For those who asked, pairings are already decided, but I would love to hear your ideas nonetheless since the story is still pretty early and could change. Please review!

~CWA


CHAPTER FOUR: QUITE A CONUNDRUM


Third Person

She wishes she knew exactly how she let herself be tricked into this situation. But it seemed that all she did was blink before Moriko was being dragged down the hall to who knows where. She eyes the twins gripping her wrists, dragging her behind them, with caution and unease. Her skin itches beneath her sleeves where their hangs grasp her and her fingertips are beginning to tingle and twitch. She tries her hardest to ignore her first instinct to rip her arms out of their grasp. With her a glance back, she hopelessly looks to Haruhi for any help – they offer a shrug. So much for help.

A yelp escapes her lip when the twins finally let go, throwing her forward through a set of doors. She stumbles a bit to catch her balance and when she does, she appreciates the sudden smell of fresh roses. She could do without the bright lights and the underlying, yet strong, scent of sugar. Her nose crinkles as she glances around and feels her face warm when she notices the room is full of beautiful women swarming around various handsome men. Her gaze lingers on a few of them – the tall guy in the back who seems to be the one quiet person in the entire vicinity, the two blondes giggling with each other in the corner, the short kid eating cake, and an attractive female redhead who winked at her when they locked eyes. She tore her gaze away, her blush much stronger and warmer than before as she bites at her bottom lip and shrugs her arms across her body.

A hand lands on her shoulder and she jumps, her breath hitching in her throat.

"I'm sorry they dragged you into this," Haruhi takes their hand off of her with a sympathetic smile.

Into what, Moriko wonders, but her voice doesn't seem to want to work. She's almost worried about just what all this is about and briefly ponders the idea of some sort of whore house before shaking that out of her head. The headmaster wouldn't allow a whore house inside the school. At least she hopes. She doesn't think that human society has changed that much since she's been… away.

"Hikaru, Kauro, you're late," the one with glasses notes, not even looking up from his clipboard. Moriko squints and thinks back to this morning – if he turns a bit to his left and if the lights were dimmer, then he could have easily been he one that was watching them this morning. The idea of being so close to the one person even Reve is cautious of makes her shift on her feet. Reve – Kato – I, uh, I found the guy who was watching us this morning…

"We thought you and Tono would be happy we snagged a new guest," the twins stick out their tongues at the one with glasses before trotting off to a small group of girls who seem to have been waiting for them if their cheers are anything to go by.

She can feel a small tingling sensation in the back of her mind and breathes a sigh of relief – Reve has restored the mental link between the three of them.

'I caught that last bit,' Kato's voice comes through, 'I could always - '

'-No,' Reve interrupts before Kato can finish her threat, 'His name is Kyoya Ootori, according to all the girls' thoughts in my class. They all seem fairly to have some romantic and/or sexual attraction to him. I don't really see the appeal. He's concerning, but not a present threat. We need to maintain our appearance of actual humans and not maim nor kill. Kato, meet me in the second year hall and you can sniff her out. We'll be there soon, Moriko. Stay where you are. Don't let him suspect you.'

Moriko's bite on her bottom lip is hard enough that if she was human, she would taste blood. Instead it's a chloroplast-like substance that rolls onto her tongue. She hopes they get here soon – she doesn't know if she'll be able to last for long in such a strange environment. She eyes the flowers and various plants that are scattered through the room, spotting a particularly large one in the corner. Maybe it's big enough to hide her away. She takes one step forward before she gets intercepted by a blonde who bows deeply at her, taking her hand to give it a tender kiss.

"Welcome to the Ouran High School Host Club," his voice is smooth and charming, "Where it's our job to make sure every lady such as yourself is happy. We have every type to cater to your needs – would you like to spend your time with Ootori Kyoya, the Cool Type? Perhaps Morinozuka Takashi, the Silent and Wild Type? Haninozuka Mitsuki, the boy Lolita? The twins – the Mischievous type? Fujiko Haruhi, the natural? Or perhaps I'm more suited to your needs – Souh Tamaki, the charming King of the Host Club?"

Moriko slowly pries her hand out of his grasp, eying him cautiously. Every type to cater to my needs? Her stomach turns as she swallows thickly, shifting on her feet. Kato, Reve, please hurry. I don't want to know exactly what this club does. She eyes Haruhi in the corner with a small group of women – the only one she knows that can't possibly be doing anything scandalous. She can feel it. Haruhi is too nice, too kind, too… too much of a 'gentleman.'

"I – uh – I'll go see Fujiko-kun, thank you," she bolts to the brunette before Tamaki can even protest.

It seems all Haruhi did is blink before Moriko is already at their table, sitting down with panic-ridden big eyes and a quickly beating heart. She gives Haruhi a shaky smile through her flushed face. Haruhi recovers quickly, smiling easily in return, glancing briefly toward the already pouting Tamaki in the corner.

"Is this, uh, normal," Moriko whispers as she follows Haruhi's gaze to see Tamaki shrouded in a dark cloud of angst growing mushrooms as he mumbles to himself, drawing little figures on the floor with his fingertips.

"For him? Yes. For normal people? Not at all."


Moriko watches the clock more than she watches Haruhi or any of the other hosts and/or guests within the room. She makes a point to not once look to the twins, who seemed to be putting on some sort of 'brotherly' act through the club's hours. She uses the term brotherly very loosely. Their act pushes the boundaries of incest in a way that she'll never be able to scrub it free from her mind. But it doesn't necessarily matter now as their act, as well as everyone else's, is done as one of the last guests, aside from Moriko herself, leaves the room. The Host Club is now officially closed and Kato and Reve have yet to show up.

'Where are you guys,' Moriko thinks desperately, hoping to get some response over the mental link, 'What's taking so long?'

'We're almost there. I only just found Kato, who refused to admit she couldn't find the second year hall,' Reve's voice comes through and Moriko relaxes knowing that the link is still up, 'I offered to go find her, but no the cat has to do this herself.'

'You told me to not sniff out Moriko, not you,' Kato's voice snaps, 'You told me to act like a normal human so I was trying to use the maps!'

'There is nothing normal about you walking around with tissue stuffed in your nose so you don't have to smell! Not to mention how you had your map upside down when I found you!' Reve's voice borders on yelling and begins to lose its human-like qualities as it gains a faint, static noise echoing after each word in her head, 'Use your head, Kato! What part of you even vaguely believed that was normal human behavior!? It took me twenty minutes to find you after I finally gave up waiting because you kept reciting Spanish lullabies to distract me from your location!'

Moriko just shuts her eyes tightly as her lips thin. It was stupid of her to even believe the two could go one day without some sort of fight. She can't even tell who really starts it sometimes. It's as if they feed off angering and annoying each other. She doesn't speak up this time. There's nothing she can say that could help when they're this deep into fighting. Eventually their voices fade from the mental link, she can only guess that their argument must have turned into a more actually vocal, though hopefully not too physical, fight.

"Tenshi-san," Haruhi speaks up, their eyebrows furrowed a bit in concern, "Are you okay? The club's hours are over so you should get out – Kyoya-san doesn't like it when people linger after hours. Something about losing profit."

They jab a thumb toward the one in glasses in the back – he glances up and Moriko swears that his glasses have that evil tint to them. Like some sort of strange cartoon or anime. Nevertheless, he has a way of looking at her as if she's a specimen under a microscope. A look she's too familiar with. – 'Her cells are a strange combination of both animal and plant, as if it's caught somewhere in the middle – what's our next step, Doctor?' 'Take a sample – the wings would be a prime subject of study.' 'How large of a sample, Doctor?' 'Just take them both off. Leave the stubs. We'll study just how they connect to its body and nervous system later.' Blinding, sharp pain shoots through her back – she can feel the chloroplast mixture running down her skin.

She rolls her shoulders, absently moving the muscles that connect to the still bandaged stubs on her back that are concealed by her clothing. A human disguise – or form – rids her of her discolored skin, but the stubs are a permanent part of her. She can almost feel her wings brushing close to her skin as they would tuck away under clothing – almost. A shaky breath leaves her lips and she curls into herself, bringing her knees to her chest. Has it always been this chilly in here?

"I'm just waiting for my sisters – well sort of, we're not exactly blood related but they may as well be my sisters. They said they'd be here soon."

I don't want to go back to the house alone, the words die in her throat, but it doesn't make it any less true. She doesn't have the courage to look up at anyone, her head bows against her knees. Maybe if she stays still and quiet, the memories would stop coming back like this. Maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad. A hand grazes against her back and she jumps out of her seat as if it was the devil himself that touched her. Her eyes are wide and frantic, her vision tinting to a green shade as she struggles to keep her grip on reality. Everything blurs and spins around her. She can only faintly hear voices talking to her, but they slur together and sound as if they're coming from far away. She staggers with a hand to her head, eyes shut tightly as she wills everything to just stop.

Between the twins making Moriko retreat even farther by poking and prodding at her with furrowed brows – their words seemingly having no effect, Tamaki going back and forth between yelling at the twins and trying to get his bear with the hope that it may calm Moriko down, Kyoya watching the scene unfold with observant cold eyes, and both Hunny and Takashi making it worse when they approach Moriko themselves, Haruhi simply just wants to scream. They know exactly what's going on. For whatever reason, Moriko seems to be in the mist of some sort of panic attack – Haruhi's own attacks are triggered by thunder, but they doubt that's the case for Moriko.

Haruhi takes a deep breath, their hands clutching at their sides,

"EVERYONE STOP," Their voice is loud and clear and instantly everyone, aside from the still panicking Moriko, freeze. Haruhi takes a calming, deep breath to ease the headache, "Tamaki-senpai, focus on finding the bear and maybe a blanket, not on the twins. Hikaru, Kauro, give her some space and make yourselves useful by getting some fresh water and warm milk for her for when she calms down, I don't know which one she'll want, but she'll definitely need a drink. Hunny-senpai, she may want some comfort food, but all we have is cake and that may be too heavy and thick. Go to the school cafeteria and get some cookies. Takashi-senpai, can you gather the pillows and help make a bed on the couch? Kyoya – senpai, don't just stand there, help me help her!"

They scramble to fulfill their orders, not even questioning Haruhi once – the tone of voice made it clear that there is no room for any arguing. Haruhi, however, makes their way to Moriko slowly and gently. Haruhi isn't sure when Moriko had collapsed onto the ground, but she joins her on the floor. Quiet. Peaceful. Gentle. She eyes Kyoya, who hovers nearby in case he could be of help. At least she hopes that's why he's hovering.

"Moriko," Haruhi whispers, the first name basis is strange to her, but Moriko may not respond if her speech is too formal, "Moriko, you need to come back to us, okay? You think you can do that?" There's a small, slow nod and Haruhi breathes a sigh of relief at the response, "Okay. We're going to move you to the couch and you can get some rest here while you wait for your, uh, sisters."

Kyoya's displeasure at that statement doesn't go unnoticed, but Haruhi glares at him to keep him quiet about any protesting. She doesn't care if he adds to her debt. She doesn't care if everyone else leaves and she's left to wait with Moriko in the club room. But it's our job to make every girl happy, Haruhi notes, and I may not always agree with how they do it, Moriko could use some help right now, if she'll accept it. They stand up slowly together, Haruhi's hand gently holding onto her arm to steady her as they head to the makeshift pile of pillows that Takashi has set up.

Haruhi isn't sure whether to be impressed or annoyed at how overboard everyone seemed to go with her orders. The larger than life pile of pillows. The many fancy glasses – some are filled with water, others with warm milk, but some Haruhi doesn't even want to know what they're filled with. There's three large plates full of various types of food. The pile of blankets mixed in with the pillows makes everything more of a pillow mansion rather than a pillow fort. Tamaki's teddy bear proudly sits at the top.

"I'm okay," Moriko whispers and stands up a bit straighter, wiping at her eyes, "I'm okay, thank you for all of your help. I'm sorry if I caused any problems."

A majority of the hosts give her reassuring smiles – the one that doesn't simply pushes up his glasses, "There are no problems, Tenshi-san, aside from the vase you broke when you collapsed."

Moriko's face drops and Haruhi winces in sympathy. The twins share a disgruntled look between them – displeasure at Kyoya bringing up after Moriko's 'episode' or at the idea of someone new joining them, Haruhi isn't sure. Just when Tamaki is about to speak up, the doors spill open, drawing everyone's attention to their new guests.

Two people enter and Haruhi can't help but feel they're the 'sisters' that Moriko has mentioned. The first to storm through the room is a small foreigner – her skin is tanned, her hair dark and wild, and her eyes burn with a yellow fury. Behind her is a taller, darker skinned girl with eyes to rival even Tamaki's. Both have striking eyes that seem to burn from some inner light. She briefly believes them to be contacts – surely someone who attends this school that's not here on scholarship could afford only the best contacts. But something in her tells her that even the best, most expensive color-tinted contacts couldn't achieve such a vivid color.

Haruhi glances around – Kyoya's gaze is attached firmly to the taller girl, as is Tamaki's. She thinks that means that the taller one must be the new student they mentioned earlier at the beginning of the club. Both Hunny and Takashi are exchanging uncertain glances as they eye the smaller, much more threatening one.

"You azenon*! You have some nerve," the smaller girl is the one who speaks first, storming straight toward Kyoya, only pausing briefly to mumble something to Moriko that Haruhi doesn't catch, "You cannot charge her for something that broke during a panic attack caused by you inconsiderate jerks - "

She's blocked off by Takashi and Hunny who force themselves between her and Kyoya, their arms crossed over their chests in a protective manner, daring her to try something. She stands her ground, meeting their gazes evenly as she bares her teeth at them in a sneer.

"Kato," Moriko's voice is weak, but she manages to speak as she moves closer to her sister figure, putting a hand on her arm, "Kato, I'm okay. They didn't do anything wrong and Haruhi-kun," she gestures briefly to the brunette, "Even helped me and got the others to help too. I'm okay."

Almost instantly, Kato undergoes a sudden change. She relaxes her stance and takes a deep breath before turning her attention away from Kyoya and both Takashi and Hunny. When she sees Moriko, her expression softens considerably as she brings her in for a close, comforting hug.

"We could hear from outside door," Kato's Japanese breaks slightly and her accent becomes thicker from emotion, "I just – I wanted to make sure you're safe."

Reve doesn't say anything for the longest while, observing the entire room including its occupants. The twins don't stare at her long when she sends a harsh glare in their direction. She only briefly nods to Tamaki in greeting, but her attention is mostly focused on Kyoya. She feigns a cough into her elbow to gain attention – Kato and Moriko break their hug and move closer to Reve, the three of them standing close enough to resemble strange Siamese triplets.

"I apologize for the inconvenience and disruption," Reve speaks smoothly, her words focused on the clear 'real' leader behind this strange group of men, "I am Effori Reve. This is Skrapi Kato -" Kato's mumble comment about her being able to introduce herself goes mostly ignored, "- We don't have the money to replace the vase at the moment, but perhaps we can come to some sort of compromise?"

Kato's head peeks up, her eyebrows furrowing, 'We have the money, Reve. Ian's card, remember?'

'Take a look around Kato – we may have the money to replace the vase, but I have strong sense that if we stay here as long as we possibly can, we can stay hidden much better. This place already seems much stranger than a majority of things even we do. The perfect cover.'

'Led by the man most suspicious of us!'

'Which gives us the best chance of keeping an eye on him and the closer proximity will also allow me to gently nudge his mind in the other direction when he gets too… bothersome.'

Kato's eyebrows furrow as she frowns at Reve's words, her arms becoming a bit tighter around her as she does her best to tune out a majority of the conversations going on around her – the strange pair of twins that are mumbling to themselves about how 'strange' they all were and that they didn't 'want any freaks in the club,' only to be cut off by the blonde who scolds them for such behavior and making it very clear that they should welcome any new comers, and Takashi and Hunny are situated behind everyone in a protective, secret bodyguard-like manner as if daring her to make another move. She scratches absently at her twitching ears from the over stimulation of sound.

She watches as Haruhi (as Moriko called them) is being dragged off into the corner by Moriko to have some sort of private discussion. She does her best to ignore anything said between the two out of respect for her sister, but her lips still thin at the lack of personal space between the two. Haruhi-kun. But if -kun is the honorific for males, as Moriko has taught her, then why is it being used for Haruhi? Despite her appearance, Kato can clearly smell the faint blood that only comes from menstruation coming from them. Her brows furrow farther. Is Haruhi a… masklo* birther? She can remember a few Katojns that were masklo birthers. Males born with the ability to birth children, born with the female body only to become males later in their lives. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes tightly, she remembers how those males were praised for that sort of gift. A miracle. A majority becoming the strongest of the strong, or chiefs, or even the subject of worship in some Katojn clans.

Or is Haruhi a malbenita unu, Kato's frown deepens – a cursed one who simply dresses as a male to hide their identity? Males with both the strengths of women and men were praised. But women? Women who could not birth children? Women born with the body of a male to transition into a female later in their life? Many go in hiding, it would not be unusual for one to still dress as a man to avoid abandonment by their families, to avoid getting beaten or killed. Her expression softens as she glances toward Haruhi. Moriko has told her how neither masklo birther nor malbenita unu are appreciated or accepted into most human societies, that both are considered less than human. Treated like animals at times, her fists clench and when she glances back toward her sister and Haruhi, she gives Haruhi a soft smile to easy their nerves.

Haruhi hesitantly smiles back, warily as if unsure as to why Kato would acknowledge them, before turning back to their discussion with Moriko. Kato turns her attention back to Reve and Kyoya, only to see them still arguing about what arrangements should be made - She smirks and leans back against a nearby couch, looks like Reve found her match. She closes her eyes and eases her nerves, content to wait until everything is settled. There's no point in offering her two cents – Reve wouldn't listen to her anyway.

A smell catches Kato's attention – one that was previously masked by the heavy scent of roses, sugar, and perfume. Her nose twitches. Chocolate chip cookies. They smell warm and fresh. Her tongue slips across her lips and she tries her hardest to keep the purr down that's building in her throat. She turns on her heels and follows her nose to find a strange scene. A mountain of soft pillows and blankets. Plates of cookies. Glasses of warm milk…. Perhaps this won't be so bad.


Kato has most of their attention – well she has Takashi's and Hunny's. Her threatening stance against Kyoya does not bode well with either of them. Takashi stands by with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face. Any threat to any members of his family – whether it's blood relation or those within in the club – makes a fire burn within his chest. He can see the same fire burning in Hunny's eyes as well and he knows that like him, his cousin is taking this potential threat very seriously despite the grin on his bright face.

But he has to admit, it is hard to see the girl as a threat when she's buried within the confines of the pillow fortress. He can't always see her, but the rustle of a few pillows every once in a while helps him keep track of her relative movement. Every few minutes, her head or a hand pokes from the makeshift mountain to reach for more cookies. He almost chuckles when he sees her hand snatch Tamaki's bear from the top of the mountain and he wonders what she could possibly be doing with the bear. His hardened resolve softens at the almost childish behavior.

"It's hard to be mad at her when she's acting like this," Hunny notes, voicing Takashi's own thoughts, "I guess she's really that mean after all, huh Takashi? She did threaten Kyoya-san, but he was being mean to Moriko-chan."

There's a rustle of the pillows and Hunny grabs one of the plates, stealing a few cookies for himself before offering the plate out. A hand pokes from the pillows to grab some of the cookies followed by a familiar face, whose previous joy seems to falter. Takashi raises an eyebrow in question, taking a step forward to offer help if she were to decide to step out. She doesn't. Instead, with cookies in hands, she refuses to meet their gazes, her eyes shifting around as if she can't focus on just one thing. She's nervous, Takashi notes, almost… sheepish.

"I… I am not that mean," Kato coughs out the words as if it's hard for to say, "…And I apologize for my behavior this morning."

Her apology briefly takes Takashi off guard, not excepting to hear such a thing from her. All he could do is just stare at her blankly, failing to come up with any words. Before either of them could acknowledge her apology, she had already ducked back into the mountain with the rest of the cookies.


It's another full hour before Reve finally gets tired of bargaining and settles for gently pressing into the mind of her component to make him yield. She, like everyone else, just wants this to end so they can all go home and get some rest. It's already just after six o'clock. She can see the others from the corners of her eyes. The tall one – Takashi – and the small boy – Hunny – are hovering around the mountain of blankets and pillows, looking for Kato, who has buried herself so far into it that there's no hope of really finding her. She notes that the teddy bear that was on the top of said mountain when they came in is gone so at one point Kato must have at least gotten that high. Moriko and Haruhi are in a strange conversation with the twins and Souh, who has come by quite a few times to add his two cents to the debate between herself and Kyoya. He apparently favors the three girls to stay in the Host Club as hostesses.

"Fine," Kyoya finally admits, pushing his glasses up farther, "All three of you will stay within the Host Club as hostesses who keep twenty-five percent each of your profits, ten perfect toward club funding, and the remaining sixty-five percent goes to paying off the vase. With those calculations in mind, you will each have to get a thousand guests minimum to pay off this debt. All merchandise that is sold on the website that is yours will have validation by you before sale. All photo will be validated for sale, but profits will go toward the debt. Do we have a deal?"

Reve smirks before shaking Kyoya's hand, "You have yourself a deal, Ootori-san, but I will need that in writing and signed by tomorrow."

His eyes narrow, but agrees to her conditions, begrudgingly admitting to himself that she was handling the situation in the same manner that he would. It doesn't stop him from hating the clear smugness in her eyes.

"Kato, Moriko, are you ready to go," Reve's voice is steady and void of the fatigue she feels inside.

Hunny jumps back when Kato's head appears out from the mountain of pillows and blankets right beside him. Her pupils are a bit larger than normal, her happiness of her current position is clear – every cat loves warm blankets and she's no exception. She winces, hiding her head a bit as she mumbles an apology for scaring him as she wiggles her way farther out of the mountains. She mumbles incoherently under her breath, cursing the way the soft fortress sinks under her weight and makes it difficult to steady. A hand reaches out to her, offering her help, and she scowls. No warm blanket can make her accept that offer, especially from the most masculine and intimidating one there – well the most intimidating human that is.

"-I do not need your help," Kato's nose twitches as her lips curls before she spots Reve's disapproving glare, " - But thank you, Takashi-san."

She scurries off to join Reve, Moriko following close behind her after a quick farewell to everyone. The trio exist the room together with Moriko holding Kato's arm as if it's a life line while Kato's own hand hesitantly grasps at the corner of Reve's shirt – as if there's a fear that if they let go, they would get separated.


*Azenon – ass

*Maslo – Male

*Malbenita unu – Cursed one