haruhi hazarded a look; indeed, Kosmin was already slumped over with his chin against his huge chest.

The message changed again. So you're coming tonight?

Frowning, Haruhi shrugged. What's it for? she mouthed slowly.

This time, the answer came from Kaoru, on Haruhi's left. New students are arriving tomorrow. Kyouya wants to discuss informing the student body.

In the back of the classroom, Kosmin let out a dog-like grunt in his sleep. A few students giggled, which roused the man from his nap. In a split second, the illusion vanished from Haruhi's desk, and the twins both went back to their math notes, leaving empty air and an exasperated look on Haruhi's face.

"We have forty-two new students scheduled to arrive over the next week. All of them have been taken from their parents against their wills, and several will not understand why they are coming here. They will probably arrive with a fear of the administration prematurely instilled in them, and one of two things will happen. Either it will be easy to convince them because of their distrust, or they will be wary of us as well. I hope for the former, of course, but we must be prepared for a struggle."

Kyouya's speech was followed by a long silence, during which the boy adjusted his glasses and examined a wrinkle in his button-down shirt.

Renge was the first to speak. She was wearing a pink bathrobe, and her skin was pale from phasing such a large number of people through the dorm walls. "Well what are we supposed to do? Pass out pamphlets or something?"

"Of course not," Kyouya answered curtly. "But it will be important to befriend them. Make alliances. And this isn't all about the new students, either. Everyone needs to be informed."

Tamaki pursed his lips as he thought. "Renge, couldn't you just phase into their rooms and talk with them or something?"

"Don't test me, boy." Renge's brow was wrinkled, showing her exhaustion.

"This is precisely why we're having this meeting," Kyouya explained. "Renge, I'm afraid that Tamaki is right - you will be of use to us over the next few weeks. But I assure you, you will not be doing all of the work alone. This will be a join-effort. The ten of us are the leaders, and we'll work together to make sure that everyone stays safe."

Hikaru raised himself up onto his elbows; he was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, watching the conversation like a tennis match. "So basically, we just go up to anyone we don't recognize, try to get them alone, and then scare the hell out of them talking about this thing?"

Kyouya nodded, the tiniest of smiles on his faces. "Precisely."

"Sounds simple enough."

Of course, it was not simple. Haruhi had said nothing over the course of the meeting, but the whole idea bothered her. Gaining the trust of forty-two scared kids was tough enough, but doing it under the radar seemed downright impossible. She didn't want to think about what would happen if any of them were caught conspiring...

"Well, let's all go get some sleep," Kyouya said in closing. "We have a lot to think about."

The next morning, true to Kyouya's prediction, a cluster of white-faced, quivering children arrived just as breakfast was starting. They came in two stiff lines, unassumingly taking seats at the empty tables near the exit. Most, Haruhi noticed, were of the elementary or junior high age, but there were a few gloomy-looking teenagers who glared with frightful intensity at the other students. The room was filled with total silence, and Haruhi was hesitant to even take a bite of her breakfast, lest it be too assuming. The others at the table all seemed to have the same idea; no one had spoken since sitting down.

"Excuse me, is it alright if I have this seat?"

Haruhi had not even seen the tall, lanky boy approach her. In fact, his silent arrival seemed to have caught everyone at the table off guard; even Reiko visibly jumped in her seat.

"Go away, Chika." Hunny looked up at his younger brother. "You can't sit here."

Chika looked hurt for a moment, then his expression changed into one of furious offense. "I never said I wanted to sit here. I just want the chair."

Hunny's eyes darkened. "Well then take it and leave," he snapped. "Just because we're at the same school doesn't mean you can come bothering me all the time. I have better things to do than deal with an irritating kid brother."

" ..." Tamaki reached out one hand as if to lay it on his friend's shoulder, but the boy shoved it away without even looking.

"And I have better things to do than babysit an annoying brat," Chika spat back. "Stop being so conceited, Mitsukuni. Did you ever stop to think that not everybody is dying to sit at your table?" The boy hoisted the chair up with one arm and started back towards an empty table by the window, pausing only to give his brother one last hateful look.

Hunny did not even say anything. He sat for a moment with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking torn between homicidal rage and petty irritation. Finally, he shoved his tray forward on the table and said, "I don't feel good. Someone throw that away for me." Without a single look towards his friends, he stood up, shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks, and trooped out of the room, his shoulders hunched.

"Well," Hikaru said, his mouth full of no less than four strips of bacon, "that was a refreshing way to kick-start the morning. I'm woken up."

Tamaki gave a sad sigh. "I'd heard they didn't get along, but it's worse than I thought."

"Don't get any ideas, Tamaki." Kyouya gave him a sidelong glance. "For everyone's sake."

But Tamaki just shook his head, looking dramatically mournful. "Living under the same roof, but never looking each other in the eye. How could life be so cruel? Just think, if it hadn't been for childhood leukemia the brothers would be thick as thieves!"

"I don't know," Hikaru said. "I think they'd still both be assholes."

"And I'm not so sure it's the leukemia that's the problem here," Kaoru added.

Before Tamaki could continue any further with what was rapidly turning into an all-out rant, Kyouya looked up sharply at Mori, who had been observing in perfect silence, and said, "Would you mind checking on him?" The tall, stone-faced boy nodded in expressionless understanding, and stood up from his seat, making a move to follow his friend.

As soon as Mori was out of earshot, Haruhi turned to Kyouya and asked something that had been burning in her mind for weeks. "I noticed Mori seems to care about Hunny quite a bit. Did they know each other before they came here?"

Kyouya stirred his tea around with a spoon, and pushed his glasses up. "No one is really sure of Mori 's intentions, but it has been speculated that they are out of displaced affection for the younger brother he was separated from."

Haruhi blinked slowly. "Mori has a brother? I didn't know..."

"He doesn't like to talk about him," Renge cut in. "Tragic story, really."

"Renge, would you like to do the honors?" Kyouya suggested. The girl looked positively delighted.

"Of course!" Renge cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and started: "It all started when Mori was eight years old-"

"If you start from there, you'll never get to the good part." Hikaru rolled his eyes.

"It all started when Mori was eight years old," Renge repeated, pointedly ignoring Hikaru. "And he discovered that he had the extraordinary ability to harness electricity! But sadly, he couldn't control his powers, and he wound up frightening his parents. They loved him very much, but were scared of the mutant their beloved son was becoming, so they locked him in his room day and night, sending in only countless doctors and servants with trays of leftover food."

"You couldn't possibly know any of that," Kaoru interrupted. "You're making stuff up for the sake of drama!"

Haruhi gave both of the twins an annoyed look, which shut them up.

"As I was saying," Renge continued, "his parents were frightened of him, and he was not allowed to be around his darling younger brother, Satoshi. As a direct result of neglect, Satoshi fell into the wrong crowd and started hanging around with bad people-"

"Druggies aren't bad," Hikaru protested, "they're just passionate."

"-and his older brother, who didn't dare go against the wishes of their parents, was powerless to stop it!"

A sniffle came from Tamaki's end of the table. "That part gets me every time," he confessed.

Haruhi furrowed her brow. "So, because of his brother, Mori feels overprotective of Hunny?"

"We haven't gotten to the most important part yet," Renge said. "One cold, December night, Satoshi's rebel friends decided to steal a car, and drag Satoshi along with them. Mori caught wind of this, and followed them on foot."

"Which makes no logical sense," Kyouya said calmly.

"He caught them driving away from the scene of the crime in the stolen car, and he managed to scare away the rebel kids with his powers and convince Satoshi to come back home." Renge clutched her chest dramatically. "But alas, they were caught by the police, and Mori was arrested for stealing the car!"

"He took total responsibility for the crime," Tamaki interjected, "and said that he'd forced his brother to come along! Isn't that noble?"

"Um..." Haruhi was still trying to absorb the whole story. It was impossible to know exactly how much Renge had added for impact, but it was definitely a more dramatic story than she had expected from such a mild-mannered boy. "That sounds pretty awful."

"I know!" Renge sighed theatrically. "I could just sob thinking about it!"

Kaoru slumped in his seat. "I don't get why everyone makes such a big deal out of his tragic past. We all have one. It's just part of being a mutant."

"Yeah," Hikaru agreed. "First line in the user's manual: 'There will always be someone out there trying to make you the scapegoat. Sooner or later, you just learn to deal with it'."

In hindsight, any number of future events might have not happened at all had Haruhi not taken the back stairwell to her classroom after breakfast. Because when she rounded the dusty landing, she found a tiny twig of a boy sprawled sleepily across the windowsill. For a moment she thought nothing of it, until she realized that he was wearing a winter coat and a red knit hat, as though he had just come in from outside. There were smears of muddy water on the parquet around his feet, and tucked behind the potted bamboo plant was a black suitcase, clearly attempting to be out of sight.

"Hey." Haruhi paused, unsure of how to approach the kid. But at the sound of her voice he whirled around in shock, his dark eyes wide.

"Holy shit!" the kid exclaimed, clutching his chest. "Don't sneak up on people. I thought you were one of those musclehead soldier guys!"

"Relax," Haruhi said, quirking one eyebrow, "I was just going to make sure you weren't lost."

The boy scowled. "Well, I'm clearly not, so get out of here." He turned back towards the window, looking incredibly small next to the tall frame.

"Alright, I'm leaving." Haruhi began to back up, watching the child's hostile, hunched shoulders. A feeling of sad familiarity passed through her. "But just in case you didn't know," she went on slowly, "this is a terrible hiding place. At least find someplace where the, um, 'muscleheads' won't find you."

"And why should I listen to you?" the boy snapped, whipping his head back around. He had dark, old eyes and a mean frown, something dreadful in someone so small.

"Because," Haruhi reasoned, leaning down to pick up the suitcase, "I've been here longer. I know what I'm talking about."

The boy seemed to consider this for a moment, his face shifting between hostility and doubt. Finally he sighed and said, "Fine, but if you turn me in I'll kick your ass."

Haruhi stifled a laugh. "Don't worry, I won't." She took the suitcase handle in both hands and started up the stairs. "We're all in the same boat here, kid."

He began to shuffle behind her, looking warily from beneath his furrowed brow. The steps creaked as he followed Haruhi up to the second floor, like a watchful shadow. Finally, as they reached the top landing and turned onto a dark, narrow hallway, the kid spoke again. "So is there any way out?"

"Do you think any of us would be here if there was?" Haruhi didn't look back as she spoke; she kept her eyes trained on the hall ahead, her ears tuned in to every creak.

The boy frowned at this, and quickened his pace to walk beside Haruhi. "I really, really have to get home though. Are you sure there's nothing anyone can do? A place like this has to have a million ways out!" His voice had risen in volume, and Haruhi placed a finger to her lips to quiet him down.

"Sure, there are ways out," Haruhi whispered, "but they're protected like crazy." She watched the room numbers pass by - 169, 167. "What makes it anymore urgent that you get out than the rest of us?"

"Because my mom's dying."

Haruhi felt her breath catch in her throat. Her pace faltered, and for a long moment she could not find her voice. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered at last. "I know what you're going through."

"You couldn't possibly know," the boy growled, his face screwed up in anger. "Don't try to tell me you understand."

Haruhi kept her mouth closed, though she was dying to say a thousand things to reassure the poor kid. Her heart ached just at the memory of her own mother, separated from Haruhi in those last months by a wall of Etsuko's cruel judgement...

The two reached room 155, and Haruhi pulled the small brass key out of her pocket. "You can stay here until the end of the school day," she said, creaking the door open, "or at least until you feel up to going back to class. You can stash your suitcase in the wardrobe, and don't answer the door for anyone."

The boy looked at her with narrow, judging eyes. He seemed to be considering something with great gravity. After several heavy moments, he nodded curtly and said, "Thank you for your help."

Haruhi half-smiled, and matched his nod. "No problem. Like I said, we're all in the same boat here." She started to leave, then added, "If ever need anything, my name's Haruhi."

"Shiro," the kid said, the smallest of smiles on his pale face. "It's been nice to meet you." And then, without a further word or glance, he closed the door between them. Haruhi heard the deadbolt slide into place - an extra measure of security against the "muscleheads".

Later on, Haruhi would think back on that afternoon and wonder what had made her act so generous towards a rude little kid who was so far removed from her own problems. And truly, at the time, she had not known. If anything, it was because she saw the slightest fragment of herself in that sad, troubled pair of eyes.

"You had a full conversation with him, and you didn't even find out what his powers are?" Hikaru draped himself over the back of the chair he was straddling, and gave Haruhi an exasperated look.

"Sorry," she snapped in return, "I was a little preoccupied with hiding him from Zev. Besides, he looked about eleven. I don't think he would have been much help."

Kaoru stuck one finger smartly in the air. "Hey, Hunny looks like he's eleven, and he's helping us."

Haruhi sighed deeply. She was too tired to argue such an empty point, and wanted nothing more to crawl into bed and fall into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, that bed was currently occupied by Kaoru, who was spread across the mattress on his stomach. Hikaru had taken the desk chair, and Renge was working on schoolwork in the window seat, leaving Haruhi to sit cross-legged on her own floor. Behind the closed bathroom door, she could hear the heavy pattering of the shower.

"He'll be done in a minute," Haruhi noted. "You should probably leave soon."

"That pipsqueak spends enough time on his hair for someone to play eight full games of cards," Hikaru scoffed. "We're staying."

Haruhi groaned and leaned back against the wardrobe. Running one hand through her hair, she stifled a yawn. "I can't stop thinking about the story Renge told this morning," she admitted. "About Mori."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"

"It just seems so unfair," Haruhi said. "I mean, for a kid to be that alone. It just shouldn't happen."

"And yet it does," Hikaru replied. "None of us have it easy."

Renge gave a bitter little laugh, looking up from her assignment. "Rule number two of being a mutant? 'If you think you've had it hard, the person sitting next to you has always had it harder." Kaoru reached across the gap to give her a high five, and the girl blushed slightly.

Haruhi looked slowly between the three of them. "And what's been so awful about your lives, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Don't mind a bit." Hikaru grinned sardonically. "It's a pretty short, simple story for us: when Kaoru and I were five, we were kidnapped. Some science people wanted us. Of course, this didn't go over too well with our parents-"

"They had to pay ¥10,000,000 in ransom money to get us back," Kaoru interrupted. "And when they finally did, we weren't allowed out of the house for years. The hired us a private tutor, and there were all these bodyguards all over the place."

"Talk about a lack of freedom," Hikaru said. "Finally, when we were twelve, someone tried to kidnap us again-"

"Only this time he didn't even make it inside the house. But our parents were so paranoid that they shipped us off here, totally under the radar."

Haruhi pretended to be very interested in a string on her pajama pants while the twins talked. By just looking at the light-hearted boys, one would never guess that they'd had such a traumatic childhood. And the way they discussed it, so nonchalant... It was unnatural.

"Thinking about it," Kaoru went on, "I don't think anyone in the Club actually had a normal childhood."

"Mine was normal," Renge started to say, but Hikaru cut her off.

"All that trauma just helped us grow into the intriguing, charismatic characters we are today." He waggled his brow in a way Haruhi figured was supposed to be enchanting, but it just made her giggle, which in turn made Kaoru and Renge laugh. Hikaru looked indignant, and was just opening his mouth to protest when the sound of the shower cut off. The three guests hopped to their feet and gathered their belongings.

"See you in class," Kaoru said with a smile and a salute, and the three disappeared through the papered wall.

That will never not be weird, Haruhi thought to herself. Her legs felt like pins and needles from sitting on them for so long, and she winced as she got to her feet and stumbled over to her bed. The sheets were crumpled where Kaoru had been laying, and the air smelled faintly of cinnamon and cologne. Haruhi pulled back the sheets and moved her pillows into place, flattening out the wrinkles as she went.