Chapter 38:

Chapter 38, Arrival of the Family

Tsuke sighed as the plane landed on the dark strip of pavement. Although he was glad to be in Japan after so long, something in the back of his mind was telling him that a drastic change was going to happen. He looked over at his younger nephew and noticed that the young Elemental was slightly tensed with worry. Teshiro was highly attuned to the world around him and made sure to keep his awareness open in all cases. It was because of that detail that it was nigh impossible to catch him off guard.

Teshiro turned and looked at his eldest uncle and saw that he was also feeling something off. He gave a meek smile and gently pulled the young dragon he was holding a bit closer. His senses had assured him that the airport was safe and that nothing malevolent was waiting for them, not that anyone would be too stupid in attacking any of them. Not to mention that if anyone tried, be they Mage, immortal or otherwise, they would fail horrifically. Not only did everyone, with the exception of him and the little one he was holding have near eons of practice in all forms of combat, there was a small team of guards waiting for them.

Not to mention that if they were using magic, Teshiro smiled. I would be able to either rend them unable to use it for a short time or rip it out completely. There are very few people that would want to mess with an Analyst of any jewel type, mine least of all.

Teshiro shifted slightly and froze when a hand landed on his shoulder. Following the appendage up, he relaxed slightly when he saw Tai Zhou.

"I am not sure what it is about you," he chuckled. "But I can never feel you coming closer."

"Apologies," Tai Zhou spoke softly. "The doors have opened and the transport is waiting. Due to the time, you will not be meeting her until around midday."

Teshiro nodded and shifted the sleeping girl slightly so that he could stand up. He smiled as her parents came over and handed her to her mother gently so that she could keep sleeping. Her father bowed softly and gently led his mate out of the plane. Teshiro stretched before looking at his uncles and the General. Tsuke was dressed slightly relaxed, or at least relaxed for him. He was dressed in a deep blue suit with the upper three buttons of his black dress shirt open that revealed a simple white gold chain with a pearl crescent moon with a silver dragon wrapped around the moon, black slacks and black dress shoes. Akai was dressed in a half open crimson dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a black vest over top. He wore dark blue jeans and a nice pair black shoes. Hiro was wearing a black turtleneck tank top with a white jacket and black pants with a couple extra belts and zippers and black combat boots.

"You can change when we arrive at our destination," Tsuke offered. "You also might want to get some sleep as well."

"Might want to take your own advise," Teshiro chuckled.

He looked at Tai Zhou and saw his brother walking up towards them as well. Tai Zhou was dressed in his usually black cheongsam, black thin hakama, and black boots. The only other color he was wearing was opal white and that was done in the thin trim of his clothes and the dragon embroidered over his heart. Hideki was dressed in a uniform closely matching the one worn by the Japanese military, which made sense since his brother was a soldier, he just wished that Hideki would occasionally dress like a civilian once in a while. Shaking his head at the likelihood of ever seeing that was dismally small, Teshiro slowly made his way out of the plane and paused just before taking the last step.

The others waited calmly as he readied himself. Every time Teshiro was disconnected from the ground, it was always a rush when he finally reconnected to it. It was also a sure guarantee that he would collapse due to the sudden rush of information that came with him reconnecting to the soil again, so Hideki was right behind him.

Taking in a deep breath, Teshiro stepped of the plane and when his foot touched the pavement, everything went black.

Hideki quickly wrapped his arms around his brother's limp body and felt the pulses of the elements around him sharing what they could since he had boarded the plane several hours ago. Carefully picking up his brother, Hideki carried him towards the waiting car. A couple of the nearby guards offered to assist but Hideki shook his head. He knew that the men could be trusted, hell, he had trained them personally, but felt that the care of Teshiro was his alone as he was the elder. He did thank the men for their offer before maneuvering in to lay his sibling on one of the seats of the limo.

The rest of the family climbed in, each thanking the guards for accomplishing their task of making sure the landing strip was safe, and let them escort their vehicle to the terminal to complete customs and be checked in. It was a relatively quick process thanks to Asuda having been waiting in the main area for them. He had smiled softly when he saw Teshiro asleep and the Reader with him made sure not to wake the slumbering Elemental Analyst when she checked his information.

"While Teshiro sleeps," Tsuke spoke. "Perhaps you can enlighten us about the newest members of our family. Teshiro has been quite excited about meeting them and, although a bit more hidden, we are as well."

Asuda smiled softly and the rest of the trip towards the Sanctuary was spent with him detailing everything he had seen and encountered with Haruhi and her father since meeting her.

*~*0o0o0o0o0*~*

Akito looked over the file on his desk with a dark smile. He thought it was too perfect. The information he had would be the first steps in the downfall of those around his niece and the first steps in getting her to walk with her proper family. He highly doubted that she knew the truth about her supposed "friends" and would more than likely be unable to cope with the fact they kept such secrets from her for so long. He called Saichi into his office, his voice clearly showing he was delighted.

Saichi nervously walked into the dark room. Nothing good ever came about when Akito sounded excited and she was being very cautious about being near him. She made sure that the small recorder in her pocket was running before speaking.

"Yes, uncle," she spoke as calmly as she could.

"I have something I want you to present to Haruhi today," he leered.

"And that would be?"

"This file. It has a good deal of information about her "friends" that I am just delighted to hand over. Do be sympathetic to her, it would be quite a shock to see it after all. I will also be paying a visit to the school today but I won't be there to see just you. I have also added a good bit of an allowance into your account so that you can mingle with them all this afternoon."

Saichi nodded and took the file Akito held out to her. She knew not to look at it while in front of him, the last time she did, he had made her stay home from school with a few broken bones. She would look over the file when she was in the car on her way to school and depending on what was in it, would determine how she went about getting it to Kyoya Ootori. His Void had made a periodic visit to her every couple of days to get a report of sorts for his master that she was more than willing to offer.

When Akito dismissed her, Saichi went to grab her school bag and get into the car that would take her to school. She wasn't all that shocked to see the Void sitting just opposite her. She handed over the file for him to make a copy, shrinking back slightly when a dark aura surfaced around him.

"I will take this to him," Quin'Derax stated after quelling his aura and handing the file back. "Read it and be ready for the first part. He will speak to you about this."

Saichi nodded as she took back the file. She watched him dematerialize and opened the file. As she read through the details that each page carried, she felt her heart drop further and further into her stomach.

Uncle is going to start a war with this, she shivered. Even if their families don't know the full details about the others, they would at least ask the opinions of their children before starting any kind of confrontation with each other of this...and...Haruhi...uncle is trying to make her the source of that...this would tear her apart...I don't think she would care about any of this information. From what I have seen of her, she takes people as they are. She would be hurt that they kept this from her for so long but I am sure that she would understand why they hadn't told her before...there is also the fact I don't know what uncle is planning with for his visit today.

She reached into her pocket for the small recorder and found that it was gone but a note was in its place. She took it out and opened it.

I will make sure my caller hears this recording. The Shadows have shared the contents with me the moment I arrived.

With a nod, she put the note in her bag and looked out the window. She had a feeling that today was going to the beginning of a drastic change in everyone's lives.

*~*0o0o0o0o0*~*

Kyoya sighed as he got ready for school. Part of him wasn't looking forward to today but he knew that it needed to happen. If today went as he planned, then the Katayama family would end up showing all of their cards before they wanted to. Thanks to Saichi, he had a better understanding of how the members of the family were taking this situation. Apparently, it had been Akito that had set of the article on the Listing rather than the head of the family. From what she had been able to gather, those that came to assist either never spoke to her grandfather or never told him what they were actually up to.

She had explained that there were actually a few of the people Akito hired that really wanted to tell the Katayama patriarch the truth but were either terrified of the repercussions or Akito had done something to them that prevented them from talking. They both had a strong feeling that either option was highly likely as well as there being a high possibility that both options were in use. It was also detailed that although Akito wanted to use deceit and torture to get Haruhi to come to the family, a larger number of the family wanted to try and get her to at least be willing to meet the family and learn their side of things. Kotoko, apparently, had always been strong spirited and had made it clear that she didn't want to be used a political pawn in the games of her relatives.

As he finished putting his uniform on, Kyoya felt Quin'Derax materialize near him. With a glance, he could tell that things had just gotten either more interesting and possibly a lot harder.

"Here is the conversation she had this morning as well as a copy of a file handed to her by him this morning," the Void stated, handing over the papers.

Kyoya took them and began looking the collected information over. He felt his lips twitch as he held back the urge to smirk and laugh but it was a failing battle. As he got to the last page, the dam broke and he began laughing quite hard. Quin'Derax looked at his summoner worriedly. It was rare that his master laughed so hard.

Once he was better composed, Kyoya explained. "Shortly after the first incident with Haruhi showing us she could use magic, all of us told her the truth. What caused the explanation was her walking in on Mori-senpai as he was eating his ration. We felt it best to explain so that if it happened again, she wouldn't panic. Everything in this file is already known to her, even the fact that my father and brothers don't know that I am different. She may be surprised to learn that Fuyumi has some ability but not much more than that."

Quin'Derax took in his master's words and smiled. After having read the information as he made the copies he had developed a slight worry that things might go awry but that feeling dissipated with Kyoya's explanation. He also could guess why his caller hadn't informed Saichi of such. If she knew that the information was already known, she may not have played her part this morning or the part she was about to as cleanly as she should. He watched as his summoner listened to the small interaction between Saichi and Akito with neutral eyes.

Kyoya's brow furrowed slightly. He knew that Akito tended to visit the school more now that he knew that Haruhi was there but he often came alone but he was drawing a blank as to who Akito would be bringing with him. He felt a coil of worry and dread seep into his body and let out a shaky breath. Regardless of what comes, he told himself calmly. This needs to play out. Haruhi is smart enough to see passed the lies that Akito could come up with and she won't readily try to shun or harm us without due cause regardless. The only people I need to worry about making a mess of things are Tamaki's and the twins.

He sighed and placed the file on his desk and quickly wrote a note before summoning a shade.

"If anything goes wrong," he instructed, handing the note to the shade. "Give this to Fuyumi's husband, Chi Yen. He won't harm you but give him this note."

The shade bowed and took the slip of paper before fading out of sight. Taking in a deep breath, Kyoya went down the stair towards the waiting car and began to prepare himself for what was going to be either the fruition of perfect planning, or a disaster. He hoped it was the former, for everyone's sake.