Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.

The Two Homes

When he got home, Kai was greeted by emptiness. For a moment, that is. As he removed his shoes, he heard hurried footsteps and then two arms wrapped around his neck in what he assumed was supposed to be a loving gesture. He stiffened and looked down at his sister, who was looking for something over his shoulder.

"Please get off me," Kai said coldly.

The girl did so without hesitation once she realized no one else was with her brother. "I thought I asked you to bring your new friends over," she said, annoyed.

"And I thought I told you that if I had any new friends, I would. But I don't."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "You're part of the host club."

Kai walked past her. "Yeah. Doesn't mean I'm friends with them."

He heard a frustrated shriek behind him. "You're such an idiot, Kai! You finally stop being so shameful and you aren't even decent enough to do one thing for your only sister!"

Kai clenched his teeth and kept walking calmly to the stairs.

"Are you ignoring me?"

He didn't answer. When he reached the bottom of the staircase and started up, he felt a pillow fly into his back.

"You're such a jerk, Kai. I wish you weren't my brother."

-o-O-o-

After finally reaching his room, despite the occasional pillow being thrown at his back and head, he shut his door and collapsed onto his bed. It was almost more tiring being at home than being at the host club. But this he was used to, at least, so it didn't seem so terrible.

Then he heard a door slam from the opposite direction of his sister's rant. Sighing, he reached under his bed to find the envelope of cash he kept there. He had a feeling this was going to be one of those nights.

-o-O-o-

He was right, of course.

His mother had come out of her room to see what her daughter was going on about, only to find that her socially challenged son was to blame for both the noise and the great despair of her only little girl. It was when he had heard them talking about coming up to get things straight that he got up and locked his door.

The banging and demands that he open that door at that moment would only last until his father got home. They wouldn't stop until then, so he put his headphones in his ears and turned up the volume. They were smart, he supposed. And determined. They could give into their tiredness of voice and fist and leave him be until later, but then his father wouldn't be in a suitably enraged mood from once again entering his home to chaos with his son at the root of it.

-o-O-o-

Kai rubbed his jaw. 'Well, that'll bruise. Suoh won't leave it alone tomorrow.'

The young man was walking through the dark streets. The path was familiar to him, as he had traveled it many times before. His destination was a small restaurant, the kind that was family owned and could be traced back generations. The man behind the counter called something into the kitchen before walking toward Kai, who had unceremoniously flopped into the first seat he had come across.

"Again, boy?"

Kai smiled slightly, but it only brought on a grimace as his jaw popped. "You say that every time, but the room's always waiting."

The man smiled warmly. "Well, what can I say. We like you."

Kai reached into his back pocket and pulled out some money. "I'm guessing that was my order you just put in?"

The man nodded and took what he was given. He would have gladly given the boy what he wanted for free, but Kai insisted on paying. "You're a good man, Mr. Kaneshiro. That seems to be a dying breed, so I won't take from you without payment," he had told him when the owner, Kaneshiro, had offered. Kai liked to act like the bad guy, but Kaneshiro thought he was growing into a good man as well.

Mr. Kaneshiro walked away to put the money in its place before coming back with a large, hot slice of pie.

Kai smiled and ate.

-o-O-o-

There was a basement in the restaurant that wasn't used for anything before Kai had come into their lives, and so a makeshift sanctuary had been made for the young man there. There was a small bed he had almost outgrown, a chair that was losing its plumpness, a small mirror on a tilting stand by the bed, and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't what he had at home, but that's why he liked it. A poor man's room and some nice people were far better than a rich man's room with an explosion waiting to go off outside the door.

So there was where Kai slept that night, and there was where Kai woke up in the morning to Mr. Kaneshiro stomping on the hatch in the ceiling above the stairs.

"Kai! You have a visitor!"

What? Who could be looking for him here? He knew Mr. Kaneshiro wouldn't be showing his parents down here- they wouldn't have come anyway. They were used their rebellious son's disappearing act.

"Tell 'em to come in." He stood in his confusion, running a hand through his thoroughly tousled hair, and waited.

First step: black dress shoes.

Second step through third step: black slacks.

Fourth step: Part of a blue blazer.

Kai stood in complete bewilderment as Tamaki Suoh stood in the basement of his hideout, smiling in his usual manner, as if this were the most natural thing in the world.

"Good morning, Kai! You won't believe how hard it was to track you down…" He stopped, his eyes locked on Kai's jaw. "What happened to your face?"