Moving Day

Saturday morning, Izumi found himself wandering past the open front door yet again. He leaned against the door frame, sipping on his coffee and thinking. Haruto was reorganizing their bookshelves, trying to fit in all the new things he'd gotten from work. Raised voices off to his left lured Izumi outside far enough to see the small garden plot on the far side of the complex.

"Ayano! Why did you come out here with me if you didn't intend to help?" Hazuki asked. She was grubbing around in the dirt, tending to her vegetable patch.

Ayano, on the other hand, stood nearby – a bit overdressed for gardening. Why would she bother, Izumi wondered, when the new tenant is a woman. "I'm helping! I'm searching the leaves for bugs." Hazuki shook her head and yanked up a big weed, tossing it at Ayano's sandal-clad feet. "Hey! Watch it!"

Above his head, Izumi heard a snort. Looking up, he spotted Momo and Jin standing out on their balcony. Momota was smoking, Jin keeping him company as usual. "She must be getting desperate if she trying to impress the movers who might be helping the new girl."

"Maybe she wants to look prettier than the new girl," Jin said.

"Since she'll probably be dressed for moving and not clubbing, that's overkill."

"Who knows how women think?" Izumi mused. "I never did, even though I dated several."

"Where's Haruto?" asked Momota.

"Distracting himself with the new books. Though I don't think he's too worried this time. I'm ready to run interference if necessary, though."

"Hmm. All that's missing now is..."

"Morning!" called Ichimaru. He wandered over, acting casual. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"Ha! The new girl better show up soon or we'll run out of excuses to loiter out here."

"You want some coffee, Ichimaru?" Izumi offered.

"Sure, I'll..."

All heads turned to the driveway, where a lime green scooter had just turned in. Here she is! Six pairs of eyes examined the young woman, who had parked and was removing her matching green helmet.

She was tiny and slender, with long, dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail, casual shapeless clothes, big brown eyes partially obscured by a hideous pair of glasses. Her expression was very serious as she studied her new neighbors in return. Taking a deep breath, she tucked the helmet beneath one arm and headed towards Izumi and Ichimaru.

"Hello, I'm looking for Kawamura?" Her voice was low and pleasant.

"Ah, yes, just a moment." Dashing over to their door, Izumi called for Haruto. "I'm Izumi, his...roommate. Welcome!"

"Thank you. I-" BEEP! BEEP! "Oh no!" she whispered. "I told them not to come!"

Haruto appeared but no one noticed him as a Jaguar, an Aston Martin, and a Suburban with blacked-out windows all pulled into the parking area. A limo was parking awkwardly on the small street, and lastly, a tiny Smartcar zipped around and into the same space as the scooter.

Doors opened and a...harem? A horde? What do you call a group of the most handsome, elegant, filthy rich men you've ever seen? wondered Izumi. Ayano would call it a smorgasbord if she was capable of speech. He could see her from the corner of his eye, open-mouthed and nearly drooling. Even dressed casually, these guys oozed money and power and self-confidence. Izumi felt like a worm in comparison.

Fujioka had gone charging across the pavement to confront her...troop? of men. As the young men circled her, Izumi noticed another young man – scary looking, that one - with an over-tanned girl clinging to his arm, and an attractive older woman hovering on the outskirts of the group. Wow, who was this girl? He felt Haruto press up against his back and rest his chin on Izumi's shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea. She doesn't seem too happy to see them."

"They look like movie stars."

Ayano and Hazuki and Momota and Jin had all drifted over. "I recognize the twins," Ayano said, sounding both terrified and excited out of her mind. "Those are the Hitachiin brothers, Hikaru and Kaoru. Their mother is a famous designer and they often model for her."

Hazuki added, "The tall blonde is Suoh Tamaki, of Suoh Enterprises. And next to him, with the glasses, is Ootori Kyoya, whose family business controls much of the medical industry. Horai hasn't dealt with them directly, but you can't own a company and not be aware of them. I'd wager (except that I don't gamble anymore) that the tallest one is Morinozuka Takashi and the shortest is Haninozuka Mitsukuni whose families train our army's elite soldiers in specialized martial arts. Rumor says those six are close friends from high school."

"Wow. Hazuki, you know a lot about important people."

"I have to Haruto, being executive secretary to your uncle."

"What about the others? That mean-faced guy and the orange girl? Or the man wearing the dress?"

"WHAT?!" They all looked hard at the attractive older 'woman.' "Holy shit! I think you're right, Haruto! But he's very pretty!" Momota marveled.

"Don't look at them, Momo. You're mine."

"Jin! Are you crazy? I'm not interested and they wouldn't look twice at me anyway."

"I'm jealous. You think they're all good-looking, don't you?"

"...!" Momota took a deep breath, then turned and whispered into Jin's ear. Jin looked pleased, and Momota blushed.

"Shh. Oh God. They're all coming over!" Ayano was hopping up and down.

Whatever Fujioka had been yelling at them, it didn't work. She threw her hands up in exasperation and headed back, the whole pack trailing after her. Izumi had to prod Haruto into stepping forward to greet her.

"Fujioka Haruhi? I'm Kawamura Haruto, the manager here. Um...welcome."

"Yes, I'm Fujioka. I'll be in your care. If...if I could have the key please, we'll get out of your way."

"Haruhi!" the blond whined. She rolled her eyes.

"Allow me to introduce my friends." She started with Suoh, who was apparently her fiancé (...! There go Ichimaru's hopes!). The last three were called Casanova ("Kasanoda!"), Mei, and her father, Fujioka Ranka. The residents then introduced themselves in return.

"This place looks very well built for a commoner building," Suoh said, obviously meaning to be pleasant.

"It's very well constructed," said Ootori. "And it's owned by a reputable man. I did a thorough investigation, I assure you."

"Haruhi!" wailed her father. "Why do you insist on living here alone? My baby girl, it's not right – not when you have a perfectly good home with me!" He shot a warning look at Suoh.

"I don't know how we're all going to fit in such a tiny place when we come to visit you, Haruhi," the twin with brown hair complained.

"Not to mention all the housewarming gifts we got you," added the red-haired twin.

"I like it. It's cute, right Mori?" piped up "Honey."

"Yeah." A man of few words, was Morinozuka.

"I can't wait to decorate it for you!" yelled Mei.

"Aargh!" Fujioka lost her cool. "All of you GO HOME! I want to get settled by myself! I'm fine, I'm safe, you've seen the building, and there's the moving truck with my furniture, but he can't park because all of your cars are in the way! Shoo! I'll call you later, Tamaki." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, hugged her father, shoved at the twins, and waved off the rest. Reluctantly, they all finally drifted off back to their fancy cars and then back to their fancy lives.

"I'm so sorry about that. I promise they won't be visiting here often or causing trouble. I'm really very quiet." She looked anxious to reassure her new neighbors.

"Oh, we don't mind," Haruto told her. "That was exciting. Here is your key. Trash day is Wednesday, rent is due on the last day of the month. Anything else you need, I live next door. That's all."

Fujioka smiled. "Thank you." She went back out to the parking area to speak with the mover. They watched her go, then all their eyes met.

"7:00pm. Dinner attack." Heads nodded. Everyone drifted off to their own apartments, secure in the knowledge that they would be putting her through the real test later that evening.

"I think she might fit in here," Izumi said as he closed the door. "What should we do until dinner...?"

Haruto looked thoughtful. "That book I've been reading had a tickle-fight. I don't know if I'm ticklish. Can we find out?" Izumi growled and chased him into the bedroom. Turns out, Izumi is much more ticklish than Haruto.