CHAPTER NINE REVELATIONS

Reve has to admit that she didn't expect their 'story' to have this much of an impact on the hosts - she fails to see how knowing someone's past should affect how you treat them in the present. But after Moriko's sob story, the hosts demeanor around Kato, around all of them in a way, have changed. Sure, Kyoya is still stand-offish and the twins still make rather mean jokes and pranks, but Tamaki has been nicer to all of them, Kato in particular. Takashi and Hunny have also been spending much more time with her, even spending time at her table during hosting hours.

Normally, she would be fairly happy that they're blending in so well and that they have been, in a way, accepted by the host club. It's after hosting hours, but she glances toward Kato's table, her chest tightens as she sees Hunny happily curled against Kato's side holding Usa-chan to his chest and Takashi sitting opposite of her with a ghost of a smile on his face.

Her grip on her tea cup grows stiffer and she regrets that moment weeks ago, letting them go after Kato in her time of need. She should have been the one to comfort Kato, she should have ran out the second that the Katojn did and assure her that she'd always have her back. She closes her eyes and could see what could have been - she'd run out after her and they'd meet on the edge of the balcony, her arms would hold Kato close, they're share a kiss that would make her skin shiver. Kato could pick her up and set her on the railing, their bodies would grow closer. Hot.

She regrets drinking tea and not something cooler that would help the flush that's grown on her cheeks.

"I can only imagine what you may be thinking right now," Kyoya's presence doesn't even make her jump.

He gives her a curious look and looks over to Kato, whose seems to be having a good time with Hunny and Takashi. He wonders what about it had gotten her attention, and more so, what about it could've given her such a virgin's blush. His mind plays with one particular idea, but given to Reve's nature, he finds it unlikely.

She gives him a cold stare, "Nothing that concerns you."

He has the gull to smirk at her, "I should surely hope not, but whatever it is, don't let it affect your hosting."

"I thought someone as 'sophisticated' as you could tell time," Reve doesn't even dignify him with so much as a glance as she sips at her tea, "But it's well after hosting hours. We're doing more than…socializing, with each other for reasons that I don't understand. We see enough of each other as it is."

Kyoya raises an eyebrow in curiosity, taking a seat across from her with ease. He meets her eyes, but somehow it seems as if she's looking right through him. As if she can hear every little thought that goes on his mind, as if there's nothing he could possibly hide from her. He should be the only one at this table that can do that, yet he's sitting across one of the three people who he can't simply figure out.

He has a simple two-step process to figuring out each person who walks through the school's halls. All part of how he figures out how he can use people to his benefit and if they can be useful to him in the business world.

The first part is something he can usually do before he even meets them - figure out what it is that they're hiding from everyone else. Each person has a dirty little secret and it's his job to figure out what it is, to have something he can hold over their head should the need arise, and if it can be used to make them work to his benefit. Whether it's digging into their family, their files, checking school cameras, or having a careful ear for the gossip, he can find out everyone's little secret before they even know who he is.

The first part is something that's usually done quick, but the three newest additions have proved to be… troublesome. With Moriko being so open about their history, he has nothing to hold against them. Everything she's said is true, though there's no formal record of her family adopting Kato. Kato has a record, a more recent one, though that's not too far-fetched. She was a street rat, who likely wasn't in the system - which also means it's impossible for him to do any digging into who she really is or where she came from or even who her family is. Even if he gets any DNA, it means nothing unless he has someone to compare it to as her parental figure. Moriko's family wasn't given a lot of time to create one for her before their passing. Reve's family is likely the one who created her record. Other than that, there's records to support where they could have met, their travels, their history together, everything seems fairly legitimate - except for one thing.

Reve's family is so prestigious, apparently in the top one percent within France. It seems violet eyes run throughout their entire family - making it their trademark. Her mother passed, her father remarried, resulting in her having one half-brother, who has become one of France's most eligible bachelors. But there's no pictures that he can find, even wedding photos, of his most recent wife, just a small black and white photo with her obituary that doesn't tell him much. It makes him wonder if she was, in some way, not seen as an appropriate wife for him to take. Which may give him something to latch onto, something to hold against her should she turn against him in anyway, but he needs to have something more substantial.

She also doesn't fit nicely into his second part. Usually, he sweeps down to someone's level, he looks them in the eye, he lets them know that he knows things that they can't even imagine, he observes them, he figures out what makes them tick, and how he can manipulate them into doing what it is he needs them to do. With Tamaki, it's easy. His big heart bleeds for each sob story he hears and is open to the power of suggestion, and doesn't question it if it's phrased to be something that can help others.

Moriko, like Tamaki, cares so deeply for her family that she can explode into a rage to protect them, but otherwise she's more reserved and seems to care more for the plants in the host club than most of the guests. T. Her main goal seems to be to just pass high school and go through life. Given her interest in plants and her family's history as botanists, it's likely she'll follow that career. She's a potential business partner, should she go that route. If he makes her his friend, or at least if she thinks he's her friend, then it give him more access to medicinal her interest with Haruhi may be problematic in the future, it gives him something to latch on that he can use against her.

Kato was the easiest of all of them - nothing but a person driven by their most current, strongest emotion, acting on it before thinking it over. She's impulsive, rude, and at times, almost like a wild animal. She seems to have no understanding of how to read social situations or how to respond to any strong emotion other than happiness or anger. She seems to have some sort of prejudice toward them, at first he thought it was racial in nature, but after seeing the way she acted toward other foreign students, ones outside of Japan, it seems that there's something more to it. It's very possible that she just doesn't like anyone outside of her immediate family, but her reaction seems too strong to be that simple. If he can figure that part out, then maybe he'd have something to hold against her.

Reve, however, is harder. She's too much like him, and not in a good way. It makes her harder to read, he can't tell what her intentions are. He can't tell what it is that she likes, dislikes, or what her most dominant personality trait really is. She does seem to care deeply for her friends, despite her colder exterior, though she doesn't seem to want to admit it. She doesn't seem to want to be here, but she doesn't make any effort to leave, which means she has some reason to stay. She could've easily paid off Moriko's debt with her family's money, but she chose to. She either wanted to teach Moriko a lesson - which is unlikely since she offered herself and Kato to help pay it off - or she has a reason to want to be in the host club. Considering she doesn't seem like the fangirl type and didn't know any of them (that he knows of) until then, he's still trying to figure out what it is that she apparently needs them for. HIs mind dwindles back to his previous idea, why she could have gotten so red, and for now, that's the best theory he has.

Reve snorts into her tea cup, startling him, "If you think that I got flushed because of some attraction to one of your hosts, I can assure you that you can't be anymore wrong."

Which leaves him to the other possible option she turned red, one that seems unlikely, but could prove to be the hook he needs to keep her in line. He stares at her, narrowing his eyes, and takes the chance to confront it.

"Maybe it's not one of the hosts," his eyes glance toward Kato.

Reve's eyes turn hard, her knuckles grow white and a small crack forms on her cup. For a moment, the light reflects against her eyes as if her eyes glow.

Bingo.

Haruhi bites her lip in thought, an adorable thoughtful look on her face. Moriko's face flushes, her chest warm and fuzzy, as her hands tremble around her cup ever so slightly.

"I never really thought about it that way, but I guess it makes sense. Plants are just as much as alive as we are, so why wouldn't they respond to us being to them?"

Moriko glows, her face lighting up with excitement, "Exactly! They even had a study to help prove it where they had two plants, exactly the same type with the same type of soil, same amount of water, same amount of sunlight, both in glass cases. The only difference? They told people to yell at and insult one of the plants and only tell nice things to the other. And what do you know? The one that only got insulted tended to wilt and wither. The one that was told nice things, on the other hand, thrived. It was -"

She stops suddenly, a strange sensation tickling at her mental senses. She can feel the plants crying to make it stop, some already starting to wilt. A tangible aura of fear pierces through the air.

She glances toward Kato, expecting to see her having another outrage or panic attack. Instead, she sees the Katojn happily curling between Takashi and Hunny, animatedly speaking as they eat sweets. Her brows furrow, if it wasn't Kato, then who…?

She hesitantly looks toward Reve, seeing her giving Kyoya a hard, deathly stare, the lights in her eyes shining brightly, twinkling like a firecracker that's just been lit. The aura of fear, mixed with anger, makes her shift in her seat as Reve projects her emotions around her, even the twins seem to be uncomfortable as they settle down in their couch with a depressed look to their eyes.

Reve, you have to stop, Moriko pleads over the mental link, look at what you're doing to everyone. You're draining everyone! STOP!

Slowly, but surely, everyone starts feeling the effects more and more. You can feel the fear present in the room as it drains energy from all around it to feed itself. The most emotional ones are quicker to go while those with the strongest will have more resistance, but it's a only a matter of time before everyone is effected.

Kato curls into herself, holding her newest stuffed animal to her chest, her head resting against Takashi's side, her will to move diminishing. Hunny joins her, curling against her as he holds Usa-chan close though it seems to be more of an act of comfort to Kato than him actually feeling Reve's effects. Takashi has an arm around both of them as much as he can, his will seems stronger, merely looking confused at the sudden change in demeanor. He tilts his head at the slight almost whine that drags out from Kato, sounding like a disgruntled kitten trying to tell him, or someone, something.

Tamaki is in his little corner growing mushrooms, muttering about how his 'daughters' will never truly love him. The twins are almost asleep on their couch. Haruhi is already starting to look tired, but there's a still a small smile on her face. Even Moriko is starting to feel it's effects as she relaxes into the couch with a tired, slightly frustrated sigh.

Kyoya feels it next, his eyes only slightly dropping as he continues to stare at Reve with a hard intensity. He sways a bit in his seat, but impressingly holds his own.

Reve, Moriko pleads, and she can see Kato's ears twitch, stirring a bit at all the activity in the mental link.

Reve, Kato's voice joins, please…

This time, it seems to have an effect. The aura in the room drops and dissipates almost suddenly as Reve regains her composure. She gives one last glare to Kyoya before she calmly stands. The clicks of heels are the only break in the confused silence that overtakes the room as she leaves promptly, not even offering a single look back.

Kato tiredly watches her leave, a twinge in her chest as she stirs from her spot between Takashi and Hunny. After a moment of regaining her energy, she stands and mutters something to Takashi and Hunny that makes them both nod with understanding as they usher her away. Kyoya's eyes follow her intensely as he watches her go after Reve.

"I - I'm sorry," Haruhi shakes their head with confusion, "I think I blanked out for a minute, I can't exactly remember… What were we talking about again?"

Moriko takes a deep breath and relishes in the calming europhia of the plants. She closes her eyes for a second before she smiles,

"Plants feel," she says simple, but with passion and conviction, "They feel things so much more than people think."

Reve takes a deep breath, feeling the energy around her as she tries her best to reign it back into her. She can feel loose tendrils of herself flock around her, too wound up with emotion to be brought back into a physical form. She closes her eyes tight and grips the railing of the balcony she found herself on tightly. She turns off the mental link, she can't hear Moriko's concerned thoughts nor the empty silence from Kato. She can't handle anyone's thoughts when she can't even handle her own.

Panic still grips at her, clawing at her, telling her that now that Kyoya knows that it's all over, that he will tell Kato, tell everyone, and any chance she had at doing anything with Kato will be ruined beyond repair as everyone else would turn away for having such a fascination with, in their eyes, her almost adoptive sister even though it's not as if her family actually adopted her - they even gave her her own last name, they just took care of her, they just -

She's not aware she's crying until she feels a calloused hand gently wipe it away. Then she can feel a head press against hers. She can feel hot sand beneath her toes and a sun blaring on her skin. She sees the dunes of the desert with the feeling of safety and freedom. The color of a deep red, the sensation of survival. She wants to relish in memories that aren't hers to know, know the individual so well inside and out that she can't tell where she ends and they begin.

She opens her eyes and takes a deep breath through her nose, the loose tendrils that once flared coming back into her form. She becomes more matte, no longer having the faint glow of power and emotion around her. Her chest feels tight with remorse and guilt, feeling more and more awful about herself that she didn't run after Kato before. Especially considering that Kato has done that exact thing for her.

She feels a deja vu, an odd sensation as if this moment has lived on this location before. As if this balcony knows the feeling of relief of someone chasing after them, the sensation of love and care, and the euphoria of hugging someone so close that their bodies mesh with hers. She tightens her hold around Kato.

She can feel the intense heat coming from Kato's body in waves, warmer than a typical human. The muscles behind her clothing and how stiff she feels from it, as if her muscles have all tensed up. The back part of her mind makes her wonder how those muscles would feel beneath her fingertips.

She came, Reve's aura flares with a happiness that's not felt often. Kato chased after her, even when she didn't do the same - she should have, she was so stupid to go ahead and let Takashi go after her instead, so stupid. But now, there's some sort of hope that there's more to the two of them than meets the eye. As if she has some sort of chance.

Kato furrows her brows behind Reve's back, her body tensing at the contact as Reve's body tingles with emotion that makes the hairs on her neck stand on end. Her mind can't wrap around the fact that Reve's arms are wrapped around her nor why she can't quite bring herself to hug her back.

A bit of a deju vu from the last scene of the last chapter, but that's kind of the point. It's kind of a way to show what could've (more realistically) happened if Reve had ran after Kato instead of Takashi and a way for Reve to feel more guilty that she didn't.

Also, I realized I never quite gotten into the depth of Reve's powers so this was a fun way to show what she can be capable of, how she can manipulate people's emotions and auras, and how she can sense/feel their auras as well. Something I never quite explained as well as I should have.