I made you wait. Again. ...I AM SO SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!

On a less desperate note, I'm starting to notice that the story is rushing itself (as you'll see in this chapter), which means I need to make it slow down a bit. I should probably give a warning about Haruhi's bold behavior that will slowly start to show itself in the upcoming chapters. Considering its her mind (as I've been saying for the past 8 or 9 chapters), she's most likely going to act out her thoughts. Its just a heads up, cause it just kinda came up a few times in this chapter, and now that I think about it, once in the third, too, and maybe a few times in between. Not sure, I'd have to go back and read.

Anyway, this chapter is actually the funniest one yet I think, and the Monk Shigeo is going to turn out to be someone interesting. I'll give you three guesses as to who it is before you start reading. Can you get it on the first try?

Chapter 9

(AW)

As they got on their way, Haruhi kept a close eye on the Prince. He, however, directed his gaze out the window, as though he'd lost all interest in her completely. She just couldn't figure him out. He was not at all predictable, not like her Tamaki. Who was going to tell about who first? Was he waiting for her? Or maybe he was thinking of what he was going to tell her. Either way, someone needed to say something because the silence was starting to drive her up the wall. So she decided to say something first, whether that's what he was waiting for or not.

"I was listening to what you said through the doors," she announced boldly, finally breaking the silence, "I'm just an ordinary girl. Whatever you think I am, I'm not. I still get hurt, I still bleed, and I can still die. I'm human, that's all."

Tamaki only spared her a glance before he delivered an answer. "That contradicts what's in your mind."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"…Mind reader…" Hikaru muttered rudely.

The Prince turned to face them very briefly. "Forgive me." His words were gentle, but there was a hint of a defensive tone behind them. He then closed his eyes as if deciding carefully on which words to use next. "You know about an 'other' world." That earned him a confused grimace from Hikaru and a look of curious consideration from Haruhi. He leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbow on the window sill and placing his chin in the hand of the same arm. "I was told that I would find a special girl whose mind was filled with traces of an alternate reality and that I would find her at the very slave auction from which I purchased the two of you."

Hikaru snorted as if to say that was utterly ridiculous.

"If it was only one of us you were after-" Haruhi began to say before Hikaru snorted as if to say Tamaki's reasoning was utterly ridiculous. She shot the demon a warning glare before continuing. "...Then why did you buy both of us?"

"You were panicking," he turned to look at her with a gentle expression, "You didn't want to be separated from your only friend, and I didn't want you to feel afraid or alone. Obviously I can't quell the chaos of your thoughts, so I figured keeping someone around who could was a good idea."

Haruhi was almost surprised by that response. He actually looked her directly in the eye as he said it, which forced her to believe it was true. It wasn't exactly selfish, but it wasn't unselfish either. He was definitely resourceful and thought things through. Whether she wanted to twist it around or not, she couldn't help but appreciate it. "…Thank you."

He in turn was surprised by her reply. A faint blush even crept into his cheeks and he averted his gaze. "I'm not trying to harm anyone, but I know it seems that way."

She gave him one of her natural smiles, the one that was genuine, not forced like the ones she gave to Hikaru or flashed to her customers back in the Host Club all the time. She didn't fully trust that he would be that considerate all the time, but for that one moment, she believed him. As she turned to look out of her side of the window, she whispered to herself under her breath, "Tamaki…" She was starting to miss his idiocy and the antics of the other Hosts. He was honest with her all the time at least.

Her smile and the reference to the name increased the flush in his face. "Your lover?"

His words made her scowl in regret. "…He's not my lover…" She growled heatedly.

Hikaru's sullen attitude suddenly morphed into a sly teasing mode and without a second thought, he immediately pounced and latched onto her. "What about the other two, huh? You know… Hikaru and Kaoru? Oh! But you're still a virgin! Silly me! You couldn't have-!"

Before he could finish, Haruhi abruptly socked him in the face without even thinking about it first. "Didn't I tell you to shut your mouth?!"

"OW!!" He screamed at her. "I was just teasing! No harm done!"

"I don't care!" She screamed back. "Don't ever mention my private life in your little pranks again! Keep your thoughts to yourself from now on, you undignified bastard!"

"Hey! I don't call you names!"

"Yes you do!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Hey now," Tamaki tried to interfere, "There's no need to-"

"-SHOVE OFF!" They both roared at him before continuing their quarrel.

Tamaki was left in shock as the two of them went on bickering with each other, but he found himself smiling at the amusing antics, so he settled for sitting back to watch rather than waste his time trying to stop them. There was nothing he could have done otherwise, and it was a harmless fight between friends that only they could resolve anyway. Eventually, they both fell asleep arguing. Somehow, the demon ended up comfortably curled in the girl's lap while she leaned against the corner of the carriage wall. That's how they remained, shifting positions every so often for almost the rest of the ride to their new destination...

When Haruhi next awoke, she found herself half hanging off the seat, the only thing keeping her in place being the sleeping Hikaru who was sprawled out on top of her with his face in her chest. It wasn't so much the fact that he was face down or on top of her that bothered her. It was more about waking up with the person she'd been fighting with so close that made her irritated.

"How the hell did this happen?" She murmured groggily, pulling an arm out from under the demon to rub the sleep from her eyes. "More importantly… how did I let it happen?"

"It's called making up." Came Tamaki's voice. Still sitting in the adjacent seat, his smug violet gaze was fixed on them with an amused expression that told her he'd been watching them sleep the whole time like he was their father. And, like any loving father, he probably wanted to hug her for being 'cute'.

She looked over at him and frowned. "You could help me out, you know."

"Why would I want to disturb such an adorable scene between friends?" He smiled back at her with that princely smirk of his.

"Thanks a lot." She growled as she attempted to correct her positioning.

"...You surprise me," he said as he watched her struggle to get up without waking the demon, "Most damsels would be alarmed if they found themselves in such a position with the opposite gender."

She just tossed him a glare that said she didn't care about that; she just needed to get up and his help would be appreciated. But all he did was sit there and watch her with a chuckle here and there as she fought to correct her posture. "Oh, screw it." Finally she gave up and shoved the demon off and onto the floor. He didn't even so much as twitch. "Damn, he's heavy!" She complained, heaving a sigh of relief now that she was free.

"He's a demon," Tamaki replied casually, "And a growing one at that."

"Well next time he can find his own pillow," she groaned as she propped her feet upon the empty seat, "Honestly, why does everyone find me so comfy? It's not plausible! I mean, I'm skin and bones! How is that in any way comfortable?"

He laughed softly at her. "Perhaps it's not that you're comfortable, but that your presence provides peace of mind."

She shot him another annoyed glare, wondering when the time came that she got to laugh at him. But his words reached her and she found herself pondering as she got herself situated. "So... what's a Deva, anyway?"

"A foreign superior being or spirit with god-like capabilities," he explained, looking at her with a curious expression, "The details are sketchy and questionable, but it's just an urban legend. Even so, it's a myth that is shared between every culture ever encountered, though it varies from people to people of course."

"Do you think I'm that being?" She mused aloud, thinking of the possibilities. She wondered what was going on inside his mind, especially knowing that he could read hers. She wasn't exactly sure why, although she knew that he suspected she was such a being, but she was sure it wasn't true, so whether she was asking for herself or for him she wasn't certain.

"You tell me," apparently he thought she was asking for herself, "But regardless, it's my hope that the Deva would attach itself to a person -or persons- who has the world's best interest in mind."

"Meaning you?"

His earlier amusement left in a hurry to be replaced by mild shock, as though he hadn't expected her to guess so accurately. "How much did you overhear?"

Haruhi just shrugged. "Enough to assume correctly, I guess." She turned to look at him curiously. "So is it true that you're empathic?"

He hesitated a little, as though he hadn't expected her to ask such a question, or maybe he didn't want to answer. Whatever the reason, he looked down at the sleeping Hikaru curled impulsively around his feet. "…Yes. I can't completely control it yet, so I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Nnnh… Juro… shut up… you don't… even… know her..." Hikaru mumbled in his slumber, a string of incoherent obscenities strewn behind almost every word.

Haruhi looked down at the demon with a smile. He reminded her so much of her Hikaru, even though Isamu was could be much more cold and cruel, but they were almost identical in appearance and almost had the same personality. It was much the same with Kaoru and Juro. Hell, everyone she'd met so far in this alternate universe in her subconscious bore an uncanny likeness to people she knew in the real world. Who else would she meet before her fate was finally decided?

"I don't care," she said as she began to relax into her new position, "As long as you're honest with me, search my mind all you want." It really didn't matter that much to her if the Prince Tamaki –no, Tanjiro– knew what was going on inside her head. It just meant that she had someone to talk to about whatever problem she encountered if she needed to, even if he was a mysterious and unpredictable character.

It seemed to surprise Tanjiro. "Are… are you certain? I mean, absolutely?"

She didn't look at him directly, but she looked out the window that was on his side of the carriage. "I'm giving you my trust for now, but if you mess up, chances are you won't get it back."

That was probably the most shocking thing she'd said to him yet, or so it seemed. Not only did he start to blush again, but he gave her a look that said he couldn't believe she'd just told him that. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea," he said, as if trying to convince her otherwise for her own sake (even though that was what he'd wanted from her in the first place), "I may be similar to this Tamaki you keep mentioning, but I'm still a complete stranger."

"So is everyone else when you first meet them." Maybe she was starting to come to terms with how this new life was going to be, but she felt safe with the people she'd met, safe because they –albeit very different– were inevitably the same as her friends, which meant that although she didn't know these people very well and probably shouldn't expect them to be completely trustworthy, she still knew who they were. Bad idea? Possibly, but she'd deal with the consequences when the time came. She looked down at Isamu on the floor again. "I trust him, too, obviously. Granted, some of his actions worry me a little, but I'm positive that he'll stay true to the promise he made to his brother."

"Juro?" The Prince said, repeating the name that Isamu had mentioned in his sleep. "The friend you're in search of?"

She nodded.

Suddenly, the carriage came to a halt, disrupting Haruhi's peaceful thoughts. She felt somewhat alarmed at first, but then curiosity set in and she wondered where they were now. Would this be the place in which they found Juro?

"Guess we've arrived," Tanjiro announced as he stood on his feet and opened the door, "Wake Isamu. I'll be outside."

Haruhi watched him go, then looked down at Isamu as the Prince gently tore his feet away from the demon, who reached out as if for his brother. So she got on the floor, wondering if she could actually wake him or not, and tapped him a few times and called his name. For whatever reason, that did the trick.

"W-wha? He looked up at her with annoyance as though he were having a good dream. "Wha'dya want?"

"It's time to go." She couldn't help but smile down at him before she got to her feet and stepped over him to follow the Prince outside. With a growl of irritation, he followed her.

They were no longer in the forest region. Now it looked more like open country with a Village before them, or at least it looked like a Village from the outside. Haruhi found Tanjiro talking with the driver of his carriage about payment and reporting back in an hour around the Main Square of the rural area. The Prince handed over a bag of cash and headed inside the Village. Actually, it wasn't so much a living area as a giant circus for enchantment, entertainment, and marketing.

There were booths and tents everywhere, mostly for selling products of all types, but there were some that advertised many different mystical things such as potions and fortune telling, and there were also very censured places such as Night Clubs and Brothels, but there were public stages and inside buildings for entertainment places such as circus acts, dancing, singing, competitions of various sorts, and story telling. There were even places for sport events for the general public. Every now and then there was a Bar or a Tavern. It looked like a wild fete that should belong to a city but was its own community. What was this place?

"Are you kidding me?" Isamu complained with a growl under his breath. "No Monk that works and lives in an Independent Festive Bazaar –especially this circus act– could be a real prophet."

"That's what Saburo said, too," Tanjiro replied absent mindedly, "but Rolling Diamonds is the only Independent Festive Bazaar with real talent and a few people with true arcane ability, such as Monk Shigeo."

"And you would know that how?" Isamu remarked. "Experience, I expect?"

His answer was simple. "I can sense it."

"Oh right, the empathy thing," Isamu mocked with a deceptive shrug, "So tell me, what's it like to see into other people's private thoughts without them knowing?"

Haruhi shot the demon a glare and slapped his shoulder warningly. She'd actually hit him pretty hard, harder than she met to.

"What?" Was his reaction, like he had done nothing wrong or even remotely rude.

"Could you at least pretend to be nice?" Maybe it wasn't harder than she meant to.

He glared down at her like she was crazy for saying that. "Why are you defending the Bastard Prince after he treated you like-?"

"That doesn't matter anymore," she replied sharply, "He's our escort now, so get used to it."

"Oh, so now he's our guide?" He asked in a tone dripping with venomous sarcasm. "And here I thought he was our friend."

"Technically he's our traveling companion." She corrected him in a quiet irritated tone.

"Oh yay!" He was still being sarcastic, but this time it was a dagger in the back to Tanjiro. "I feel like I can trust him now!"

This time she hit him in the chest with a fist, making him grunt heavily. "Leave that to me, but you should at least keep your dirty mouth shut. Honestly you're so egotistical!"

He immediately went into defense mode. "Hey! I'm not-!"

"I said shut up!" She exploded and walked ahead of him. She was starting to grow tired of his attitude problem. Were demons always this obnoxious? Behind her, she heard Isamu growl an agitated grunt deep in his gut, but he actually remained quiet. Either he was smart enough to listen or too agitated to argue further.

Tanjiro took no notice of their quarrel. He just continued to maneuver instinctively through the huge crowds of people in a direction that only he seemed to know. His longer legs were able to take much longer strides than her own, and he didn't have to hurry as fast as she did. Haruhi found it somewhat difficult to keep up with the considerable rate of ground he was able to cover.

Before long she felt a strong pair of arms hoist her from the ground and onto the left shoulder of a tall figure who used one hand to be certain her position was secure. The fiery orange hair and the pointed ears gave Isamu away, but because he was able to keep up with the faster Tanjiro and Haruhi was able to see over the crowd, she didn't object (as much as she would have liked to). She felt the tremor of his growl of irritation vibrate through his body, warning her that he was only doing this because he felt she was incapable of handling herself and if she did or said anything wrong her ride was forfeit. She silently snorted her annoyance at his threat, but otherwise did nothing to protest. She would rather be able to see what was going on through the plethora of tall people than try to keep up with her considerably faster companion without knowing what she was heading into.

There was a lot to see, but they rushed by so fast that she barely had time to see any of it and remember what it looked like afterward. She did, however, remember seeing a face that looked remarkably like Banibara-Sama and a few others that reminded her of various people she knew of, had seen, or met. There was probably a good assortment of faces that she might've recognized if she'd been allotted enough time to look closer. Alas, the show came to a close when they finally came upon a rather peculiar dome-shaped tent of various shades of purples, silvers, pinks, and golds. The entry way had a unique bamboo door curtain that made up the intricate image of a Chinese dragon flying through the cosmos. Standing by that same entry way was an alert and well built guard that reminded her a lot of the British-looking muscle man she'd seen walking down the street the other day in the real world.

At that point, Isamu put her down and walked ahead of her, leaving her behind as she had him. It was just as well. As of that moment, she would rather have dealt with as little of the demon as possible. She managed to notice that Tanjiro still made no acknowledgment of the silent treatment they were giving each other as he proceeded inside with the consent of the sentry. Isamu had apparently decided to remain outside, which Haruhi was just fine with. She made no eye contact as she walked through the colorful wall of beads.

The Prince, having crossed more ground much faster than she could, was already in the furthest room talking with someone who was silhouetted by a purple robe, obscuring both gender and appearance from view. From what she could see, the figure seemed to be a mix between a gypsy, a druid, and a shaman of a variation of witchcraft and the Indian religion. There were also signs of the Shaolin monk martial arts. Whoever was sitting in the middle of all of it was also surrounded by objects of meditation, such as incense and lit candles. The room itself was rather dimly lit and was littered with other objects of such mysticism like tarot cards, a crystal ball, the skins and furs of animals, bones and skulls, and various other things.

Haruhi felt a small shiver creep up her spine as she listened to Tanjiro address the figure as Shigeo, the Monk he kept talking about. As out of place as she felt, there was something unnervingly familiar about it all.

"Returned have you?" Shigeo chuckled at the Prince. Even that voice was familiar. "What is it you need now?"

Tanjiro, as if forgetting his higher rank, actually took it upon himself to kneel respectfully before the Monk almost as though to pay his dues. "Do you remember what you told me about the Deva?" He said in a submissive tone unbecoming of a king-in-waiting, like he held the monk in higher respect than himself. "It has finally come. It comes to put an end to the war. It lays in wait for the one or ones who will be its guide and protect it. I will find it at Tonnerre's slave auction."

"Yes," the Monk replied, the dark hood bowing in a nod, "I also said that if you were to go, only doom will greet you and any who involve themselves. But I expect that is not enough to sway your proud heart. In fact, I feel it is only just to assume that you went anyway."

That shiver that was still creeping up Haruhi's spine sped up. She didn't in the least like the warning of doom that the monk gave. However, she knew that it was probably foreboding something that she herself needed to heed.

"Indeed," Tanjiro sighed, as though in shame of his own reckless actions, "Well... I've found her."

The monk, even though his face was concealed, appeared to be surprised by the Prince's words. "Her?"

"Yes, and I brought her with me." Tanjiro answered softly.

"It... she... is here?" The monk asked incredulously.

That was all the confirmation Haruhi needed. So he really did believe that she was this glorious Deva creature, but why her? When Tanjiro turned to look at her and beckoned for her to come to him, she froze. She had no desire to be worshiped like the all-powerful God that was known world-wide in every modern religion of the real world. She liked the way her life was going just the way it was. Nothing needed to change. Sure she was popular, but she wasn't proud or glad of it. If anything it was troublesome. Being nobody wasn't as bad as it's made out to be. However, she didn't want to lose the friends she had made no matter what gender they thought she was.

"Haruhi." Tanjiro outstretched an arm toward her, offering her his hand for security. "It's okay."

It was the strangest thing. She heard his voice, but she noticed that though he was speaking to her, his lips didn't move at all. Had she imagined it? She had heard him as clearly as she could see him and it was just as real, but suddenly it was as though he had not spoken or offered his hand to her at all.

"Haruhi?" That time his lips did move, and again he reached out to her. "It's okay. Come here."

As Tanjiro moved to offer his hand to her, the Monk pulled the hood of his robe away to reveal a face more familiar to her than any other she could remember. It was her father.

...Creepy... I'm not even sure what I just typed. She might've predicted Tanjiro would do that, or maybe she made him do it, I don't know... It was cool though! I want more! -starts typing more for the next chapter-

So know Haruhi's father has entered the picture. I wonder if he'll play a big role? And who else is going to come into the picture later? What I wanna know is where the hell is Juro!? I don't even know myself! The suspense is killing me!

Lol, don't go away. Stay tuned, cause I have a feeling that things are about to get crazy! And please don't forget to review!