Aurora-16: Thank you so much for the yummy bread! It was fantastic! I'm sorry it's taking me longer than usual to update. Things have been rather crazy the past few months.

Sakura02: Haha, I can't wait for Tsuku to meet her!

Tracey4t: I skipped the second encounter with Lobelia and the test of courage because I really couldn't think of how to fit Tsuku into those chapters.

Thank you: Saiyuri Haruno, Shifuni, LadyAmazon, DarkspinVargas, anonymous, and AnimeFreak818 for your reviews!

"Tsuku-chan looks so cute!" The girls squealed over Tsuku's little pirate outfit, complete with long jacket and feathered hat.

Tsuku smiled indulgently at all the strange girls. She was currently playing on the floor beside Haruhi. She waved excitedly when she saw Kasanoda standing awkwardly to the side with a plant in his hand. "Hi, 'Nova! What's that?"

Kasanoda approached Haruhi nervously. He gave the plant to Haruhi before patting Tsuku on the head. "It's a cherry tomato plant. I know you said you wanted to start growing edible plants."

Haruhi smiled warmly. "Thank you, Kasanoda."

Tsuku giggled when everyone attempted to outshine Kasanoda's present with a planted cherry seed. She looked up when she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the doorway. "Who's that?"

A very pretty girl stood in the room with the student council president beside her. She let out a small giggle. "My goodness, you're all rather lively."

The student council president smiled apologetically. "Sorry for interrupting. I'd like to introduce you to a new foreign student. She'll be joining class 1-A to see what Japanese high school is like. It is my pleasure to present the first princess of the Monar kingdom, Princess Michelle."

"Tsuku, are you snarling at her?" Kaoru asked in disbelief. He picked his little cousin up to see that the little toddler was indeed glaring at the princess. Kaoru swore that if Tsuku was a puppy, her hackles would've been raised.

Princess Michelle smiled at the group. "They'll do. During the two weeks that I am here, I will assign you all to be my menservants."

"It will be an honor, Princess." Tamaki said, ignoring the rest of the group protesting. "I am Suoh Tamaki. I will strive with all my heart to be of service to you."

The next day before class started, everyone in class 1-A was hovering around Princess Michelle except for the twins, Haruhi, and Tsuku. Tsuku glared hatefully over at Princess Michelle from Kaoru's arms. For reasons none of the others understood, Tsuku was very hostile towards the princess. When Michelle had tried to pick Tsuku up that first afternoon, Tsuku had let out an ear piercing scream and swung her tiny fists at Michelle. Everyone had been shocked when Tamaki reprimanded Tsuku. After that, Tsuku's hateful glare towards Princess Michelle had increased tenfold.

"Stop it, Tsuku." Haruhi said quietly. "That's not nice. She hasn't done anything to you."

Hikaru sighed in annoyance while they listened to Michelle prattle on about how many servants she had in her castle and that she hadn't been able to take many with her. "Is she just naturally that selfish? She must have been spoiled rotten growing up."

Kaoru nodded in agreement. "Every other word out of her mouth is 'my brother' this and 'my brother' that. It's unhealthy for a sister to be that obsessed with her brother."

Haruhi rolled her eyes and took Tsuku from Kaoru. "Tsuku, just because someone is selfish doesn't mean you have to be so hostile. Why don't you like the princess?"

Tsuku shook her head. She suddenly began sniffling. "I don't like her. I want her to go away!"

"Don't say things like that, Tsuku." Kyoya said, suddenly coming up behind the little group. "She may be from a small country, but she's still royalty. It doesn't hurt us to be in her good graces."

Tsuku pouted, but didn't say anything. Her whole attention was focused on Tamaki fawning over the princess. Tsuku snarled over at the girl whining about the air conditioning. She wanted to hit that spoiled princess so badly.

The next week passed in a similar fashion. Tamaki went everywhere with Princess Michelle and did everything she asked of him, no matter how ridiculous the request was. Tsuku became more and more hostile, lashing out at everyone and crying all the time. Haruhi was at her wits end and didn't know what to do about the toddler. Tsuku had always been a good baby, and she had no clue what would've caused her to take such a dramatic turn in personality.

"Tsuku hasn't been eating much lately." Kaoru commented one day in the dining hall. He held up a fork of pasta to Tsuku only to have the little girl push his hand away. She had just finished having another crying fit and her eyes were red and puffy.

Haruhi sighed forlornly and nodded. "I just don't know what to do about her. She's been acting so strange lately."

"You, over there." Princess Michelle suddenly said, pointing to Haruhi. "You're a commoner. Come taste my food for me to make sure it's not poisoned."

"Hikaru, Kaoru, stop." Tamaki said firmly when the twins leapt up angrily. He bowed to Princess Michelle. "I would be happy to taste your food, Princess Michelle."

Tsuku dug her chubby hands in the pasta in front of her. She threw the food furiously, but it didn't get very far. It plopped right on the edge of the table. Tears of anger and frustration welled in Tsuku's eyes and she began bawling again.

"Tsuku, what's wrong? Please stop crying." Hikaru pleaded. He picked his baby cousin up from her seat and rocked her, trying to stop her torrent of tears.

Kaoru looked over at Tamaki. Normally, Tamaki would be at Tsuku's side in an instant. This time, his attention was solely on Princess Michelle. Kaoru frowned thoughtfully and turned his attention back to Tsuku.

That afternoon, Tsuku sat despondently on the floor of the music room. She ignored the twins angrily shouting about the princess. She didn't play with any of the toys near her and ignored Hunny's attempts to cheer her up.

Kyoya sighed. "I think Tamaki sees his mother in the princess. I've only ever seen a photograph of his mother, but the princess does look a great deal like her. The last time Tamaki saw his mother, she was crying because she had to give him up. I think he just wants to see the princess smile."

Tsuku looked up when she heard Tamaki's voice. She looked up hopefully at him, but he walked right past her. She didn't even notice that the others had left until she heard the door click shut. She looked over at where Tamaki was furiously digging through a box for something.

Tamaki smiled at Haruhi and handed her a small potted daikon sprout plant. "You can grow these in your kitchen!" He looked down when he felt a small tug on his pants. He smiled and picked Tsuku up. "Why are your eyes all red, sweet girl?"

Haruhi placed the plant on a nearby end table. "She's been acting very strange lately. She hasn't been eating much and she's been crying so much."

Tamaki nuzzled his cheek against Tsuku's. "What's wrong, Tsuku-chan? Has something upset you?"

Tsuku looked up into Tamaki's eyes and suddenly began crying. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. "Mine! Mine! Not hers!"

Tamaki and Haruhi exchanged confused looks. "Don't cry, Tsuku-chan. Everything is okay. There's no need for my cute little girl to cry." He rubbed her back soothingly and kissed the top of her head. After a few moments, Tsuku stopped crying. Tamaki looked down to see that Tsuku had fallen asleep in his arms, a happy smile on her face.

"Mommy, elephants!" Tsuku cheered excitedly. Haruhi had arrived at school only to find everyone lining either side of the main thoroughfare. Not sure what was going on, Haruhi had (politely) pushed her way to the front.

Haruhi was shocked to see that there was a parade of elephants coming into the school grounds. She was slightly less shocked when she saw the Host Club walking alongside the elephants and Michelle riding one of them. "Honestly…"

Tsuku immediately bristled when she saw Michelle being helped down from the elephant by Tamaki. She was on edge the entire morning as now even the twins were attempting to please the princess. Tsuku was relieved when she began crying and the twins immediately turned their attention to her. She glowered at the princess as Tamaki escorted her from the classroom.

"Haruhi, could I talk to you for a moment?" Sakurazuka, one of Haruhi's classmates asked worriedly.

Haruhi nodded, adjusting the still crying Tsuku in her arms. "Sure." She, along with the twins, Mori, Hunny, and a few other classmates followed Sakurazuka out into the hallway. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think Princess Michelle is telling the truth." Sakurazuka said softly. "She said that Duke Baden is friends with her family and that he'll be coming to visit her here in Japan. Duke Baden has been a friend of my family since my grandfather's day. I've never heard him say he's a friend of the Monar family. Besides, he's in Switzerland right now seeking medical care for his wife. There's no way he could come to Japan now."

"Her talk of a luxurious life at the palace is also a lie." Kyoya said, walking over to the group. "Monar appears rich on the surface, but the gap between rich and poor is substantial. King Laurence, Princess Michelle's older brother, is very conscientious of this. He doesn't even allow the royal family to live extravagantly. He is always out in society listening to his people's voices."

Hikaru and Kaoru snarled angrily. "So she's not only selfish, she's a liar too! Why didn't you tell us to begin with, Kyoya?"

Kyoya smiled. "Whether she's lying or not, I already told you; it's always good to be in royalty's good graces. Besides, I think Tamaki has known from the beginning." He sighed when he saw Tsuku was still crying. He took the distraught toddler from Haruhi and wiped her tears away. "Shush now. You need to stop being so jealous. You know Tamaki loves you with all his heart."

Hikaru blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about, Kyoya?"

Kyoya rolled his eyes at everyone's clueless faces. "I thought it was obvious to all of you. Tsuku has been acting out and crying because she's jealous of all the time Tamaki is spending with Princess Michelle. He hasn't been paying much attention to her. I think Tsuku is more like Tamaki than she or any of us realize. She doesn't like things that come between what she perceives as her family. To Tsuku, Princess Michelle was someone trying to take Tamaki away from her, hence her anger and hostility towards the princess."

Haruhi's eyes widened. She took the now calmed toddler from Kyoya. "I'm sorry, Tsuku. I should've realized that sooner. Tamaki isn't going anywhere, okay?"

Tsuku sniffled and nodded. "Okay."

Hikaru cracked his knuckles. "Let's go talk with this lying princess." They all found Princess Michelle standing in front of the cherry blossom with a torn off branch in her hand. "Hey, Princess Liar!"

Princess Michelle looked surprised to see so many people there. She quickly plastered on a fake smile and laughed. "What are you talking about? This big branch just suddenly fell." She moved to walk away, but tripped over the root of the tree.

Tsuku giggled while everyone else rushed forward to see if Michelle was okay. Tsuku wriggled out of Haruhi's arms and went over to the princess. She sat in front of her and patted her head. "You okay?"

Michelle cried and looked at everyone. "Why are you all so nice to me? I was sure if I was selfish and everyone hated me, my brother would let me come home. All that money was wasted on me. The meals were gorgeous and amazingly delicious. It was hard to act like they meant nothing. To top it all off, that parade was so embarrassing, I just wanted to die."

The twins blinked. "It's all well and fine if you want to act selfish and get everyone to hate you, but won't your brother be angry with you?"

Michelle let out a wail of despair. "Oh no! I hadn't thought of that! My brother will hate me! My mother and father died so suddenly. My brother is all I have left. Even though he says he cares for me, he pushes me away. I just wanted to help him. I just wanted him to spend more time with me." She let out a sudden gasp of horror. "Suoh-san acted like he knew everything! He could be telling my brother right now about all the horrible things I've done!"

Haruhi blinked and pulled Tsuku away from Michelle. "Tamaki wouldn't do that. Tamaki knows how hard it is to be separated from family, but he continues to move forward. He was probably waiting for you to realize it on your own. Losing your parents is hard, but nothing will change if you just wait around. He wanted you to be able to tell your brother how you truly feel and to see your true smile."

"There you are, Princess!" The student council secretary ran over with a smile on her face. Behind her was the student council president and a man that Tsuku had never seen before. "We have a special guest for you."

Michelle's eyes watered. "Brother!"

Laurence smiled at Michelle. "I'm so sorry, Michelle. I wanted so badly to preserve what our parents left behind and make our country more prosperous and peaceful for not only the citizens, but especially for you so that you could always smile."

Michelle smiled and embraced Laurence. "Brother!" She blinked when she felt someone tugging on her skirt. She looked down to see an annoyed Tsuku. "What is it, little one?"

Tsuku glared and pointed angrily at Laurence. "Yours!" She then pointed over at where Tamaki was talking to Haruhi. "Mine! Okay?"

Michelle smiled and nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry I took Suoh-san away from you."

Satisfied, Tsuku ran over to Tamaki, barely acknowledging Haruhi as she walked by. "Tamaki, up!"

Tamaki scooped Tsuku up and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry, Tsuku-chan. Kyoya told me about why you've been so upset lately. I promise I won't ignore you like that ever again, okay?"

Tsuku nodded happily. "My Tamaki!"