Chapter 3: Cat's Out of the Bag

I was so happy when we all made it to the beach. Hikaru and Kaoru were kind enough to lend me a swim suit that they had in the club room. It was a black one piece with a red shine in the sun; it looked almost like scales on a fish, but I always loved fish. My happiness was short lived when I saw the members of the club jumping in the ocean and splashing around. I stayed as far from the water as I could, sitting in the sand.

After some time, Kyoya noticed me and left the water, his towel draped across his bare shoulders as he reached for his glasses beside me. "It's ironic that the one with eye problems is the only one who notices you all alone here." He stated.

"No," I sighed. "I'm fine." I answered, pulling my knees in and hiding behind them. "I like the land-I mean-sand. It's so soft and easily manipulated." He looked at me questioningly as I smiled and stood. "I'll go and build a sand castle." He didn't take his eyes off me as I knelt in the sand again and stared packing the earthy substance in a bucket. He simply sighed and shrugged, returning to the ocean.

I smiled happilly when the sand castle was done as I left to get my camera. When I returned and took a picture, I jumped in shock when a cold, liquid substance exploded on my back, causing me to leap in the air and clutch on a tree. "What's wrong, _?" I heard Kaoru ask.

"Yeah, it's like you're afraid of water or something!" Hikaru agreed.

I peeked my green eyes down and saw the twins with buckets dripping in water in their hands. "I-I'm fine!" I called. "C-c-could someone g-get me down please?"

At the sound of my distress, Mori ran out of the water, and carried me out of the tree. "Be more careful." He warned before returning to Honey.

The twins looked at each other, shrugging. "With how you reacted to the water,"

"Someone would think that you were a cat or something."

I jerked straight as I hastily checked the top of my head, hands, and back, relieved to find nothing changed as they just stared at me. "You okay?" Hikaru asked.

"What's wrong?" Kaoru joined his brother.

"N-nothing." I answered frantically. "You guys just shocked me a little with that splash is all. Didn't you know that water is cold?"

They gave me questioning looks before they grinned. "Now I get it." They stated in perfect unison. "You're a hydrophobic, hu?"

"Yes!" I answered. "You caught me, I'm terrified of water." I chuckled nervously as I started to back away. "I just remembered I had, hu, tea! Yes! I was going to serve you guys tea with some afternoon cake! Doesn't that sound great! 'Scuse me."

I ran up the path to the car as I heard the twins shout, "Hey guys! _ says it's cake time!"

"YAY! Cake time!"

"It's always cake time for you, Honey-sepia!"

"I didn't know she brought sweets with her, she must be better prepared than we thought."

"Well, cake's not complete without tea."

"She said she's got tea in the car!"

"YAY!"

I returned to the table at the beach with the tea cups, tea pot, a bottle of pure water, a box of tea grounds, spoons, causers, plates, forks, napkins, and the cake. Of all that, they mainly seemed impressed with how I got all that in one trip without a cart or any assistance as they applauded from the table. "How did you get all that without help, _-chan?" Honey asked me.

"Like I said," I stated as I started brewing the tea. "I'm training to be a butler like my dad, and he does that no problem, mostly catching it from mid air. I'm still learning to do that though."

As I brewed the tea, Honey counted every scoop I put in the pot and looked confused when he counted to four and was still counting. "_-chan, why are you putting in that much tea?"

"Because there are more people." I answered. "As opposed to you, me and Mori-sepia, I'm now serving you, Mori-sepia, Tamaki-sepia, Kyoya-sepia, Hikaru-sepia, Kaoru-sepia, Haruhi-sepia, and myself, a total of eight; the instructions calls for one scoop for each person, plus one for the pot, adding up to be nine scoops."

His burned golden eyes gazed at the pot in wonder as I added the water and cut the cake, allowing the tea to finish. I passed out the cake and tea in order from the club membership; Tamaki first, then Kyoya, Honey, Mori, Hikaru, Kaoru, Haruhi, and lastly, myself.

"Yay! Cake!" Honey cheered as he ate the sweet.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth when we get back to the hotel." Mori reminded

"This cake is great!" Tamaki complemented. "Where did you get it?"

"My dad baked it." I answered. "He thought that, even though I'm here, I still need to practice my servant skills, and he didn't want you to be disappointed with my service."

After we finished with the cake and tea, and I took the dishes back to my bag in the car, the twins pulled me up to a ledge above the water, stating that the view was perfect. When I got there, it was nothing short of what they promised. The sunset shimmered on the ocean beautifully, and the calmness of the sea and call of the seagulls made this view no less than complete utter bliss. I was drawn to the edge of the rock, closer to the beauty of the sun, causing the twins to come to either side of me. "You know, _,"

"There is an ocean right below you."

"M-hm." I hummed in a trance as I sat on the edge. "Just give me a few more minutes. This is great." They started to head back, leaving me there on that rocky ledge. Not long, the wind started to pick up, beating on my back and pushing me to the sea. After a while, that one dramatically strong gust of wind was just enough to push me over the edge and screaming in the water.

I heard the boys call my name a few times as I splashed and paddled in fear. It wasn't long at all before the water claimed me and I was dragged down below the surface. I kicked and paddled, trying to get out, but everything looked so dark and cold. Before I knew it, everything buzzed and rang, and I was out, looking at the blurry vision of one of the boys reaching out to me and grabbing my arm.

The next thing I knew, I was being carried to the shore, everyone staring at me oddly. "W-what's wro-" I was cut off by a cough as water spewed out my mouth.

Tamaki looked at me in fear as everyone else swarmed me. "Are you alright?" they asked.

I looked around, noticing who was missing from the sandy line before I looked up and saw the worried face of Kyoya as he sat me down in a chair and walked away without a word.

It wasn't until then when I noticed what they were staring at and I felt the top of my head, looking down my back. Sure enough, my pointed black cat eats and long slender tail stuck into view, both heavy with water. I simply sighed. "Guys…I can explain." I stated.

"Then start talking." The twins ordered.

"_-chan, you really scared us. Are you okay?"

I smiled at the blond as I patted his head. "I'm fine, Honey-sepia."

Kyoya sat in the sand after setting me down and faced the ocean, his back to me. I didn't want to be bothered with trying to figure out what was going through his head; I just wanted to answer the questions that I knew everyone had. "Where to start…well, my father is a butler…as well as a…demon." I said the last part softly and during a hefty cough, but they still caught what I said.

"Wait, you mean a literal demon?!"

"AWESOME!"

"But if your dad's a demon, doesn't that make you one too?"

"Careful, Mitsukuni, don't offend her."

"If you're a demon, then that means…Hold up, how old are you?"

I looked over a Kyoya, who seemed more distant than ever, before I answered their questions. "Yes, my dad's a literal demon, yes, I'm a demon also, but I'm still not as great as my dad, no, I don't find that offensive at all, I turn 1,720 this (birthday), and no, that doesn't make me an old hag. That age is relatively young for demons; I have the mindset of a 17 year old girl. Now, I have a question for you, do all of you still want to come over tomorrow knowing this about me?"

"Yes." Kyoya answered, bringing the attention on him as he stood. "I thought it would be interesting before, but now, I know it'll be interesting, though, I advise Tamaki to go back home now."

"What?" he cried. "Why?"

"You have an uncanny fear of the supernatural." He answered, picking me up again. "If you don't find the home of demons supernatural, I'm not sure what would be."

"Well, we're not going home!" the twins exclaimed as Kyoya carried me up the path, everyone else following.

"Neither am I!" Haruhi agreed. "If it's that dangerous, I want to be sure you guys don't offend her dad. I don't plan on canceling all our appointments next Monday due to missing hosts, then dealing with all the disappointed customers."

"Haruhi goes, I'll go too!" Tamaki stated strongly. "I can protect her! Think about it, this author is obviously someone who wants Haruhi to fall head over heels in love with me by bringing this strike of danger into our lives!"

"I can take care of myself!" Honey shouted in glee, riding on Mori's back.

"If Mitsukuni's going, so am I." Mori stated.

I looked from boy to boy in wonder before looking up at Kyoya's blank face, even the light reflected on his glasses, blocking out his eyes. "You know, Kyoya, I can walk myself." I stated. He didn't answer and just kept going as we were.

We soon made it to the hotel, but the boy that held me kept on going until we reached a bathroom, where he finally set me down. "…Get cleaned up. Dinner should be ready any minute." He stated before leaving, shutting the door.

It was a really awkward atmosphere in the dining room, but to everyone's confusion, I didn't sit at the table. Instead, I stood straight directly behind Kyoya's seat, a cloth napkin over my arm. "_-chan," Honey called. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh, I am," I answered. "It's just that, human food doesn't satisfy demons, my father looks at me odd even when I eat cake, regardless of lack in satisfactory. I just have a sweet tooth, but that is rare in demons, even demon children rarely have sweet tooth."

"Aww!" he fawned over me.

"But, if you don't mind me asking," Haruhi started as she looked up at me. "If human food doesn't satisfy you, then what does?"

I froze before I could answer. I wasn't sure they wanted to know the truth behind my appetite and cravings. After debating in my mind a while, I smiled. "Human souls, of course." Just as expected, all the club members choked on their food for a moment.

"You see," I started my explanation. "How it works is that a human would summon a demon and sell their soul in exchange for something, weather it'd be protection, revenge, wealth for x amount of years, whatever they wish for, the demon grants and places a contract between the demon and human. It's not until the human in satisfied with the outcome when the demon is permitted to consume his/her soul. It took my father and master three years to fulfill their contract, but because of…complications…my father is still, to this day unable to consume my master's soul, there for bound in their contract, because just before the complication, my father got an order to remain a butler to our master until he completely consumed his soul, he made that command over a century ago."

The boys cleared their throats and gazed at their food in slight disinterest. "…I'm going to bed…" Tamaki announced as he left the table.

Once he left, I looked back at the table, tears starting to well up in my green eyes. "…You guys know that I can't eat a soul I'm not bound to by contract, right?"

They didn't really answer, but Hikaru broke the silence by asking, "So, when you say 'contract', what exactly do you mean?"

I then explained how the contract works, and the full process, as well as why every detail is there, answering questions like, "Why is the human marked at all?" or "Does the demon chose their next master?" and even "How long do the contracts typically last?" But oddly, Kyoya was silent and expressionless the whole time.

By the time all their questions were answered, I yawned and stretched my hands, noticing my claws coming out, but not really caring. "Well, though full demons don't sleep every night, reapers do, and so do cats. Good night everyone!"

"Wait!" Kaoru shouted, stopping me from leaving the room. "We still have loads of questions!"

"Yeah!" Hikaru shouted alongside his brother. "You told us all that stuff about demons,"

"But not a single thing about reapers!" they shouted in unison. "You didn't even mention reapers until two seconds ago!"

I groaned and clutched my head. "All you need to know about reapers right now is that they need sleep. Good night." Just before I left, I looked back in the room and told them one little fact they should know. "By the way, if any of you come in my room and I look dead, don't worry. It's a reaper thing."