Chapter 25:

Chapter 25, The Beginnings of a New Plan

Haruhi felt someone shaking her gently as they tried to wake her up and slowly opened her eyes. She looked around and saw that she was still in the car but it was parked outside a rather dark looking estate. She turned to see Mori looking down at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled softly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep like that."

"It's fine," he replied with a soft smile. "You were tired."

"Where are we?"

"At the Sanctuary. I was surprised as well."

Haruhi stepped out of the vehicle with Mori's help and looked around. She saw a faint haze around the building and glanced at Mori confused. He shrugged softly before both walked a bit closer. As they reached the door, they saw Hunny, Yasuchika and Satoshi waiting for them.

"This place feels weird," Satoshi said rubbing his arms like he was cold.

"That is due to the Temporal Shield around this estate," Asuda explained as he walked out of the door. "I saw the car pull up and came to greet you all. Mitsukuni, Yasuchika, your parents as well as Takashi's and Satoshi's are here. Haruhi, your father is as well."

"How long have they been here?" Yasuchika asked.

"In terms of time in the Sanctuary itself or out here?"

"Uh, out here?"

"An hour," Asuda chuckled. "They wished to see the Sanctuary itself."

Hunny, Mori and Haruhi glanced between themselves before two of the three started to laugh slightly. Yasuchika and Satoshi looked at the three of them confused.

"As I stated earlier," Asuda smiled. "The Sanctuary is surrounded by a Temporal Shield. Time is different inside."

"By how much?" Satoshi asked glancing at the older vampire.

"For each minute that passes out here, an hour has passed inside the Shield. Time can be set to be faster inside the Shield or set to be slower if desired. In fact I think that is what they began discussing when I came out here to greet you."

Yasuchika and Satoshi blinked owlishly in surprise at the differences. That was a lot of time and they looked at each other before looking back at the older vampire. Asuda simply smiled at them before motioning them to enter. He followed them inside once all five teens had walked in. Haruhi felt the ripple of the Shield around them once they passed through it and shivered slightly. It had a distinct chill that was slightly unnerving, almost like ice water had slipped down her spine. She followed Asuda around and took note of some of the stuff she hadn't noticed before. There were several decorative paintings of different kinds of scenery along the walls and a few pieces of pottery on some pedestals. She cast a glance at the others and saw that Satoshi and Yasuchika were looking around at the items around them as well. After a few moments they came to a stop at a set of large sliding doors.

Asuda knocked softly and as he got an answer to enter, Kyoya stepped out of a Shadow Gate.

"They finally finished cleaning?" Haruhi asked incredulously.

Kyoya sighed and nodded softly. The group could tell he was exhausted but Haruhi felt that it was due to something other than having to listen to Tamaki and the twins banter back and forth.

"Took them long enough," Yasuchika muttered.

Asuda opened the doors to show the collected parents sitting at a long table with Trekiva seated at the head. Asuda bowed his head before motioning the children to enter. All six teens sat in the open spaces, Haruhi next to Ranka, Satoshi and Mori next to their parents, Hunny and Yasuchika sitting on either side of their parents, with Kyoya sitting at the other head of the table.

"You wished to see me?" Kyoya asked, his voice somewhat weary.

"Before I make my request," Trekiva stated. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just a minor headache. It will pass."

Trekiva narrowed his eyes slightly and observed the young child before him. Kyoya's posture was stiff, like he was forcing himself to stay up right, and there was a dark glaze to his eyes that made it seem like something was trying to escape from inside him. All of which were a clear indication that something was wrong.

"When was the last time your Darkness was allowed to wander?"

Kyoya's eyes widened at the question. He looked down at the table as he tried to recall the last time he let his power flux as it was supposed to and found that he really couldn't recall an given length of time. Trekiva noticed this and sighed.

"As a child of mixed blood," he said softly. "You must let the stronger or more tranquil of the bloods reign or fall into madness and agony. As you are a child of Darker Blood, you must let it out. Holding it back will cause you more pain than you need to endure. I know you must hide your form from those that do not know it but when you are among those that understand, do not hide it. In fact, it will make what I wish to request all the easier for you."

Kyoya lowered his head slightly before laughing softly. He wasn't sure why he was surprised to hear such a gentle lecture but he was grateful for it and sighed softly before taking off his glasses. He looked up with completely black eyes and everyone watched in silent awe as dark tribal flames began to appear on his face and his clothes shift to something that was a little looser that his school uniform. His attire changed to something that you would see more commonly in ancient Japan or China as his top had long billowing sleeves like a haori and loose hakama that seemed to fit snuggly at his waist. The top was partially open showing the markings on his chest and Haruhi knew that they were also on his arms and legs from when he had first told her about them. Centered on his forehead was a dark crystal of some kind circled in void energy.

"Better?" Trekiva asked.

"Much," Kyoya answered, his voice a bit darker and heavier but still clear enough to understand.

"My request is in regards to the Temporal Shield. I would like to alter the ratio slightly."

"To?"

"As it sits, you have one minute outside the Shield equal to an hour inside. I would request that instead of it being an hour inside the Shield, it is a day."

Kyoya tilted his head to the side and brought his hand to his chin in thought. It was easy enough to do that even if he hadn't let his darker blood have more control. When he had initially created the Sanctuary, the time scaling was so off and fluctuated so much the he nearly missed school and wound up in the hospital when he had tried fixing it too rapidly. Fortunately he was able to set it so that the time inside was the only thing that could be altered and that time outside it was constant.

"That is easy enough to do," Kyoya agreed. "Is this so that Haruhi and Mori have more time to court each other?"

"That is correct," Akira spoke calmly. "Although both children have known each other for a little over a year, most of that was while inside that club and not outside or with just them apart from the others. Neither of them have had near enough time to learn who they were away from the others. They were given a small amount of time whilst here this morning and yesterday but they need more time than a few collective moments held in a few minutes. It would also allow her to have longer interactions with her Arcana instructor than the mere few hours she has already set aside. Alyona-san has vastly more time to teach her children, but not so much for Haruhi. This would give her the needed time without detracting from her responsibilities to her family."

"Have you spoken to Nekozawa-san about this?"

"I have," Trekiva answered. "I spoke with her while the children were at school. She agrees that teaching Haruhi here is far safer not only for herself given the current circumstances but it will also allow her to teach more to Haruhi than she could with the schedule she had set up."

"I will have one of my Shadows give her directions and a key to enter," Kyoya stated. "If you will please pardon me, I will change the ratio and retire to my room for the time being. I will remain here for the remainder of the mortal night and leave when the sun has risen with the other for school."

Everyone nodded and Kyoya slowly walked out of the room. Once he was fully gone, Trekiva informed Haruhi of the reasons behind the change being the same ones that were discussed before she left that morning. Haruhi nodded in understanding and it was also explained that the parents would periodically arrive and spend some time with them as well as use the time away from the outside world to recover and relax from their responsibilities for a moment and catch up on things as needed. Everyone at the table knew the latter part of that statement was pertaining to Ranka and how hard he worked. It would also allow him a break form an overzealous blond president trying to interrupt what little time they had together so that he could spend time with Haruhi. Ranka was also offered some basic lessons in Judo and Karate but he politely declined saying that although he may have the time to learn the martial arts he would rather spend time with Haruhi and see how her relationship with the silent Morinozuka heir was going.

"But you'd be training with Haruhi," Satoshi said slightly confused as to why the older man didn't realize that. "Meaning you would be spending time with her and Taka too."

When the older man seemed like he was going to argue, Asuda spoke up. "It wouldn't be a hindrance if that is your worry Ryoji. It is not a hindrance to teach my niece and it will not be so in teaching you. You will be able to protect yourself from those that would do you harm and spend some time as a family without worry of time."

Ranka tapped his finger to his chin in thought. He could tell that the offer was sincere and he was interested in seeing how Haruhi was doing. He also knew that it might be a good idea to learn some himself so that something like what happened at the apartment didn't happen again and if it did, he wouldn't be unable to protect himself. He sighed softly and smiled.

"You persuaded me," he cheered. "Now I can make sure that worm won't try and do anything to my Haruhi!"

That statement got a groan from Haruhi and a few soft laughs from the others but eventually she laughed too. She really couldn't fault her dad with his reasoning, Tamaki had been a thorn in the cross dresser's side since the moment they met. She had a feeling that there might be other reasons but could tell that the one he said aloud was not only true, but was said to cheer everyone up a little from the somewhat gloomy atmosphere that had been hanging over them the last few days. After a few more moments of light conversation on how the day went for them, everyone was directed to the dining hall to eat dinner before retiring for the first night inside the new time ratio.

The next day, which outside the Shield would be in a minute, would bring Alyona as she was already on her way and was pulling up to the door. It was discussed to her on the way that she would still have the physical hour with Haruhi in which to instruct her but rather than the 60 hours she had initially planned for, she would have 60 days inside the Shield, plenty of time to get into some serious lessons. Haruhi was looking forward to it and could tell that the others were excited to see how well she would do too.