Nala's eyes snapped open in the early hours of the next morning, and she gasped in horror as she rolled off the bed and hit the floor. Maddy was coming in two days, two days not five like she had been supposed to. This meant they had two days in which to find The Sorcerer and get rid of him so Maddy wouldn't be in danger.
"I have to text her, I have to let her know she can't come. Oh shit, oh shit…"
From across the room in her own bed, Haruhi let out a groan of annoyance.
"Nala shut up I'm sleeping."
Nala winced, glancing at the clock and seeing it was only three in the morning.
"Sorry Haru! I'll just...go...this way…"
She tiptoed out of the bedroom, and down the hall to the kitchen wincing at every creak of the floorboards and hoping none of the hosts were awake. She needed some peace and quiet after the last few days of craziness in order to figure out a way to get Maddy to stay in America.
Slipping into the kitchen, she went straight for the tea cabinet, pulling out a green tea that in her personal opinion had the most soothing smell to it, and going to the cabinet to grab a mug.
"You're up early."
Kyoya's voice behind her made her yelp in surprise, nearly dropping the mug, she caught it precariously with two fingers.
"Damn it Ootori! You scared me!" A sly, unrepentant grin was all she received in response. "And trust me I didn't want to be up this early, I just woke up and I knew I wasn't going to sleep again so I thought I would come have tea."
Kyoya nodded in understanding.
"Mind if I join you?" When Nala nodded and turned back to put the water into the pot after setting her mug on the counter. A few minutes later found the two of them sipping tea; Nala with her bitter green tea, and Kyoya with something red and fruity. "So what's wrong Nala?" His dark eyes watched her quietly as he sipped his tea. "You practically ran out of your bedroom and you looked upset. Also, you're never up this early unless something is going on."
Nala sighed.
"Maddy texted me, I need to talk to you about a game plan. Want to go sit on the couch?"
The other hosts were bunking in Haruhi's father's room for the night so she knew it was open. Kyoya smirked at her, before standing and reaching out a hand towards her.
'Of course."
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Kyoya kept his thoughts to himself after Nala told him Maddy would be coming early, merely nodding and getting up to grab his laptop and notebook to start working on a solution. At some point, Nala drifted to sleep against his side, curled up against his warmth and falling asleep to the knowledge that he would keep her safe.
Gently, several hours later, Kyoya woke Nala up to find the other hosts eating breakfast around the living room table. As they ate, Nala told the other hosts what Maddy had texted to her.
"Well great, now we have to watch out for two of them."
Her eyes cut to where the twins were lounging on the couch in a careless manner, and her temper rose. However, before she could speak Kyoya did - as if reading her mind - and intervened before she could say the cutting words that were on the tip of her tongue.
"A friend of one of us is a friend of all of us. Both of you know that, so calm down." They turned golden eyes on him, as if weighing the consequences of continuing their rebellious attitude, but before long looked away with careless boredom painted on their beautiful faces. Nala sighed, and focused on Kyoya as he spoke again.
She knew they were on edge because they were running out of time, knew they were scared and covering it up with brashness to hide that fear, but it still irked her when they did it. She hoped that the calming presence that Maddy possessed would somehow help calm them, but knowing the twins it would probably only bother them more to meet someone who actually was calm, and put together.
"Guys, let's not argue about it please. As soon as Maddy gets here I'll finish telling her about everything that's going on. To be honest she's surprisingly resourceful from what I remember and maybe she has connections that we don't know about."
That seemed to calm the twins down slightly, but they still watched Kyoya closely, and it made Nala's heart hurt to see the animal like wariness that was clinging to their expressions. She was really starting to hate the effect that their magic was having on them, it was like the light inside that made them them was being overpowered by the darkness of their second halves.
Something needs to be done…
She shook the thought away as she focused more on Kyoya's words.
"We'll meet her ourselves, I'll talk to her myself and get her trip details and plan it from their. Then, we'll bring her back here and can plan something from their. It should be a relatively easy plan to stick to."
"Yeah, as long as nothing goes wrong."
The twins voices made Nala facepalm.
"Guys come on, we're trying to make this easier for everyone. None of us planned on this happening. Please, please, please try to go along with it even if you don't like it." Hikaru and Kaoru were both shifting in their seats, making miniscule movements as if they itched all over, and Nala's eyes narrowed on them both. "Are you guys ok?"
Hikaru's eyes flashed gold, and Kaoru shook his head.
"No." They spoke in unison, and a low growl escaped Hikaru's throat. "We can feel them, the tigers, they're getting restless, they know something."
Nala turned confused eyes on the other hosts and Honey answered her and Haruhi's unspoken question in a hushed voice.
"Sometimes, the soul knows things. Their restless because something is coming and they don't know what. The tigers sense things, but since the twins fight their spirits so much their relationship isn't smooth enough to transfer over what the tigers know. It leaves them unsettled and the tigers upset."
Nala nodded slowly, watching the twins as they shifted in discomfort for another moment before seemingly forcing themselves to be still. Kyoya spoke to cover the silence, and finally it seemed that the rest of the hosts all listened to him.
"Nala will call Miss Aisling in a moment to discuss her flight details with her, and then we will all take it from there."
The rest of the hosts nodded diligently, Tamaki, and Honey looking alive and ready to fight anything that came their way, the twins looking prepared yet bored, and Mori, well, he looked like Mori. Haruhi was grinning happily at the idea of seeing Maddy, and suggested they go out and buy ice cream to bring back and celebrate with. The hosts all cheered, and the twins, Tamaki, and Honey dashed out of the room to get their coats and shoes on while Haruhi, and Mori, trailed after them.
Kyoya turned to Nala, a smile on his face as he slipped his hand over hers.
"Think you're ready to be done with all of this finally Miss Fuyumi?"
Nala grinned at him unrepentantly.
"Hell yeah I am Ootori."
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
It was one in the morning when the buzzing of Maddy's phone woke her. She had fallen asleep reading a book that was due for school the next day, with her headphones in, and it took her a moment to blink away the disorientation and untangle the headphones from around her neck before sleepily answering the phone.
"'Ello?"
"Maddy? Oh shit it's like one A.M. for you or something isn't it. I'm sorry!"
"Nala?" Maddy rubbed the sleep from her eyes and blinked again, feeling slightly more awake. "Why are yeh callin' meh this early? Di' somethin' 'appen?"
"What? Oh no, no, I just needed to call you and it was kind of urgent and couldn't wait."
"Oooohhhhkkaaayyy." Maddy wished the lights were on so she could wake up a bit more easily, and blinked again. "Tell meh what's up so I can go back to meh bed please."
Weirdly enough the room was looking brighter, and Maddy shook her head in annoyance. She must be more awake now and that was all it was.
"Well, remember everything I told you about what's going on here? How Maria was trying to help me catch the bad guy and Kyoya and the hosts?" She didn't wait for an answer, but continued speaking. "Well, we've made a breakthrough and some of this is going to sound crazy but I can't tell you until you get here what all of it is but we know who I need to be protected from. And we need to pick you up from the airport."
Maddy glanced at the clock beside her bed, surprised she could see it so well in the dimly lit room. Wait, dimly lit….
"Oh shit!"
Maddy dropped the phone and all but vaulted off the bed to blow out the candles on her dresser which all held flames that were growing dangerously high. Shaken, and nervous, she scrambled back into her warm bed and picked up the phone to Nala's worried voice asking her if she was ok.
"Aye, I am, just saw some candles that I coulda sworn I blew out before I went to bed but they were flickerin' merrily across the room just now."
"Weird! At least nothing caught on fire!"
Maddy chuckled.
"Aye, ye're right. Anyway, the plan! Sorry, I'm a bit outta sorts 'cause I 'ave school tomorrow. It's my last day before I transfer out of it and move back to Japan so I 'ave my last final test tomorrow. Um, right, so I'll be landin' in Haneda National Airport and will be takin' a bus from their to the Bunkyō ward in Tokiyo to the Ouran bus station there. Then was going to take a taxi from there to meet you at your apartment. If yeh want to meet meh there though, I'm completely okay wi' it."
There was an odd echoing quality to the phone, as if someone else had somehow joined the conversation from another line, but Maddy shook it off and waited for Nala's reply. They confirmed the date and time, and made idle chit chat for a few minutes before a large yawn on Maddy's end of the line had the other girl laughing and telling her to go back to bed.
"Good luck on your final tomorrow Maddy! I know you're going to do awesome!"
Maddy grinned tiredly.
"I hope so, 'm not too concerned 'bout it, but one can never know for sure. Ye're right though, I do need sleep, I'll talk to yeh later okay?"
So saying, the girls said their goodbyes, and hung up.
Maddy snuggled down further into her comforter, wondering how she had forgotten to blow out her candles when she distinctly remembered doing so. Shrugging, she let sleep pull her down and fell into a dreamless slumber.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*VV*
As for Nala, she was left looking at her phone and wondering how she had, yet again, forgotten to ask Maddy who she was coming to work for in Japan. Sighing, she headed back to the living room to let Kyoya known what she and Maddy had worked out. She glanced at a picture standing on a small table. Incense stood ready to burn beside it in memory of the loved ones in the picture, and Nala couldn't help the small, sad smile that crossed her lips at the sight of it.
It was a photo of her and Haruhi's mothers with the girls. A second picture stood beside it, and Nala walked over to inspect it. It made her choke back a hysterical laugh. Leave it to Haruhi's father to mourn the figurative loss of people in their lives who had yet to die.
In the second photo was a picture of Maddy as a young girl standing with both of her parents. Her father's cold eyes watched the camera, and Maddy's mother's eyes just looked desperate. Between them, sat Maddy, laughing at the camera as if whoever was behind it was the light of her life from the way her face was alight with joy as she stared past the camera at them.
Nala took a moment to admire how little Maddy looked like her parents. Her father had rugged, weathered skin, and dark brown hair and eyes, while her mother was fair skinned with wavy blond hair and light brown eyes. Standing between them, Maddy with her riot of dark auburn curls, and ocean blue eyes stood out like a beacon. The only similarity one could see was that she had her mother's fair, pale skin. Shaking her head, Nala whispered a silent prayer to her mom to watch out for the meeting to make sure it all went smoothly when they went to get Maddy; then she went to go curl up with her boyfriend on the couch while he worked, a thought that made an unholy grin curl the corners of her lips up. It felt so good to be able to call him that.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
While Honey and Tamaki argued over which ice cream to buy, the twins hung back quietly under the pretext of looking over the commoners store. As they drifted down another aisle, out of sight from the other hosts, Hikaru sagged against his brother's shoulder, and Kaoru held him up. It took another moment to gain the strength to stand on his own on two legs, but Hikaru managed it somehow, and while he swayed for a moment, he righted himself. Kaory shot his brother a worried look. Hikaru was far closer to his inner animal then Kaoru was. Far more evenly split so fighting the influence of the tiger was growing harder. It was harder to change back after shifting, and harder to fight the shift itself. Kaoru knew that what he was feeling, his twin was feeling worse, and it concerned him. He didn't know how much longer they could hold out before giving into their inner animals. It was only so long before they couldn't do it anymore, and if one of them succumbed to the call, the other one would willingly follow him into it.
They shared a glance, and a moment of weakness, of fear, before pushing it away resolutely. They knew it wasn't fair to lash out at the other hosts like they had been doing, especially towards Nala and Haruhi, but they had no excuse for it. Their animals controlled more things they felt now than the boys themselves did. They knew the hosts worried, and their mother worried, knew their mother had gone to visit a seer to see what could be done for her two cubs - because after all a mother tigresses love for her cubs never leaves, and the fierce protectiveness never did either - and she had found nothing. She was fighting for them, they knew it, but they also knew that until their completing half came, that nothing could be done. Their souls were crying out constantly know, and it was a dull ache they carried in their chests with them everywhere they went.
The ache followed them, but not only that, but fear that they would snap in a public place. The magical community had ways of covering these things up, but they were high profile enough that both of them disappearing would be a challenge. They sighed in unison, feeling their tigers pacing behind the walls of the cages the twins imagined them being trapped in. They shared a long look, golden eyes searching golden eyes, sharing strength, their silent fears, and the courage they had in each other. Finally, they stepped back out of the empty aisle, identical smirks on each of their faces, and were ready to take on or hide from the world.
They couldn't give up, not yet, not when it felt like the constant ache they both felt from the lack of their connecting mate that was growing was growing because she was coming closer. Maybe they were delusional, but the ache felt like bittersweet hope.
Or maybe it wasn't, and their dreams were going to crash around them in pain, and fear, and animal hunger before fading away.
Either way, they would stand together until fate made it's final decision.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
The next day,after an uneventful night for which all of the hosts were incredibly grateful for, a letter was waiting, taped to Haruhi's door, and addressed to Nala. When Haruhi brought it to her, Nala stared at it with a furrowed brow. The handwriting was elegant, precise, not what she had expected from her would be killers, because really, who else could it be? The other hosts had stayed the night again, calling Tamaki's father to let him know why they were missing the school day, and he had excused them. That is, all but Kyoya who had to go to school. He had held Nala close that morning before he left, stroking a gentle hand over her hair before stepping away with a smirk.
"Have a nice day Miss Fuyumi, and please, for the sake of my grades and heart stay safe."
Now, staring at the letter, Nala wondered if that would be possible. She glanced warily at Haruhi, who was staring at the letter just as nervously, before shrugging and ripping the fancy wax seal off and opening it to read.
Dear Nala Fuyumi,
It's a pleasure to finally write to you myself. To be entirely honest, well, I was disappointed it took you so long to discover who I am. Of course, I had also been hoping to have you with me by now. Now though, that is of no consequence because now I know you know who I am, and I have some things to tell you.
Firstly, you're eyes are a lovely shade of green, I do truly admire their color and can't wait for them to be mine to see all the time.
Secondly, by now you know all of this is because of your father, it's such a sad thing being betrayed by people who you thought you could trust isn't it? Odd what a little bit of money will make people do.
Third, if it consoles you at all, if you're father knew what he was selling you into, well, I don't think he would have so readily considered selling you.
Fourth, I am beyond excited to continue this fun little game of ours.
Fifth, I wonder how long it will take for your precious hosts to fall apart around you. There is another power coming into play that I will be taking from you so you can't use it, but please by all means enjoy thinking about how if you actually received this gift it could save those pathetically miserably shifters you call friends.
Have a wonderful day sweet, little Nala.
I'll be seeing you soon.
An almost illegible scrawl at the bottom of the letter made Nala's skin crawl in horror.
The Sorcerer.
She shuddered, and Haruhi who had been reading it over her shoulder snapped out a couple of choice words that made Nala want to laugh hysterically. Of course this monster was one step ahead of them, as always, and he somehow knew about the twins too. Crumpling the note in her fist, Nala stared at the high quality paper, and just silently steamed. That arrogant, conniving, brute of an ass. Was. Going. To. Burn. Nala's lips curled into a silent snarl, and it felt like her mind was running in a thousand different directions at once. Oddly enough though, it was the quiet icy rage that one over, and it felt like it melted over everything inside of her; both body and mind, and she turned to walk back to the kitchen.
"This changes nothing Haruhi, we're going to beat him because sure, maybe he's powerful and knows things, but he doesn't have the same friends I do. I know my friends, and I know I won't lose to this rat bastard. This," she glanced at the crumpled note in her hand as she stalked into the kitchen causing the other hosts to go silent. "This changes nothing, I'm still going to destroy this monster from top to bottom. He doesn't stand a chance."
Of course, Kyoya was upset when he read the note upon getting home from school, but he agreed with Nala. If they changed their plans they played right into his hands. They were going to proceed as planned, and so help anyone who decided to intervene.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
The next day dawned rainy and bleak, and the hosts - except for Kyoya - again stayed home from school. It was only two missed days, but between that, the bleak weather, and the threat hanging over her head, Nala was struggling to be joyful even if Maddy was coming that night.
The day dragged on, and all the hosts were strangely quiet and somber as it progressed. Whatever strange mood was in the air was infectious, even Kyoya upon entering the apartment again after finishing the school day merely raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn't comment.
The time flew by, and before Nala knew it Kyoya was nudging her and asking if she was ready to go. They all piled into the limo, and to Nala's surprise she saw the clouds were clearing above them, giving way to the last few hours of sunlight. They rode to the bus station, which was ridiculously crowded as far as Nala was concerned, and waited.
Several minutes later, Nala caught a flash of red hair amongst the crowd on the street as a bus pulled away from the curb, and she was out of the limo in a flash. Dashing through the crowd, ignoring the shouts of the other hosts after her, all Nala saw was the crazy, curly auburn hair that stood out against the somber background, and the blue eyes that looked around in search of someone.
"Maddy!"
Those stormy blue eyes lit up at the sound of her name, and caught on Nala who was politely trying to push her way through the crowd. Maddy raised an arm to wave in greeting, and that's where everything went wrong. From behind her, like a tidal wave, out of the crowd, a dozen men streamed towards the girl, and with a hard, yet somehow discreet, blow to the back of the head, one of them caught the suddenly unconscious Irish-American girl and guarding her body lifted her up and spirited her away into the crowd Nala choked on a scream, almost tripping over her own feet. Yet somehow as her world spun to a stand still, none of the other people around her saw what happened. A few men and women in a hurry brushed by her and gave her dirty looks at where she was kneeling on the ground in obvious shock.
From somewhere a few feet next to her, a voice that was like nails on a chalkboard filled her ears.
"Something you should remember Nala Fuyumi, a bugged phone is as easy as being right there with you." Nala's head turned slowly as she dragged her eyes to look at the imposing figure of Officer Tokiya who stood several feet away from her. He tipped his hat towards her. "Have a nice day Miss Fuyumi." And he melted into the crowd.
"Nala!?"
The shocked voices of the hosts behind her caused her to turn tear filled green eyes back towards them.
"They took her. They bugged my phone. They-they...took h-her."
The tears were slipping down her face furiously and Kyoya tugged her up from the ground into his arms. The curses of the other hosts were harsh as they protectively herded the girls back into the limo, and Kyoya gave the order to go somewhere they could actually create a decent plan. Music Room #3.
*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*V*
Nala stood on the roof of Ouran High school, and stared at the sunset. It was setting in the color of blood, all rich hues of pink, red and purple that streaked across the sky to set the clouds on fire with their brilliance. She blinked back tears as she looked out at the view, worry for Maddy clouding any beauty she would normally have seen in the sunset. Her heart felt physically heavy, and she couldn't stop berating herself for her cousin getting kidnapped.
If only she had told Maddy what was going on completely. If only she had been more careful and realized her phone was hacked. If only she had been faster to get to Maddy on the bus station platform.
If only, if only, if only….
A fat tear trickled down her face, and she wrapped her arms around herself in comfort. Her poor cousin. Who knew what the monsters were doing to her, and here Nala was unable to help at all. Kyoya, Tamaki, the twins, Honey, and Mori were all in touch with people, looking for any information they could get, calling in favors, and coercing people to help them if they could.
And still nothing.
Her shoulders shook, and she bowed her head as the tears came faster. All this time of fighting back, of not giving up, of thinking she could finally outsmart them, and they pulled out a trump card she couldn't beat. She would do anything to get her cousin back, and somehow they knew that. Now all she had to do was wait for the phone call from them. Tipping her head back up to look at the sun, the brunette smiled; it was a sad, self-deprecating smile as she thought about everything that could've been, would've been. If Tokiya called her her now and asked her to jump, her first response would be to ask how high. Anything, anything to help save her cousin.
"I hope that you're not thinking about how this is all your fault and it Tokiya were to call you that you would jump to come to him?"
Nala let out a little shriek, spinning around and throwing a hand over her heart.
'Damn it Ootori! You scared the crap out of me! Didn't your mom ever teach you not to go sneaking up on a girl like that?"
He merely raised an eyebrow and stepped up beside her as she turned back to look at the setting sun.
"Nala it is not your fault, we'll find her. You know once I've set my mind to something that it happens." She just stared out at the sunset in silence, and he sighed. "Nala," He stepped behind her, and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, and turned her around so her face was pressed against her chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to her upturned forehead. "We've come this far, we can find her. We will find her. Trust me."
And in that moment, with her head tipped back to look into the boy's dark eyes, the sun setting behind her, and grief heavy in her heart, she took a leap of faith.
"I do trust you, Kyoya."
And stretching up onto her tiptoes, she kissed him like she'd been wishing to do for months, and especially so since he had asked her to be his girlfriend. Somehow, in some crazy way, with all that had happened in the last hour, Nala knew without a doubt that with Kyoya, Tamaki, the twins, Honey, Mori, and Haruhi working together with her to find Maddy that they would find her.
The cat's eye ring on her finger almost seemed to pulse softly as if it could cocoon her in a veil of safety and hope, and standing there with Kyoya's ring on her finger, his arms around her waist, and the knowledge that her friends were doing everything they could, it seemed like - in some crazy way - for the first time in a long time, all the good things were outweighing the bad.
It was up to time and fate now to see what was going to happen, and exactly how many people's asses Nala was going to have to kick to bring her cousin home safely.
She would do it, and as she broke the kiss with Kyoya to smile up into his face, the grief didn't lift per say, but Hope snuck its way into her heart to fight it, and fight for the tomorrow she knew would come somehow.
**Authors Note**
Guys thank you so much for being patient, lots of personal things came up into my life. This is my holiday gift to all of you. I hope you enjoy! Happy holidays! I will be uploading part of the first chapter of the sequel soon before continuing it as a separate story.
Shout out to…
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