Typical disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host club or Disney

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Truth Shall Set You Free

"For the last time, I'm fine! I don't want any water or tea or juice, I'm not hungry, I'm not cold, nor am I hot, just tell me, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" the strawberry blonde yelled as she dismissed the fifth person who came up to her, asking if she needed anything.

After the man wearing the suit, Jacob Matthews, introduced himself to the two teens as the deputy director of the CIA's international base in Japan, Alexi and Kyouya were ushered further inside the empty building and led straight to an elevator. Descending approximately twenty floors in silence, the doors finally opened to reveal a bustling office area that was five times the size of the room they had entered upstairs. Computers were everywhere, people were rushing back and forth, monitors were flashing information, and the chatter was almost deafening. The two shocked teenagers were led to a quieter area, away from all the commotion. The room they were placed in was a small room that looked rather like an interrogation room, complete with one-way glass. Once inside, they were left alone. There was a long table in the room and three hybrid metal/plastic chairs, two on one side of the table and one on the other side. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a rolling TV stand with a wide-screen monitor on top of it and a VHS/DVD player on the bottom shelf.

At the blue eyed girl's most recent outburst, the lower level agent backed away from her and breathed a sigh of relief when Agent Matthews entered the room, relieving the woman from her babysitting duty. "Now, now Miss Zawojek, there's no need to yell. Well, I guess I can't blame you for yelling though, seeing how it is a family trait," the man said with a slight chuckle as he moved to sit down across from Kyouya and Alexi.

"Ok, that's it! Who are you really? What are we doing here? What the hell have you done with Kaoru? And how the futz do you know anything about my family?!" The female host exploded with a slew of questions. Truly frustrated at the day's entire ordeal, she slammed her hands on the table with her last question.

Quite unlike his companion, who was snapping at everyone in sight, Kyouya was silently observing everything. He was trying to connect any loose strands concerning Alexi, to see if he could figure out how the CIA could be involved with everything, but like always, he kept coming up empty. If truth be told, he truly felt like demanding answers as well, but, 'we can't very well have two 'bad' cops, now can we? Especially seeing as we're the ones on the opposite side of this situation and are unlikely to have any leverage to speed this along," he calculated to himself.

"To be honest, the best way to explain everything is to start at the beginning; or at least to try to. However, I don't believe you will listen to what I have to say at this current moment," the agent spoke up as he tried to placate the indignant teenager.

"Why don't you try me," the strawberry blonde seethed, "And I'll let you know".

Chuckling at the familiarity of the girl's assertiveness, the brunette said, "Listen, I promise I'll do my best to fill in the gaps afterwards, but I'd rather let people you know try to explain it first."

Saying that, he swiveled his chair to turn on the TV monitor and pressed play on the DVD system. The screen flickered to life, and both teenagers were staring intently at it, wondering what they were about to see. A date flashed on the screen, postmarked almost exactly two years ago. The image of the numbers wasn't earth shattering, however, the faces that appeared on the screen next, were.

Alexi felt as if her heart stopped as she inhaled sharply at the sight. On the right side of the screen, there sat an older woman who, while she had a shorter style haircut, had the exact same shade of strawberry blonde hair the female host had. She had grayish blue eyes that were hidden by a pair of sleek glasses, a full face that was peppered with some wrinkles, and was wearing a delicate cross around her neck. The man on the left had an almost completely circular face, smile lines from years of having a joyful expression on his face, short brown hair balding in the middle, thick glasses that were concealing the same shade of blue eyes that Alexi had, and a small, almost unnoticeable, scar above his right eyebrow that he received when he was playing with a boomerang with his daughter many many years ago.

Noticing the reaction his friend had when she saw the faces, seeing all the familial similarities between the three of them, and recalling the pictures of them in Alexi's belongings, Kyouya knew without a doubt that the two were staring at the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Zawojek.

"Hello Alexi," The woman began with a kind and a comforting voice. At those two words, the female host exhaled sharply and unconsciously reached out to grab onto Kyouya's hands.

"Hey Honey," Max said as he smiled an effortless smile before continuing. "If you're watching this right now, it means that somewhere along the way, we failed to distance ourselves enough from our secret life and we're no longer with you anymore. We can't tell you how sorry we are, but we're very proud of you and how you figured out that something about what happened to us wasn't adding up. Well, at least that's why we have this failsafe in play. Just in case we aren't there and it makes no sense why you were sent away, and-"

"What your dad is trying to say, is that we have something that we need to tell you," Lee said as she interrupted her babbling husband. "You see, while your father and I work for the government as scientists in our fields, we are more than just governmental scientists. We are also confidential informants and undercover agents in the CIA," the woman said.

"That's right, your mom and I are top secret agents; protectors of the free world as we know it," the brunette male proudly stated with a goofy grin on his face.

"Hun, you're over-exaggerating our role again," the woman said as she lightly hit her husband on his arm before she faced the camera again. "Our role in the CIA is to travel around the world and meet with operatives to receive and deliver top secret information."

"See, top secret information?" The man emphasized the final three words his wife just stated.

Giving a loving eye roll, Lee continued, "Now you might be thinking, 'how is it possible that my parents are CIA operatives', well that's a long story-"

"But, we will tell you, seeing as you have a right to know what we've done to obviously upset your life," her husband finished, sensing that Lee was not about to explain the full story.

"Why does she need to know how we started in this business?" The woman asked as she faced her husband with a look of annoyance set on her face.

"Because, remember, if she's watching this, that means we're dead, and our daughter deserves to know as much as she can about our lives. Well, as much as we can tell her without Mathews editing it out," he stated with a half smirk.

"Fine," the woman said with a sigh as she conceded to her husband's remark. "It all began when your father and I were getting ready to attend a microbiology convention in Rome. Two days before the flight, your father and I were instructed to attend a 'prep class' for the trip."

"You remember how we told you about all those pointless, but mandatory classes that instructed us what to do if we were kidnapped or tortured or whatnot?" The man interrupted as he faced the camera.

Without even realizing that she was, Alexi nodded at her father's comment.

"Well, when we were called to attend that particular training session, your mother and I were asked to drop off a package to someone, that we would later find out was an operative the CIA had in Zurich, on our way to the meeting."

"Because that mission went so well," Alexi's mother picked up the story from there, "the CIA called upon us to do more missions for them, seeing as our jobs were the perfect cover to allow us to travel and meet with dignitaries without attracting any attention."

"Which clearly didn't work as we planned Honey," Max said as he squeezed his wife's hand, an action that Alexi once again unconsciously copied.

"Anyway, that's the basic gist of how your dad and I became CIA operatives," Lee said as she readjusted her sitting position. "What I'm sure you're more curious about are your current living conditions."

Both teenagers in the interrogation room quickly looked at each other before they leaned in closer to the TV screen, as if the people who were talking to them could see the interest they had in that portion of the story.

"If everything is going as planned, you should be staying with our good friend, Special Agent Kichi," the woman said before her husband corrected her.

"Hun, it's Fr. Kichi now."

Giving a small laugh, Alexi's mother said, "You're right. I'm just not used to calling him that. When you and I worked with him, he certainly wasn't a priest. I mean, I know we always talked about how he was meant for something more than the CIA, but I sure as heck wasn't expecting that announcement when he said he was enrolling in seminary," she rambled on as she faced her husband. Smiling to herself, Lee turned back to the camera to say, "Fr. Kichi used to be our CIA liaison in Korea for years and we became very close friends during that time period. He basically became a family member to us during that time and in fact, the final catalyst that convinced him God was calling him to the priesthood was your miraculous birth, Lex."

At her mother's mention of a miraculous birth, Alexi remembered all the times her parents told her how special and precious she was. When the girl was in her mother's womb, the doctors predicted she would be born with a severe birth defect. The birth defect was so severe that every doctor the Zawojeks went to, told Lee to abort Alexi. But being the devout Catholics they were, they firmly ignored all the warnings and turned to prayer. It was a veritable miracle when Lee gave birth on May 17th to a beautiful, completely healthy, 8 pound little redheaded girl.

Seeing that his wife was getting choked up with the recollections of their daughter's birth, Max took over for his wife and said, "Fr. Kichi is one of the nicest and sweetest people we have ever met. As your mom said, we weren't too surprised he wanted out of the spy biz, and when he told us his plans to become a priest, your mother and I decided he would be the best person to take care of you if anything ever happened to us."

"No longer connected to the CIA and choosing to attend seminary in Japan, to reduce his chance of running into old associates, Fr. Kichi is far enough out of the radar that we feel safe in entrusting you to his care," Lee continued.

"We knew making him your guardian was the right thing when he told us he was assigned a church near Ouran Academy. It was a true sign from God. That's the school we always wanted to enroll you in, but because of our job," Max said as he motioned to him and his wife, "we had to stay in America and operate out of Virginia. I bet you're having so much fun right now at Ouran. It seems like such an amazing school! The campus is gorgeous, the classes are challenging, and a diploma from that place means you can write your ticket for any job in the future. My hope is while you're there, you'll realize there's more to life than church work. I mean Honey, that's a hobby. And since you should be a member of their host club, I'm sure you've found an amazing boyfriend. They're all so influential that I'm not worried about the future for you, even though your mom and I are gone. You're going to be well taken care of."

As her father continued talking, Alexi glared harder and harder at the screen. With that last comment about the Host Club, she quickly let go of Kyouya's hand, which she was still holding on to, and crossed her arms in front of her. She couldn't believe her father was still on her case about religious studies not being a real career and it infuriated her to hear why her father wanted her to join the host club. 'My dad's still bugging me from beyond the grave about how pointless and worthless of a career choice my calling is, and he's still trying to hook me up with someone based solely on their bank account,' the strawberry blonde scowled.

Recognizing the intense air of hostility that the girl next to him was giving, Kyouya slightly moved away and fixed his glasses as he attempted to watch the girl from the corner of his eye, while maintaining his attention on the screen.

"Hun, I thought you weren't going to bring that up again. She's going to think you're a broken record," the older woman on the screen said as she giggled and jokingly scolded her husband, making it rather clear she agreed with his previous statements. As she faced the camera, Lee continued, "Not saying that I believe you'll find a guy before you see this video, but assuming you do, they still have to get my approval, even if I'm dead. I have a lot of good friends in the Japanese division that have been instructed to 'interview' all of your potential boyfriends to make sure they can be allowed to call upon you."

At those words Alexi audibly groaned and muttered in an exasperated tone, "Can I ever get away from her grip over my life?"

Smiling in agreement with his wife, Max spoke up again and said, "That's right. And I've even thrown a few questions in myself, even though I'm sure that any boy from Ouran will pass my section. You know, in all honesty Lexi, we truly wish we could've enrolled you in Ouran earlier, but we had our work, and we needed to have a safe place for you to retreat to, free from all your previous connections if we died early."

At those words, the two faces on the screen looked sad and pained. "And apparently we did," the elder woman said as she reached out to grab her husband's hand once again.

"Alexi, no matter what happens, no matter what obstacles get in your way, no matter what hardships you face, know that your dad and I are with you and that we will always love you. You are our true miracle in more ways than one and there is not a day that goes by we don't thank God for giving us you and every moment that we have with you."

Beginning to cry at her statement, Lee had to stop, but her husband finished the video recording by saying, "Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind, or forgotten".

At that phrase from Lilo and Stitch, the screen went black, and the room was silent once again.

All the annoyance and frustration the female host had towards her parents completely dissolved away. She could feel her blue eyes welling up with tears.

Realizing that his companion was in no condition to start speaking yet, Kyouya cleared his throat and addressed the agent who swiveled around to face the two teens again. "So why are you showing all of this to Alexi now? Shouldn't you have informed her of this news when she left for Japan?" The condescending voice of the bespeckled boy said.

Looking up now, after hastily wiping the lone tear that trickled out of her right eye, the strawberry blonde chimed, "Yeah, that's right. If we're really supposed to believe all of this, why didn't you tell me before I was shipped out here?"

"Well," Agent Matthews began, "Quite frankly, what your parents did was 'need to know'. But, I can assure you I have been personally over viewing your transfer here and was instrumental in getting you settled-" The brunette started to say before he was roughly cut off by the blaring voice of Alexi.

"Don't you dare give me that 'need to know' crap! They were my parents and if they died, I have every damn right to know. As for personally overseeing my life here, you failed miserably! How dare you let Fr. Kichi, apparently one of your former colleagues, get injured like that? I mean if that's your idea of protecting me, it's a miracle I didn't die as soon as I got over here, you pathetic excuse for a-" She lashed out at the agent before she felt someone's icy hand on her left arm. Only when she turned to look at the raven haired boy that was holding her back, did she realize she had jumped out of her chair so violently that the metal object was several feet behind her on the floor. Shocked she had gotten so angry that she didn't even realize what she was doing, her blue eyes looked quizzically at Kyouya as if mentally asking him what the hell happened to her.

Not responding to the question that he knew she was trying to ask him, the boy stoically rose, retrieved her seat, and readjusted it for her to sit back down.

Also in shock at the girl's rage, the agent remained motionless until he saw Alexi sitting back down and recollecting herself. "Ahem," the agent cleared his throat, almost afraid to continue, "I'm sorry about Kichi. You must understand jurisdiction; it's WITSEC's job to monitor your safety, not ours. While we helped in the beginning, we had to back away after resettlement. Also, the only reason we're showing you the video, is because the two of you stumbled onto our base. Your parents were friends of mine, and as much as it hurt knowing I could never introduce myself or tell you about their life, I'm under very strict orders. In fact, if my superiors knew I let you watch that video, a video that your parents were in no uncertain terms forbidden to make, I would lose my job in an instant," he sighed before continuing. "However, because I know you have a family trait to leave no stone unturned, when you teamed up with Mr. Ootori here to delve into your past, which I would appreciate if you would stop that pursuit after today, I knew our meeting would be inevitable. When our 'borrowing' Mr. Hitachiin led you to our base, I decided we might as well get this over with," Agent Matthews said with a shrug.

"That's right," Alexi sputtered out, completely mortified that in all the recent hullabaloo she had forgotten about her best friend, "Where the hell is Kaoru?"

"Remember how your mom mentioned that she left specific instructions about grilling all potential boyfriends? Well, he's going through that right now."

Looking even more confused at that statement, the female host scoffed and said, "Kaoru, my boyfriend? No, no, no, he's just my best friend who happens to be a guy. He's definitely not my boyfriend."

At that statement, both men in the room looked at her with the same level of confusion. "But you went on a date with him yesterday?" Kyouya questioned, referring to the fashion show the night before.

"That? No! He was just taking me to the fashion show as a friend… At least I hope he knew that…" Alexi said as she puzzled the concept a little further and replayed the whole day in her mind to see if there were context clues she was missing.

"Well great. This is an even bigger flub up then," Agent Matthews spoke up. "That's not a fun questionnaire we're submitting him to right now, which we shouldn't even be following the Zawojek's request to implement anyway, and knowing that it's pointless… This is really not a good turn of events." Changing topics quickly, the agent stated, "I need to stress that you are still in great danger Alexi. Your parents were murdered for their involvement in the safety of the world and we know their enemies know what you look like, who your friends in America are, and where you used to spend your time. Do you remember the night of your parents' death; that call on your cell phone that told you to come down to the scene of the accident?"

At the man's question, a new flood of emotions came over the girl as she recalled one of the most scarring moments in her life.

Only being able to nod her head 'yes', Agent Matthews continued by saying, "That call was not made by local LEOs. They would've never called you to the scene of the accident itself. We believe that call was made by the people who killed your parents and if we didn't intercept the communication and instantly send proper reinforcements, I doubt we'd be having this conversation now."

Hearing that, Alexi gasped as her eyes grew wide, her jaw dropped, and she unconsciously covered her mouth with her right hand as she grabbed Kyouya's arm with her left hand.

"Because they already were on to you immediately after your parents' death, we fast tracked your enrollment into WITSEC and had you shipped over here to Japan the next morning. We've been in communication with you U.S. Marshal so he could give you updates on your parent's case, but since you're here, I might as well tell you that we're no closer to finding the assailants than we were almost a year ago. I know good ol' Bob's said this to you before, but until we find the organization that killed your parents, your life remains like this. I'm sorry. But hey," he said with a cheerful voice, "Mr. Ootori here gave you quite the upgrade in living quarters, didn't he? There's no way you could afford that on the government stipend they're giving you."

Realizing the conversation was over and the agent had at least answered all of his questions, Kyouya squeezed the girl's left hand and stood up. "If that is all there is to say on the matter for now, if it is at all possible Agent Matthews, I would like to go through the test Mrs. Zawojek set up for any of Alexi's potential suitors," the boy said with a respectful bow.

Getting a migraine from all the confusing information she had heard within the past hour, Alexi opened her mouth to ask Kyouya what he was doing, but was beaten to the punch by the CIA agent.

"Why do you want to go through those annoying questions?" Agent Matthews said as he eyed the teenage boy.

"Well, while I may not be planning on ever pursuing Miss Alexi, I believe that since she is staying with my family at the time being, it is important to met her mother's expectations of someone who would take care of her daughter," he stated smoothly as if it was common sense for him to submit to such an intrusive test.

Agreeing with the grey eyed boy's reasoning, Agent Matthews summoned for one of the agents under his leadership to take Kyouya to a private room, so he could start the testing process.

Seeing that the brunette was not making any move to leave her alone, Alexi spoke up and asked, "I know you can't tell me specifics about their job, but as a stated friend of theirs, can you please tell me what you can about their work for the CIA?"

Realizing that the girl in front of him needed the information to continue processing that her parents worked for the CIA and that she was desperately trying to grasp onto some closure about the circumstances leading to their death, Agent Matthews smiled as he settled into his seat to begin the long story about the Zawojeks.

Sorry about the length of this chapter. There was a lot I needed to cover and there was no natural breaking point.