Author's Note: This chapter will probably one the longer ones as I would like to wrap up the trip to the onsen here shortly in this chapter and one more following it. Hopefully you all won't mind the length, and I only hope you find entertainment in the introduction of Kyo's dad. I felt inspired to write the intro of Uchiwa Ichigo after watching the first episode of Bleach again earlier this week. But like I said, this chapter will be rather long.
Warnings: This chapter will include the use of foul language. Be assured I dare not drop the f-bomb here as the rules of PG-13 clearly state that you are only allowed to use this taboo four-letter word only once! (Or so I gathered from John Travolta in BE COOL)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am quite sure I haven't used the f-bomb yet. I'll save it for a much more pressing time that would allow its use.
Other than that, ENJOY!
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Great Winter Break Escapade – Part Five
For more than two hours the Host Club and members of the Uchiwa family sat on the back porch of the shrine and munched upon their sweet potatoes that Kyo somehow managed to finish cooking. They talked amongst one another, separating in their grouped off conversations and then coming back into a full group conversation like the ebb and flow of a tide. It took the first falling flakes of snow drifting down out the grey sky to interrupt them and pull focus elsewhere. Uchiwa Seo and Yusuke were the first ones up off the porch, racing into the middle of the yard where they held out their hands in an attempt to catch the falling snowflakes.
"Oh wow, it's snowing." Haruhi grinned while staring up at the sky to watched the snow fall in a slow swirling dance.
Hunny giggled as he jumped down off the porch and joined the two younger Uchiwa in the yard for a game of chase to see who could catch the most snow in their hands before it melted. As the snow continued to fall, it dusted the grounds of the shrine and was soon giving a rather tranquil and unique to it, but also dropped the temperature level in the air as well. Blowing out a small puff of air, Kaoru watched it form into a small cloud and disappear within seconds. He grinned and blew another puff of air as he found a small bit of entertainment in this, and soon both his brother and Tamaki were blowing small clouds out into the cold air right along with him.
"A little early for snowfall." Kyoya mused. "Does this usually happen up here?" He glanced towards Kyo first, but found that she was distracted with her own little task of leaning as far out from her seat on the porch to catch snowflakes on the tip of her tongue, and thus immediately looked to Kira.
Kira nodded. "Yeah it does. It's usually around the end of November and the beginning of December that the first snow starts to fall. You get a handful of tourist here and there who want to take pictures of the shrine covered in snow, but other than that it still stays relatively quiet for most of the winter." He replied.
"What about the onsen? Don't you guys get pretty busy during winter?" Haruhi asked as the thought of the second attraction run by the Uchiwa family came to mind as it had been momentarily forgotten amidst the time spent at the shrine thus far.
"It picks up, about...huh, right now." Kyo sat back from her little game of catch and held a rather musing look on her face that turned to complete and utter depression as she reminded herself of this little fact. Drawn to exchange stricken looks with Kira, Kyo curled herself up into a ball on the porch and made it a point to keep back turned to everyone else. "I'll spend the next three days here if anyone wants me." She muttered.
Kyo's self-imposed depression had most of her friends laughing in a nervous manner in response, but Kira was the only one who shook his head as he did have a somewhat sympathetic agreement to what Kyo had decided to announce. If they weren't careful, more than likely as they walked back down to the onsen the sounds of arriving visitors and the screech of three mothers and one grandmother as they sought out four missing children (aka cheap labor) they needed help from was more than likely going to send everyone in that group into flight mode. Kira shuddered at the thought. Medusa has nothing on them when they're angry.
"Kira-niichan! Kyo-neechan!" Seo came running up towards her two older cousins, arms wrapped about her upper body. Stopping at the foot of the porch, her teeth chattered as she shivered beneath the rapidly cooling temperature. "I'm getting really cold out here."
Kira lifted a brow as he watched Seo shiver and then glanced up at the sky. The snow was beginning to come down a bit more now and at a faster rate. In fact, Holy hell! Kira stared out at an entirely covered back yard of the shrine. "Uh, yeah. I think we should go ahead and head on back to the onsen before the snow gets any heavier." He stood up as he spoke, conveying the gesture for everyone else to do so as well.
Yusuke came running up and jumped at the last step. Tucking and rolling through the air, he landed in Kira's arms as apparently this was just normal routine for them. Standing up to stretch, Tamaki glanced over at the still curled up Kyo who looked as though she didn't hear what Kira said, or refused to listen. Either way, she wasn't moving and this had Tamaki lifting a curious brow. Reaching down, he set a tensive hand on her shoulder. "Uh, Kyo...?"
She was silent.
"Stop moping and get up already." Kira called out as he was already leading the others towards the front of the shrine. That got a reaction out of her indefinitely.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
"Come on Kyo, the snow fall is going to ensure we don't make it back down if we wait too long." Kyoya called out over his shoulder as he was already following Kira, Yusuke, and Seo back towards the front of the shrine.
Kyo sat up and made a rather unpleasant face at Kyoya as she was both irritated and somewhat disgusted to the fact that he was agreeing with Kira at all. "This isn't school Kyoya, you can't boss me around here!" She snapped, already feeling slightly dizzy from her previous outburst.
Kyoya paused a moment and lifted a rather amused brow in response to her remark. The look on his face caused the twins to swallow hard as they had seen it before, and normally it came prior to Mori enforcing what Kyoya had decided upon...like right now as Kyo's smaller frame was easily scooped up and slung over Mori's shoulder. For a brief two seconds a rather stunned look of disbelief held its place on Kyo, before of course she started wriggle and squirm to free herself from a forced departure she didn't want to participate in. Shouting, cursing, and every other attempt was made on Kyo's part to get herself out of Mori's hold, however, as they had already rounded the corner and were now passing out beneath the torii, Mori stopped, pulled Kyo off his shoulder and held her out before him as if she were some children's toy. That shut her up rather quickly.
"Stop squirming. It tickles." Mori's deadpan look and flat tone held everyone still, including Kyo who stared at him with wide eyes but dared to open her mouth to say something, only to have Mori shake his head in response to the unspoken. "No, you'll just try to run away." He stated, and set her back across his shoulder to ensure she was unable to try an escape attempt of any kind.
Twenty minutes later...
"Wow."
The entire group of eleven stood off to the side of the main courtyard leading up to the onsen. A main courtyard bursting at the seams with tourists and daily visitors that prowled about in every which direction. The flash of camera bulbs, the mingled conversations, and the constant shuffle of feet drowned any and every other sound.
"Is it too late to take Kyo-senpai's lead, and stay at the shrine?" Hikaru muttered while looking over at the dark haired girl still slung over Mori's shoulder. After her initial first couple of minutes of struggling to escape and hide, Kyo lost all energy versus actually giving up as her rather odd little season stipulation tossed her an unfair advantage. About halfway down the trail, Kyo had finally shaken herself back to "normal" and since then had been propping her head up via chin hand that rested an elbow against Mori's back. Kyo gave a huff while turning her face away from Hikaru's view as she gave him the cold shoulder. "Just how the hell was I supposed to help you out?! Mori-senpai has you on his shoulder, I wouldn't have been able to reach you!!"
Kyo turned on the rowdier Hitachiin, eyes narrowed and fangs barred. "That didn't mean you couldn't put in any effort to at least try!" She snapped back, a finger pointing in complete and utter accusation at the redhead. "You're on your own pal!" Her arms crossed stubbornly while she stared ahead back up the trail to make a point that she was now ignoring him.
Hikaru gritted his teeth while shooting her a very unfriendly look. If it's the weather that's affecting her mood, fine. But if it's just her being a bi...
"KYO-CHAN! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU AND YOUR COUSINS HIDING?!"
It was as if the entire roof of the onsen had exploded right up off the building itself. Not only had the group of eleven scattered to the four winds, but everyone in the courtyard had gone stiff with an extreme amount of pure fear from such a giant outburst.
Before they knew what had hit them, the whole Host Club and the Uchiwa cousins had been rounded up by three mothers and one grandmother, who were just a hair short of actually tying them all up in order to keep them inside the onsen. Gathered, or rather trapped, inside a side room that was accessed only by the staff of the onsen and the family members themselves, they were loomed over by stern looks that promised in the event that their cooperation failed...it would be utterly unfortunate.
"Kyo, your family is terrifying." Haruhi muttered over towards her friend as the two sat side by side on their knees.
Kyo's face was currently holding a very sour look for the time being. "Try living with them from birth till now. Then you can come back and tell me that they're terrifying." She grumbled beneath her breath.
At the forefront of the group, Kyo's aunt Misae stood before them with a rather sweet smile on her face and hands clapping together briefly to gain their attention. "Okay everyone, please listen. As you already saw, we have experienced a rather sudden and rather large random ambush by visitors to the onsen. All the usual staff have arrived on such short notice, but I would appreciate it if all of you were ready to offer a helping hand when needed. Neh?" Misae tilted her head to the side as a smile bristled over her lips. When no one answered right away, aside from Yusuke, her smile vanished in seconds and a glare replaced it. Ten voices answered simultaneously with a 'yes'. "Wonderful!"
With that said, they were dismissed from the room and allowed to go do whatever it was they wanted until needed. Once the adults had ducked out of the room and the door closed with a click, Kyo shot up from her seat on the floor and began looking around for an escape route.
"You try that every year and it never works." Kira sighed while reclining back on his arms.
"That doesn't mean I should give up!" Kyo snapped. "You never try!" She pointed angrily at her older cousin with a venomous glare radiating into his direction at the same time.
"Every time you've tried to escape, you were caught. I'd say that amounts to you needing to give up." Kira shot back, his own face pulling into a default glare.
Muttering something under breath, Kyo found the window to her right and made to spring for it, only to have a very fast moving object race into the room and lock her down in some sort wrestling inspired body-lock. "And where do you think you're going?!" An older man looking to be somewhere in his early mid to late forties, sporting a head of greying black hair and dark grey eyes, had appeared so quickly and in such an odd manner that everyone in the room was stunned stupid for the moment. "Trying to escape again, eh?!"
"G-Get off me!" Kyo choked out while trying to twist her way out of the hold she had been so unceremoniously been tackled under. As the man refused to budge, Kyo grit her teeth as she managed to push herself up into a partially risen state and slammed the back of her head into his lower lip. This sent a shock wave through the guy who immediately released her as he reeled backwards, coughing and sputtering. In what looked like a flashed blur of just color, Kyo was up on her feet and facing the man who had pinned her to the ground in an attempt to fraught her chance of escape. "What the hell is wrong with you?! I'm your daughter for crying out loud!"
Tamaki's face drew a blank as it cocked to the side, or rather fell to the side, as he couldn't help but become incredibly confused by this whole thing now. "Daughter...?"
"I believe we've just been introduced to Uchiwa Ichigo. Kyo's father." Kyoya observed while recovering from his apparent state of blank shock faster than the others had. However, he continued to observe with a very much disturbed look on his face since it was a rather odd sight to watch.
"EEEHHHH??!!" This was unanimous by the way, and only the members of the Host Club had done so. (Back to the action!)
"Ho-ho! My little girl has finally learned a thing or two from her old man! 'Bout time!" Uchiwa Ichigo had recovered from the backwards head-butt rather quickly as he now stood in an extravegant stance, arms folded smugly across his chest. A proud grin was plastered across his face.
Kyo shoved her arms across her chest as well, only she turned away from her rather painfully annoying father. "You had better be talking about Jii-chan if you're saying that, because I didn't learn shit from you!"
Ichigo faulted in his stance as if someone had hit him on the back of the head, but recovered quickly anyways. "I am your father! How dare you use such foul language!" He shouted while racing forward towards Kyo with a right punch pulled back and ready for launch, though it would never be used. Kyo's right foot caught his face in a surprisingly quick halfway performed roundhouse kick, which sent him spinning through the air backwards and hit the wall upside down. Sliding down the wall face, Ichigo's left foot twitched.
Both Hunny and Mori watched with drawn blanks. They had seen Kyo dish out rather impressive moves at school when those guys had come looking for a fight, and even when she fought Kira, but this...was a different level that had to be seriously separated from those other previous displays. That and her choice of words were anything but lady-like. For some reason, the two cousins decided quietly between themselves through some sort of telepathic means that they would never ever get Kyo mad at them. She didn't make arguments all to pleasant.
"Hoo boy." Kyo muttered as her whole body started to sway in response to a sudden depletion of all basic energy to even walk. Setting a hand to her forehead, Kyo moved to possibly sit down or even try and leave for her room, but her ever dotting father wouldn't have it so easily, as was apparent from the fact that Kyo slammed face first into the ground and set into another hold. "What the hell man?!"
"You let your guard down! Think you can get rid of your old man that easily?! EH?! THINK AGAIN!" Ichigo's statement wouldn't hold value for more than two seconds before Kyo found an untapped reserve of energy to bolt up out of the his hold and fling him off her yet again.
No witty remarks or snappy come backs were exchanged as both father and daughter raced for one another, leaped into the air and began exchanging random punches rather quickly. Jumping again after touching ground, the two exchanged another round of flurried blows before setting foot on the floor for a second time and pulled back a long right punch each. Releasing at the same time, both fists connected with the opposite target's cheek in a rather unpleasant thud that froze all movement in the room. Standing there with arms extended out, a fist in their faces, eyes closed to the world in order to block out the pain; Ichigo gave first as Kyo's hit had been much more substantial. Slipping off down to the tatami covered floor, Ichigo was left to sulk in slumped over defeat.
"That'll teach you to jump your own daughter, dumbass!" Kyo hissed while rubbing at her own cheek rather vigorously as a rather nifty looking red blotch was starting to show.
Looking up at his daughter, Ichigo pointed at her as dramatically as one can from being near face down on the floor. "If you try to escape this onsen and dodge your duties as a hostess and member of this family, I'll take your cellphone away! Then you'll cry and beg for me to give it back because you can't live without it! And I'll say 'Haha, serves you right for being so cruel to your papa.' Neh, so what do you think of that?!"
"Feh, fine by me. It's not like I'm attached to it." Kyo grumbled while turning her back to him.
Both Hikaru and Kaoru couldn't help but scowl in response to the statement Kyo's father had made. "We've only known her for half a year, and even we know she doesn't care about that stupid thing. You are her father, aren't you?" They announced their disapproval at a poorly made threat towards their toy. Especially since they were just so much better at blackmailing her anyways, and somehow found what he had said as almost offensive.
Uchiwa Ichigo's bottom lip quivered before he burst into rather undignified pouting tears. "Ahh! I don't even know what affects my own daughter anymore?! What kind of parent have I become?!"
"That's a damn good question if you ask me!" Kyo growled, her brow twitching as she agreed with what the twins had pointed out so expertly. Even she agreed to the fact that they did a better job of blackmailing and threatening her, than her own father did. "It's just pathetic."
Yusuke slid up beside Kyo, a hand holding his chin while he nodded solemnly. "Yes indeed. Very sad. Ichigo-ojichan doesn't know how his own kid works. Tch, the shame." A loud pop cracked through the room as Kyo planted her fist on the crown of Yusuke's head. A single swelling tear dangled from the boy's left eye in response to the rather sharp pain inflicted upon him. "Kyo-neechan is mean." His voice warbled.
"Ah! Yusuke-kun!" Ichigo swooped in and scooped up his youngest nephew, holding him gently as if he were an injured animal. "You poor boy! I know exactly how you feel! She's become such a cruel woman lately!" He babbled, tears running down his face in an overly dramatic manner that was mirrored by Yusuke, who also babbled incoherently.
Adjusting her sweater, Kyo exhaled a heavy sigh as she looked towards her still dumbstruck friends and couldn't help but blink a few times at the rather lifeless look they all possessed. "Hey, guys,"
"GOTCHA!" Ichigo tossed Yusuke off to Kira's position as he tried one more time to sweep in at Kyo, but even as he had sprang first with arms outstretched and ready to toss her again, the entire front of his face collided with the bottom of Kyo's sock covered foot. "Dear mother in heaven, our daughter has become so violent. What should I do?" He quivered while finally falling backwards to the ground, where he twitched in short jerks, the heavy imprint of Kyo's foot a dark splotch that ran up his face like a tire tread.
"Ah!? Stop saying those ridiculous things! Mom's still alive! And I'm sure she'll be pissed as all hell when she hears you lamenting like that!" Kyo shouted down at her father before turning on her heel and stomping off towards the door. Throwing the sliding door open so that it cracked like thunder upon entering the pocket, Kyo only managed to set one foot out the door when her body, weakened from her sensitivity to the weather and having spent all energy fighting off her father, gave out and she sunk to the floor in a slow slithering manner.
"Kyo!" Tamaki popped up from his seated place on the floor, recovering faster than everyone else as was customary in these sort of situations, and took only two giant leaps before he was lifting his dizzy eyed and incoherent friend up off the floor the best he could seeing as how they were stuck right inside the door way. "Aiya, you really shouldn't over do things like that!"
By mid-afternoon the onsen had finally settled down as customers were checked in, booked for private hot spring baths, and escorted to their rooms. The sudden appearance of so many people at once, both paying customers and visiting family members (and unexpected friends), new arrangements had to be made to accommodate for everyone to fit comfortably...more or less on the latter part of those at the onsen. Most of Kyo's family were divided into two rooms at the far back end of the onsen's Inn, while Kyo and Haruhi got a room to themselves a few doors down with a room to the six boys of the Host Club on the opposite of the hall directly across from them. A bit cozy, as the mothers put it, cramped and claustrophobic would have been a better description from others if it had not been for the threat of possibly being physically harmed preventing that little notion.
Shutting the door to their room, Haruhi sighed quietly as she turned about to face the new room she was now sharing with Kyo, only to find that the older girl was desperately trying to pry open the only window in the room. She couldn't help but feel a bit worried for her friend's frantic attempts to escape. "Why do I get the feeling that I should be possibly going along with this?" Haruhi muttered to herself before exhaling loudly as she walked over to where Kyo had now clambered up on the wall to brace both feet and pull on the wooden bars criss-crossing over the window itself. "Um, Kyo...?"
"Dammit!" Kyo dropped to the floor and stared up at the window bars accusingly. "I could fit out the bars if I didn't have these damn arms!" She shouted before proceeding an attempt at chewing her arms off.
Haruhi went rigid for a moment before racing across the rest of the room and swatted her friend upside the back of her head rather quickly. "Stop that!" She would really go through with it too!
Kyo hung her head and sulked in her cross-legged seat upon the tatami matted floor of their room. "It's all over." She moaned quietly before tipping over sideways, still cross-legged as well. Her depressed mood caused Haruhi to slump in her own stance, sweat building along her right temple line.
"It can't be that bad. Besides, your aunt said we would only be helping out when they were in need of extra hands." Haruhi pointed out while rubbing the back of her neck. "It'll probably no worse than entertaining during Host Club hours."
That, caused Kyo to roll halfway to face Haruhi on the floor and fixate a very unpleasant stare on her. "Why did you have to go and say that?" Not more than a second after uttering this, the door slid open rather quickly...and Kyo was ready to kill herself.
"Yosh! Kyo, Haruhi! It is the bloom of winter, and with fresh snow in the air it is up to the handsome men of the Ouran Host Club to cater to the lonely,"
"Not interested." Kyo was up on her feet facing the open door, arms crossed up in front of her to form an X.
Tamaki stared with a rather taken back look on his face and blinked a few times before he pulled a grin and attempted to being the process of swaying Kyo's jumped to response into the direction of agreement. "Now, now, Kyo-chan. We have a duty to perform as hosts." He tutted while wagging a finger at her.
"Hell no." Kyo shot him down, arms still up in their X crossed position. "We're not at school, therefore I feel no obligation to go along with this! That and, HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?! MY WHOLE FAMILY IS AT THIS ONSEN!!" She bellowed after of course stepping across the room in one long stride in order to yell down at the blonde king of the Host Club. The vein in her left temple pulsed as she snarled.
"Oh, right." Tamaki cowered beneath Kyo's rather unhappy demeanor. "Yeah but, we can still do things around here in order to provide excellent service to those with newfound time on their hands!" He pointed out in a manner that showed a great amount of excitement to work alongside the onsen staff. "Neh, Haruhi?" Tamaki looked to the other girl in the room, hoping she would agree, but found that Haruhi was staring at him with an even glare that almost seemed to dare him to just try and ask that question again. "Oh come on guys!"
"No!" Both girls shouted in unison as they pushed Tamaki backwards out the door and then slammed it shut. Unfortunately, locking a sliding rice paper door was completely out the question, seeing as how there weren't even any handles or knobs to these doors in the first place. It took both Kyo and Haruhi to keep the door from opening again as Tamaki started to throw one of his more famous "drama-queen" scenes in the hall.
Kyo shot Harhui a rather brow twitching stare. "Can we please try and escape now?" Her tone of voice was both frustrated and sarcastic at the same time.
"You're not chewing your arms off!" Haruhi shot back as she was growing increasingly frustrated as well now.
"Is that a yes or a no?!" Kyo demanded, her shoulder now having to butt up against the inside of the door jam to keep the door under their control. However, everything went suddenly still on the other side of the door, which brought curious looks from both girls, and after a moment's contemplation, Kyo slowly slid the door open to see what had happened. The brief and trifle thought having beaten Tamaki down with the passive aggressive blockade to room access was short lived, as the front of Kyo's sweater was snatched and used to yank the teen straight out of her room and into the hallway.
Her all but graceful face plant into the opposite wall from her room echoed down the hall with a rather dull thump, and left Haruhi stricken pale with utter and total fear.
Dusting her hands off as she turned her chin up indigently, Uchiwa Umi smirked while chuckling behind her closed lips. "Grandmother requests your help, Kyo-chan." She stated nonchalantly while heading off down the hall towards the main section of the onsen's Inn.
The door to the boy's room slid open, and the other six faces peered out after the leaving mother who seemed much more capable of handling Kyo than her father was. Haruhi slowly pulled her gaze down to the unmoving Kyo who actually twitched twice after sliding down the wall and did nothing to move herself out a rather defeated position on the floor. On the right side of the doorway, Tamaki had all but lost the color to his very being as he stared off into space; dumbstruck, struck stupid, and literally shell-shocked from the whole event.
"So that's where Kyo gets it from." Kyoya mused as an after though into a silent hallway. Only the mere weak moan from Kyo came back as a reply of any kind.