Notes: This chapter brought me at an interesting crossroads. It also reminded me, in a roundabout way, of how shipping is fun but horrifying at the same time, which then brought up the thought of the massive amounts of shipping is why many males in fandom (who aren't total pervs) probably either ship discreetly or pretend they're women so they can ship without being looked at funny. Shipping alienates, particularly when we need to get along.

Reviewer Shout-out: Princess Arcs di Cielo! Thank you! I wholly appreciate you leaving your thoughts. That's all I want, people: leave your thoughts. Please, thank you, thank you.

Chapter Twenty

Contemplation and Codes

It was silent in the kitchen at the Sasagawa-Kurokawa-Sawada house as everyone but Damiano and Haruhi sat around, thinking about what had just happened only half an hour beforehand. Having to watch Haruhi collapse into the arms of her friends was not sitting well with the Namimori Regulars and the heavy silence that punctuated the atmosphere proved it.

"I-is Ha-Ha-Haruhi-nee gonna die…?" Annje cried into Saki's side. The older girl held her and stroked her hair in an effort to calm her down despite the fact that she was fairly confused herself.

"Shhh… no one's dying. You heard that man… he was sent to make sure we were okay. Yama-chan's gonna be fine."

"Yeah… the Tenth would only send the best," Hans said thoughtfully as he sat cross-legged on the counter. "I don't like who the best is though."

"That's right… how do you know Dr. Shamal, you little brat?" Masaru asked.

"Oh, he sometimes came over to visit my Dad when he would be in town," Hans explained. "I think Mom had to fire more female staffers when he was around than when he wasn't. He wants me to call him Opa… but I don't believe he's dad's dad."

"He's not, but just an extremely annoying necessity," Masaru added, looking over at the still-confused Saki.

"So then this tournament is to decide who is going to take a place in Sawada-kun's family business?" she asked. "I always thought his dad was a civil servant in Italy."

"You can call the Mafia by any name you want, but it is nothing but civil," Kiyohiko mumbled. He had been fairly quiet since they left the gymnasium and it was the first full sentence he had uttered in that time.

"I'm back!" Damiano announced as he came into the kitchen. He shut the door behind him and put the convenience store bag on the table. "I thought these might help." He began to unpack the individual-sized containers of ice cream and other assorted items of junk food with little response from the others.

"You got food? I feel sick and you want me to eat?" Hans asked critically.

"Hey, when I was little, my mom said that sometimes we need to eat when we're sad. Not all the time of course, since that's not good either, but when things are really bad the act of eating can help the mood. Families are supposed to laugh at the dinner table, right?"

"Explains Hana-san's comfort-food kicks," Masaru said as he grabbed some ice cream and began to eat right out of the container. "Sometimes the girly way of doing things doesn't taste that bad."

"Reborn, how long do you think it'll be before we hear about how Haruhi-san is doing?" Kiyohiko asked. The infant hitman shrugged his shoulders and shook his head as he started to devour one of the ice creams.

"I can't tell. Haruhi pushed herself beyond what she should have, so Shamal has a real undertaking ahead of him. Relax and have some ice cream before it melts; your father wouldn't have sent him had he not thought he could handle it."

"Signorina Haruhi is one of the strongest people our age that I know though," Damiano said through a spoonful of ice cream. "How could that be beyond her normal limits?"

"It took a lot of strength, both mental and physical, to do what Haruhi did back there," Reborn explained. "To make the perfect storm, you need a precariously balanced amount of rain, cloud, sun, thunder and mist. She knew that and therefore adapted Shigure Souen Ryu to reflect this. She made much progress in order to do so, but it was just a bit shy of where she should have been to keep self-inflicted damage at a minimum."

"Okay, then what about those Flame things?" Saki asked. Annje was not in her arms anymore and slowly picking at some ice cream, leaving her to talk. "I know you've explained it before, but it doesn't make total sense to me. Yama-chan said that all strong fighters have one, but didn't she use more than one?"

"People aren't always born with just one," Kiyohiko said sadly.

"Correct," Reborn interjected. "Haruhi has access to most Flames of the Sky, as her godfather does. He is the current Guardian of the Storm and one of the fiercest men in the Mafia."

"That's my dad," Hans added. "I don't know why I got a different Ring than him though."

"Oh yeah, that's right… what ring did you get?" Masaru asked. Hans fished for a chain that rested under his shirt and pulled out the ring that was attached.

"Thunder—I got it before I even came to Japan. This guy named Basil that Dad works with gave it to me. Mom and Dad weren't too happy with that."

"Thunder…?" Kiyohiko asked. Now he was the one who was confused. "Are you serious?"

"It's right here," Hans said. He hopped down from the countertop and walked over to Kiyohiko. Sure enough, the green stone and lightning bolt crest inlay was there as plain as day.

"So Masaru-nii is Sun, Haruhi-san is Storm, Hans-kun is Thunder… are you Mist Damiano-kun?"

"Nope. I'm the Rain," he replied, pulling half of the Rain Ring out of his pocket and putting it on his hand. "In a way I'm relieved, since this means I don't have to go against Sorella."

"Do you have a Ring, Saki-san?" Kiyohiko asked. Saki simply shook her head.

"No, I didn't get one and neither did Annje." The little Dutch girl began whimper into her ice cream.

"A… Annje thought it would've been c-cool to get a ring like the others did!" she sniffed. "N-Now that Haruhi-nee went up against that big, scary, loud man and all that loud, s-s-scary s-s-stuff… s-s-she…" Annje could not go on and burst into tears.

"Don't be such a baby—she knew what she was doing," Hans groaned. Annje just wailed and ran out of the kitchen into the living room.

"I don't blame her for crying, Hans-kun, and neither should you," Kiyohiko said. "This is awful, and crying is normal."

"Man… why are we all talking like Haruhi-chan died?" Masaru scoffed. "Just wait: she'll be at school on Monday, wrapped in bandages but still smiling like she always does!"

"…but we still don't know who the Guardians of the Mist or the Cloud are, even though we will probably need them to win this tournament," Saki said. "Isn't there someone we can ask?"

"That's the thing," Damiano shrugged. "We have nothing to lead us as to who they might be either. That's the problem with those Flame attributes—you can't exactly count on predictability with them."

A silence fell over the Namimori Regulars as they finished up their ice cream. When they went looking for Annje later, they found her fast asleep under the couch pillows, tears still running down her face. Damiano picked her up and carried her home while the rest of them dispersed, saddened but hopeful.

Despite Masaru's assurance throughout the rest of the weekend, Haruhi did not show up to school on Monday, nor had she even come home. Kiyohiko kept on trying to call both Shamal and Rosario, but neither were picking up their cell phones. It made the back corner of class of 1-C less-than-attentive when it came to the teacher's morning announcements.

"Class, I would like to start today with…" he said. Kiyohiko seemed to tune out the rest, keeping his eyes down and concentrated on his notebook where he had written the matchups for the Ring Battles. He had no idea who was going to fight in some of them, though he had a sinking feeling that it was not going to be pleasant. Contemplating soon turned into bored doodles as the teacher droned on and on.

"…and lastly, I would like to introduce you all to a new student," the teacher continued. "Those of you with trouble in English pay attention, because our exchange student might be able to help you out. Come on in, son!"

Much to Kiyohiko's horror, a familiar face walked into the room. He exchanged a nervous look with Masaru as the newcomer bowed politely to the class.

"Hi! My name is Jack Justice and I am from Brampton, Ontario, which is a city very close to Toronto in Canada. I just moved here this weekend with my step-mom, who is from Namimori, and my younger siblings. We would visit family here often, so we might've seen each other before this. I love baseball, technology and learning about different cultures. Please look after me and forgive any mistakes I may make." With another polite bow, he was done.

The class began whispering amongst themselves. They already had two classmates that grew up in Italy, a young exchange student from Germany and now an exchange student from Canada with barely an accent. It was suspicious, but they were surprisingly used to suspicious. No one was exactly sure what to think when their new classmate made his way to the back of the room and took the absent Yamamoto Haruhi's seat in the corner with the rest of the oddballs.

"We should be getting new desks for the room soon, so you'll have to make do sharing desk space for now," the teacher said. "Okay class! Time to turn to page 137 in our textbooks!"

"Jack-san…?" Kiyohiko whispered. He knew that the lesson was about to get started, so he tried his best to look attentive despite the fact he was looking backward. "What are you doing here?"

"I'll tell you at lunch. It's a long story," the newcomer whispered back.

The rest of the morning passed by slowly, making lunch feel like it was days away. It was only once the entire group was up on the roof did anyone feel like they could breathe.

"…and that's about it," Jack said, wrapping up his story. "So, long story short: Dad doesn't want us living alone while he's away for his job and thinks having my step-mom and siblings with their family would be best."

"What about your mom and her family?" Masaru asked. "I know my mom's extremely nuts, but that's just mine. Couldn't you stay with them in Canada?"

"We don't get along with her parents and I haven't really heard from my mom in years," Jack said. "It's not that she's overly-crazy or doesn't love me, but we just don't have much time to communicate on a level greater than Christmas and birthday cards. Besides, I love my step-mom too much to just leave her. She's too used to me helping when Dad's away… and don't get me started on Jiro and Naomi. They'd flip if they went anywhere without their big brother."

"Big brothers with crazy-busy moms, let's hear it," Masaru said, holding out his fist. Jack knocked his own fist with Masaru's and chuckled.

"So, what have you guys been up to since the baseball game?" Jack asked. "I bet a lot. You've had summer vacation and everything, eh?"

"Uh, yeah," Kiyohiko smiled. "Masaru-nii and I went to Hawai'i and Saki-san came in second place at a large martial arts tournament."

"That's cool!" Jack took a bite of his sandwich and looked at his new classmates—they did not seem very enthusiastic. Their smiled looked, dare he think it, forced.

"Okay guys, what's up? You don't seem very excited or happy."

"There's just a lot going on," Hans admitted.

"Yeah… Signorina Haruhi is sick right now, so we're just kind of sad thinking about her being stuck at home," Damiano lied.

"Oh, that was the girl who was a great batter, right?"

"Yes, and Annje, the little girl that was with us, she's been crying over it because we can't go see her. You know… contagious."

"I hope she gets better soon then," Jack said. "There isn't anyone I know that can hit the ball like that. She's amazing."

"Yeah," Kiyohiko chuckled. "She really is."

It was almost ten as Kiyohiko and Masaru left their house later that night. They met up with Hans and Saki at the corner and began the quiet walk over to the high school. Damiano and Annje were waiting for them outside the gate, the latter looking like she had been crying the entire weekend.

"How are you doing, Annje-chan?" Kiyohiko asked. The little girl just clung on to Damiano's side and sniffled loudly.

"I told her not to come, but she insisted," Damiano explained. "She's really scared."

"Scared of what…?" a voice asked. Everyone turned and saw Jack standing behind them, accompanied by two small children about the same age as Annje and Hans. The children had ice cream cones in-hand and stared inquisitively at the strangers.

"Oh, Jack-san, you scared us!" Kiyohiko gasped. "Are these your siblings?"

"Yeah. Jiro, Naomi, these are my friends. Say hi."

"I know you!" the little girl piped up, pointing at Annje. "You're the one we saw on the playground today crying! Are you a Grade Three and the level between us or are you just in another class?"

"Annje… uh…" Annje started. Before she could stammer further, Jack turned to his siblings and bent down to eye-level with them.

"Hey, do you think you can make it back to Aunt Kimiko's? I want to talk to my friends for a little bit."

"It's right over there," the little boy said, pointing down the road. "The next street, take a left, fourth house on the right."

"Alright, now that's the Justice Way," Jack chuckled, ruffling his brother's hair. The two children giggled and ran off, safely disappearing behind the appropriate wall. When he saw that his siblings were gone, Jack straightened and looked seriously at the Namimori Regulars.

"Something's wrong," he said. "Why are you all here this late at night?"

"Studying…?" Saki offered.

"With an elementary school kid and no books? I'm foreign, not dumb. You weren't yourselves all during school and now you're being standoffish. Does it have something to do with all the light coming from behind the gym?"

"Look, Jack-san, please, just go home. It's better you not get involved."

"I'm not trying to be a pest; I just want a straight answer," Jack said. "Do you mind if I join you guys?"

"Yeah, but I won't stop you," Kiyohiko admitted. "You're right to be concerned, but you don't need to worry yourself over it."

"Over what?"

"Just an extra-curricular that is definitely not in the school pamphlet," Saki said. "Come on. You can keep me company so I won't be the only clueless one."

"Okay then…" Jack said. He let Saki drag him by the arm as the Namimori Regulars walked towards where the main building made a courtyard with the gymnasium and cafeteria. A boxing ring was set up, settled perfectly in the corner opposite the old, half-dead oak tree that was the favorite place of many a Namimori student when it came to outside studies.

"Oh, wow…" Masaru gasped. He looked at the ring in wonder. "This thing wasn't here during school! I wonder how long it took to set this thing up!"

"They only need a few hours," Jack said. "Back home, one of my friends' uncles worked putting this stuff up. Is there a fight going on later?"

"Something like that," a voice said. Haruhi appeared behind Kiyohiko's shoulder, scaring the life out of everyone there. Her left arm was in both a cast and a sling, but she looked fairly well if one ignored all the various bandages.

"Haruhi-san, you're alright!" Kiyohiko cried. He hugged gingerly, careful not to put too much pressure on her arm. Everyone took a turn until it was only Jack, Hans and Annje left. The children both rushed her at once, almost barreling her down.

"Haruhi-nee! Annje was so worried about you!"

"Don't do that again! You really upset the Eleventh with that! Think about the consequences next time!"

"Okay, okay… oh, hi Jack-kun! Are you over visiting again?"

"No, I live here now," Jack explained. He was about to go further when the lights in the boxing ring flicked on.

"Welcome," said the Cervello as they walked into the middle of the ring. "Tonight is the Sun Ring Battle. Sawada Kiyohiko, do you have your candidate ready?"

"Yes," Kiyohiko answered in resignation. Masaru hopped up into the ring and took off his shirt, revealing a set of new scars that Kiyohiko knew had been from training with Lussuria. The members of the Varia were nowhere in sight, although there was still plenty of time for them to arrive and not be late. Masaru took this opportunity to warm up; doing various punches, kicks and stretches while he waited. It was during this time that the Namimori Regulars caught Jack up to speed on the whole event, figuring that they could not hide the truth from him forever.

"Aren't there laws against things like this?" Jack asked. He wore an expression that showed that although he could wrap his head around the situation, he was still astonished that it was happening. "What you just told me about your dad's family business is something out of a comic book."

"Suspiciously convenient, I know," Kiyohiko frowned. He chuckled half-heartedly though, allowing a semblance of a smile to form. "At least I have some of the greatest friends to get me through this. They know I could pick anyone in the world to be my Guardians but they'd still be by my side."

"Is that a member of the Varia over there?" Jack asked, pointing to behind where Damiano was standing. Everyone looked to see a woman marching down the yard. She was dressed sharply and did not seem to be very happy.

"Shit no," Kiyohiko gasped. He ran in the direction of the woman, trying to get her to stop.

"Who is that?" Hans asked. "She wasn't any of the people that were there on Friday."

"That's because she's not part of the Varia," Haruhi said. Her Yamamoto smile was warped into a nervous grimace. "Masaru-kun! Heads up!"

"I'm extremely busy!"

"It's a Code Superior! I think you might want to pay attention…"

Masaru stopped mid-punch to look across the yard at the woman his cousin had flagged down. His jaw dropped. "No…"

"What's the big deal?" Damiano asked. Haruhi and Masaru exchanged glances before the latter elaborated for their confused friends.

"That lady right there… that's my mom."

A/N: It's the Return of Jack Justice! I finally had an excuse to bring him back! I really did have fun writing him the last time and actually now have something much bigger planned because of his appearance here. MUCH BIGGER.

Oh, and I do know that Jack said he was from Toronto earlier, but it's one of those instances where a larger city nearby is better for quick recognition. It's like Vancouver and Richmond, London and Colchester (kinda), New York City and Yonkers, Tokyo and Chiba… I could go on. I do a similar thing for where I live, so it made sense.