"So," Hani said, smiling over his chocolate cupcake, "You're friends of Cait-chan's?"

The group nodded in varying degrees, and Caitlyn couldn't help but feel a little loved. Even if she was afraid they'd let something she didn't want to slip… well, slip. Kevin sat to the left of the girl, Kyoya to the right. The bespectacled boy was clutching her hand because Kevin had an arm around her shoulders, and she couldn't help but smile at the Demon King; his jealousy was adorable in her opinion. Haruhi watched the whole group with a mildly interested expression across the table from her friend.

"Okay, so you're Hikaru and you're Kaoru?" another more petite Asian boy with delicate features asked. The twins chuckled.

"Nope. Close though, Kai-ku… Kai."

"Ah, damn," he grumbled.

"You almost said 'kun'," Caitlyn teased in a sing-song voice. "Don't forget the bet, you know."

"You're part Japanese too, aren't you?" they asked in response, ignoring the girl. He smiled.

"Yeah."

Lizzie was in the corner talking animatedly to Tamaki at this point, Mori and a similarly silent and stout young man sitting in the corner under the shade of a few trees and watching Hani eat his cake. Caitlyn smiled at her friend.

"No food for you, Arthur?"

The boy snorted, which Caitlyn interpreted easily. He didn't need any more calories in his opinion.

"I'm trying to drop a weight class before we go back for the new season," he replied evenly. Caitlyn snorted in return.

"Interesting friends you have," Kyoya said casually. Somewhere along the line he'd begun to trace patterns on her hand with the one that wasn't holding hers. Absentmindedly, of course. It was rather distracting, and she shifted in her seat.

"You're one to talk," Kevin replied with a grin. "Host Club? Does that actually work over there?"

"Yeah, they drool over the lot of them. It's awful," Caitlyn teased. "And they squeal whenever anyone has a moment, which is really awkward considering, you know, the fact that it's supposed to be a moment." She made a face, and Haruhi giggled.

"Sound like movie stars or something. Adored and revered, but no privacy."

"Exactly."

"So…" the boy said, eyeing Kyoya. "You gonna get mobbed for seeing him then? That's what happens in all those mangas."

Caitlyn simply grinned sadistically. "Let them try it."

Kyoya sighed. "Please, don't. Haruhi has yet to become a lawyer. Don't put me in a position of having to bail you out of jail for assault. My father… I would never hear the end of it."

Haruhi gave Kyoya a look. "So you'd make me do it instead of hiring someone better?" she asked flatly. Kyoya smiled his usual not-so-secretly evil smile.

"Oh, but Haruhi, who says you won't be the best?"

The expressionless face the girl turned to the Shadow Lord spoke volumes with silence that words couldn't have.

"So, what's your deal?" Kevin asked. Haruhi turned to him confusedly. "You get kidnapped too?"

"Actually, I'm a host," Haruhi said, smiling slightly. Kevin blinked

"Oh," he said, and Caitlyn smacked him.

"Not like that, you idiot. No one knows she's a girl. She owed them money."

The boy smirked, obviously taking his friend's defense the wrong way, and Caitlyn hit him over the back of the head. He released her shoulders to cower behind a surprised Lizzie. Then the blonde girl laughed.

"Not back a day and you're whacking him already?"

"He's being a pervert," she replied. Lizzie grinned.

"Why is it that only you ever hear him, hmm?"

" 'Cause I'm not. She's making it up," the boy said, recovering his dignity. Caitlyn snorted, and the boy grinned and winked at her. His expression softened. "It's good to see you laugh again, Cait."

Her expression soured, but Kyoya and Kevin were the only ones who seemed to notice. Kevin closed his mouth, eyes widening as he realized that the Host Club was missing the vital information these friends of hers had and that she had no intention of sharing with them. Lizzie, however, seemed to not notice a thing.

"Yeah, ever since your parents… well, you know." She looked at her friend. "But it's good to see the guilt gone."

Caitlyn frowned. "It's not gone, Liz."

The girl smiled. "Well you don't flinch around cars anymore. And you were even fine when we passed the artist's displays just now."

"Your parents were artists?" Kyoya asked, confused. Lizzie laughed.

"She didn't tell you? No, just her dad. Her mom did the business-suit, lawyer thing. But he was the one who really mattered, right?"

"What, her mother didn't matter?" Haruhi said, brow creasing. Caitlyn knew exactly where this was coming from; the girl couldn't understand why someone wouldn't be upset that their mother had died. Or perhaps she hadn't caught that hint in the conversation. "That's rather offensive."

The girl blinked at this, and then her eyes widened as she realized she'd crossed a line. "Oh… you didn't…" A hand flew to her mouth. "OhmigodI'msosorryCait-"

"That's enough, Liz," she said curtly, cutting the girl off. The blond sat back down in the corner, hand still over her mouth, eyes wide. Caitlyn had the oddest sense of déjà vu watching the exchange, and wondered if this was how Kyoya felt all the time. How often had Tamaki opened his mouth too wide without realizing it? Or gone through a whole monologue without taking a breath, too excited to even consider stopping?

There was an awkward period of silence before Kyoya opened his mouth to speak.

"What are we missing, Caitlyn?" he asked. The Host Club leaned in subconsciously, watching the discourse with a certain amount of consternation. Caitlyn's friends from the city paused, confused at the sudden switch in languages.

"Leave it alone, Kyoya."

"But we're just-"

"Haruhi, you too?"

"Oh, come now, it's not like-"

"Tamaki?" the girl interrupted, voice shooting up an octave as she set her jaw.

"But Caitlyn, we just-" the twins cut in, but to no avail.

"Isn't there anyone who isn't goin'a harass me about this?" she snarled in English, sliding back into slang. There were two changes that occurred in Caitlyn's speech patterns when the girl was angry or otherwise flustered; either she spoke in overtly-formal Japanese or in highly colloquialised English. Many of the hosts, of course, had no idea what she had just said, but the anger in her tone and expression was enough and the group paused. There was another period of silence in which Lizzie mouthed 'I'm sorry!' again. She rounded on the group. "I want you all to listen up and listen good. I didn't tell anyone in Japan what happened. And guess what? I don't plan to. We moved lookin' for a fresh start, and we ain't goin'ta get one if I tell anyone about it, alright? So you guys stop askin' and you all better keep your mouths shut, you got it?"

Another awkward silence.

"Uhm… I'm really sorry, Caitlyn."

"Liz, shut the fuck up."

"Shutting! Shutting!"

"Well… today was… eventful."

Kyoya shot Haruhi an amused expression as they sat together in the lobby. The Wi-Fi signal was better here, and Kyoya had opted to take his laptop downstairs. Caitlyn had run off to do something, she hadn't said what. Kyoya suspected she was visiting a certain someone's grave, but he wasn't about to say that. He'd simply offered to pay the taxi fare. She'd obviously declined.

That didn't stop him from paying the man fifty dollars to call and tell him where he'd dropped her off and find out what she was doing. Convincing the driver her rich boyfriend suspected her of cheating wasn't that hard, after all.

"So… what do you think?"

Kyoya smirked. Haruhi wasn't stupid. She might not want to believe ill of someone's deceased mother, but once the dust had settled it was pretty obvious what Caitlyn's situation had most likely been. The girl was simply asking for confirmation.

"I think Caitlyn doesn't want us to know anything more than we do about her life here."

"That never stopped you before," the girl pointed out flatly. Kyoya chuckled.

"No, it didn't," he allowed.

"So… what? Her mom was mean, abusive? They just didn't get along?"

"Caitlyn doesn't seem to get along with a lot of people."

"That's true," Haruhi said. She gave the Shadow-Lord a look. "But you don't believe that's it."

Kyoya smiled begrudgingly. "Of course not."

"…are you poking around?"

"Actually, I was on my way out," he said, making a decision. "Find Tamaki."

"Uhm… what?"

Kyoya smirked. "You heard me. Find your idiot boyfriend and meet me outside in five minutes. We're going on a bit of a trip."

The girl blinked and stood.

"Oh, and Haruhi?"

Haruhi paused as Kyoya called her name, not even looking up from his laptop.

"Hai, Kyoya-Senpai?"

"Make sure he brings photo I.D."

"Nani?" she demanded, incredulous.

"Just in case," Kyoya replied genially. "After all, his name is the only reason he's coming."

"What do you mean you can't release the information to a student? He came all the way from Japan with strict orders from his father to retrieve the documents you were supposed to have processed already and you're telling me you can't give them to him?" Kyoya demanded coolly, eyes sparking dangerously from behind his glasses. Tamaki stood to the side and watched nervously, Haruhi looking around at the school office with a certain amount of interest. What she really would have liked to know was what the school was doing open during the summer, not to mention it was late, but…

"I'm… well, I could call the Principal sir, but I'm almost positive he will give you the same answer."

"Please do," the bespectacled boy said shortly, glaring at the small woman before him. She flinched and headed into the back room. Tamaki cleared his throat and Kyoya turned with a raised eyebrow.

"Isn't this going a little far?" he whispered. Kyoya rolled his eyes.

"Don't even being to attempt to lie to me by saying you're not at least half as curious as the rest of us are, Tamaki."

"Well, of course I am," the boy said indignantly. "Doesn't mean it's the right-"

"I'm terribly sorry about all this," the woman said nervously, coming back out. "But you see, some of the files were sent by mail and are already in transit. I can give you what I have, but I have to get them from another room. Would you mind waiting here for a moment?"

Kyoya nodded curtly and watched as the woman disappeared, then jumped as his phone went off. "Hello?"

"I just drop her off at a cemetery, señor. You want me to follow'er?"

Kyoya blinked, disoriented by the accent for a moment before clearing his throat. "Er... sure, why not? If you can tell me what the headstone says, that'd be perfect. Would you mind?"

"No problem. You give me a good tip, sí? And it's the end of my shift. I don't mind."

"Arig-Ah... I mean, thank you very much. Really."

"Ay, if my girl want to visit a grave on vacation, I want to know what she's doing too. I'll call you when I know."

Kyoya sighed as the woman returned from her search holding a small folder. This day was looking up, it seemed. He was getting answers, finally. After all this time.

"These are just copies. I think most of them have been sent to your father's offices electronically by now, but this is what we have readily accessible. If there's anything else?"

"No, that'll be all. Thank you very much," Kyoya said curtly, taking the files and handing them to Tamaki. The blonde looked down at them with a bemused expression, and Kyoya suppressed a sigh. If he blew this cover now, he might just have to kill him. Best friend or not.

A/N: Well, I basically forgot about this story completely. **Zealous Frost** reminded me, thankfully. xD See, this is why I need reviews. I forget about my older stories without them! xD Anyway, the story should get moving from here. Lots of angst to come though, warning you, although I promise a sort of happy ending? Anyway, review please! .; And sorry for taking so long to update.