A/N: OMFGANOTHERCHAPTER *dies*
I know this update came along rather slowly. That's because I was grounded. For reading FanFiction on my phone. In the middle of the night. :D I'm trying my best to write chapters of a decent length. I dislike short chapters, and honestly, the only time I like short stories is in the form of a one-shot, so I would expect this to go on for a decent amount of chapters. Anyways, I feel… inspired right now, that's why it's actually finished and not just sitting on my computer gathering dust.
And to clear up some information, this is going by the Manga/Brotherhood story for FMA. Which means Al is a bit taller than Ed, And has the same gold eye and hair color.
ANYWAYS. I would like to thank all of my wonderful reviewers! :D (Please forgive the long replies. I have a tendency to be a rather talkative person.)
Greyu-chan: Woo, I'm being followed! … Does that mean you're stalking me? :U
Violettruth: I'll try to update sooner from now on! :D
PennyShort: I know, I started reading them somewhat recently too. Sadly, all my favorite ones are old and forgotten, or slow in updating. I think only 2 in the archive are even complete! D:
Maddy-neko: *throws on a cape* CROSSOVER HERO TO THE RESCUE! *bricked* Glad you like the story so far! And Ed is supposedly 165 cm. But that's with his (Platform! :D) boots and antenna; he's really only 145 cm w
WingedBirdy: Really? :D I had a feeling I made Roy too boring, and not nearly as arrogant as he should be, nor did the twins seem mischievous enough.
DoubleOh: Teehee, I feel the same way about Amestris as a part of our world. I was considering throwing them all into Germany, but then I thought "Wait, that would mean no alchemy! D:" And to be honest, I can't force Ed or Al into a fanfic without alchemy; that would just be cruel! :U
KaiserPhoenix92: Thanks for the compliment! Hopefully this chapter will hold you over for a bit? :3
WARNING! D: This chapter may get confusing at some points, due to Tamaki's rather unusual and somewhat-OOC actions, but they'll (hopefully!) fall into place soon.
Chapter inspiration: A bottle of ramune, a few yaoi jokes, and the song "Lost Heaven" by L'Arc en Ciel (FMA: Conqueror of Shamballa ending song :D)
DISCLAIMER APPLIES HERE! :3
Ed sat in the cab, staring out the window with a bored expression plastered onto his face. He, Al, and Winry had arrived in Japan only an hour ago, landing in the airport early in the morning, and he was already sick of the confusing country. It's
A cab had met them at the airport, and was now taking them to their temporary home during their mission. Winry sat in the passenger's seat in front of him, absently flipping through a pamphlet she had picked up at the airport, and Al was in the back of the cab with him, busy studying the scenery outside the windows and committing the landmarks to memory, should they ever get lost.
The driver said something about being only a few minutes away from the apartment at this point, but Ed barely noticed, continuing to stare out the window. He had a bad case of jetlag, and wasn't in a good mood at the moment. He didn't feel like doing anything else at the moment, other than mulling over his thoughts.
The pulled into the parking lot to the side of the building. Yawning, he stepped out of the car and stretched. Each of the teens grabbed their luggage, and Ed fished around in his pocket for the apartment key Mustang had given him before they left. They began to head upstairs, to the top row of apartments, and he read the numbers on the side, looking for their building. As Ed set his bags down, he unlocked the door and turned to pick his bags up. But before he could bend down, Al yelled something, pointing in the opposite direction, and that's when Ed was someone lunging at them.
He charged towards the man, jumped, and flipped over him, turning to sweep his legs out from under him. The man, surprised at the counter attack, wasn't able to dodge in time. He fell on to the pavement face first, allowing Al to easily pin him down.
"Well, well, well. And who do we have here?" Ed asked, spinning on his heel and turning towards the attacker.
Sighing, Haruhi picked up the tray of teacups, walking into her apartment's dining room, where the Host Club had –somewhat rudely - insisted that they stay until the new transfer students arrived. Kyoya had slipped the piece of information to Tamaki about the transfer students living in this complex, and just as she had feared, the idiot had dragged the club over to meet "Haruhi's new friends," and as much as she insisted that she didn't even know them yet, Tamaki had some odd idea that all commoners knew each other in some way. Knowing that there was no real way to get rid of them at this point, she agreed to let them stay, as long as they kept quiet.
Setting the tray down on the low-rising table, she sat down and picked a cup up, listening to the mindless chatter of the group. Tamaki had started an argument with the twins over commoner's customs. As degrading as the argument was, she did feel the need to correct them. However, as soon as she opened her mouth, she heard the sound of a loud engine outside cut her off.
Before she knew what was happening, the club had gathered around her apartment window, leaving her no room to see what was going on. She had a feeling it was the transfer students arriving, and decided it was most likely best to stay out of the way until the hosts had finished dissecting them. Although she did feel sorry for the unsuspecting new arrivals, she certainly knew that there was nothing she could do to stop them.
She heard the engine outside stop, followed by the slamming of a few car doors. The hosts were stuck to the window at this point, and there was no way that she would be able to see anything without letting herself outside. Opening the door, she saw three people climbing the balcony stairs to the second story of the building, each with a large amount of baggage in their hands, heading towards the empty apartment at the end of the row. She was about to step outside and offer to help them, when someone else ran past her.
Haruhi didn't have a chance to act, before Tamaki ran out the door, heading towards the three new neighbors, and lunged at them, trying to tackle one of them to the ground. She and the other hosts filed out of the apartment to see what just happened. Tamaki had lunged at the shorter blond – was that a girl or guy? She couldn't tell from behind, and the long hair made it confusing – but before Tamaki could grab the person, they spun around – yep, it was a guy! – and flipped over Tamaki, landing behind him and tripping him by sweeping his legs out from under him. The other boy took advantage of the distraction, and pinned Tamaki to the ground.
The shorter blond muttered something in another language. Tamaki was still pinned to the cement floor, face down. The blond walked over to him, crouched down, and grabbed Tamaki by his shirt collar, lifting his face off the pavement. At first, he seemed angered by the surprise attack, but then his face showed surprise, as well as confusion.
The blond said something else. He was still speaking in another language, making it hard for Haruhi to follow, but the surprise and confusion on his face was evident. The other boy released Tamaki, going over to the shorter one.
The taller boy exclaimed something. He was obviously surprised as well, but seemed a bit joyful.
Tamaki muttered something back to them. Whatever language they were speaking, apparently Tamaki spoke it as well, and rather fluently at that.
Haruhi still had no what was going, and the blond girl who was with the two boys seemed equally as confused as she and the other hosts were. Haruhi was about to step up and ask for an explanation, but Kyoya grabbed her shoulder and held her back. He had a knowing look in his eyes, as though he already knew more about the situation then he led on, as he did most of the time.
"Damn, not even here for 5 minutes and already we've been attacked?" Sighing, Ed walked over to the offender, grabbing him by his shirt collar and lifting his face off the cement. However, he wasn't prepared for what, or rather who, faced him next. Blinking, he stared back at the attacker. "Tamaki? Is that you?" He asked, unsure of what was happening. Edward was honestly surprised when he looked down into the face of the teen, and saw his cousin staring back at him.
Al was still pinning him down, but at the mention of Tamaki's name, released him and went to see if Ed was right. Seeing Tamaki look up at him and Ed, he was as shocked as Ed was. "Tamaki! What are you doing here?" Although Al had no objections to a surprise visit from family, he certainly wasn't expecting his rich older cousin to come flying out of the blue and attempt to tackle them. Seeing their cousin sprawled out on the cement in front of them was odd enough, but both of the brothers had noticed one peculiar thing about the crazy teen: He was wearing the Ouran Academy uniform. So they'd be in school with him?
"Yeah, it's me. Now will you let me go please?" Although Al had let go of Tamaki, Edward still had a grip on his shirt collar. Edward blinked, still a bit shocked by the situation, but obliged and released his grip.
"Heh, sorry about that, Tamaki! You just surprised us!" Grinning, Alphonse offered a hand to Tamaki and helped him up. "I see you're still fluent in Amestrian. Not to sound rude or anything, but what brings you here?" Although he had gotten over the initial shock, Alphonse was still curious about why Tamaki was here.
Tamaki brushed the dirt off his uniform quickly, before facing the brothers once again. "I was just visiting a friend who lives here. But why are you two here?"
"We got sent here on a scholarship. We're supposed to be attending this big, fancy school called Ouran Academy," Ed explained, rubbing his temples. The whole situation was starting to annoy him, and he was getting a headache. "Supposedly, this is where were supposed to be staying." He jerked his thumb at the unopened door to their apartment.
"Well, I suppose that means we'll be sing more of each other then! My friends and I all attend Ouran as well, so we'll be able to help you out if you need anything!" Tamaki seemed pretty happy about this news from what Edward could gather, almost too happy. He was kind of worried about exactly what the guy was planning, but pushed the thought aside.
Winry was still just standing there, hand hovering above the doorknob of the building's entrance. She was rather confused by the recent events. Sighing, she set her bags down on the ground outside the door, facing the three boys. She was determined to get an explanation, even if it meant her wrench would be doing most of the questioning. "Ed? Al? I'm lost. Can you explain to me what's going on?" She asked, walking up to the brothers.
"Huh? Oh, sorry Winry!" Alphonse rubbed the back of his neck, rather embarrassed that he and Ed had forgotten she was there for a moment. "Winry, you remember our cousin Tamaki, right? He came down to visit us during Christmas that one year."
Vaguely, she was able to recall the memory. Tamaki and Ed had gotten into a fight over who got to open the first present on Christmas Day, and even though he wasn't a part of the argument, Alphonse had won.
Tamaki turned his attention from the brothers to Winry at that moment, choosing to introduce himself in a very host-like manner. "Winry, It's a pleasure to see you again. You look as lovely as ever," he said, taking her hand and kissing it. Her face turned red as a tomato, and she was about to reach for her wrench, when he turned away to face the brothers again.
"Seeing as you'll be staying for a while, I may as well introduce my friends here!" Tamaki motioned to the group behind him, all clad in the same uniform as his. Gesturing to each of the members, he told each of their names to the group.
"…And the twins over there are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, good luck sorting them out. And last but not least," He gestured to the short brunette that stood to his right, "Is Haruhi Fujioka." Ed noticed the grin on his face enlarge at the name, and it took him a few moments, but he figured out why. But when the realization hit him, he was a bit taken aback.
'Wait a second. THAT'S Haruhi?' Ed thought to himself. He glanced at Tamaki, then at the brown-haired boy that stood beside him. He had heard about Haruhi from the letters exchanged between Tamaki and Al, who was determined to stay in contact with any family they had left. From what he could gather, Tamaki had quite an attraction to Haruhi, but he had been under the impression that Haruhi was a girl. Yet here …'he' was, in the boy's school uniform. After a quick glance though, Ed was pretty sure that something was odd about him. The way he looked, his posture, his too-large-to-be-male eyes… all of it seemed so feminine! If Ed had ever been positive about anything at that moment, it was that Haruhi Fujioka was definitely a girl, albeit a girl in men's clothing.
Of course, he still felt entitled to poke some fun at his cousin, now that he knew one of his little secrets. And he had the perfect innocent little question to drive him insane.
"…Tamaki? …Are you gay or something?"
"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"
Haruhi was utterly lost at this point. First, the new kids seemed to be introducing themselves to Tamaki (She had gathered that much when his host side had started to show through and he had kissed the blond girl's hand). Then, they seemed to be reminiscing or something. After that, Tamaki had begun gesturing wildly at the group of hosts. The next thing she knew, Tamaki was red-faced, and yelling at the short blond, who was obviously doing his best not to laugh, but failing miserably.
The blond girl, yet still a bit confused, was obviously annoyed by her friend's actions. Whipping a wrench out of her pocket, she brought it down hard on his head, colliding with his skull. She yelled something at him, in a rather annoyed tone, and kept the wrench in her grasp, obviously still debating whether or not he needed another smack with it. The taller blond was standing off to the side, out of the crossfire, and looking somewhat embarrassed about what just happened.
The short blond muttered something, before turning to face Haruhi and Tamaki. He held his hand out and grinned. "Sorry about that. No hard feelings?" He finally said in Japanese. Tamaki took his hand and shook it.
"Yeah, yeah. You say that now. But what about you and Winry? Surely there's something going on between you two? After all, the last time I visited, I remember how close you two were." Tamaki had switched back to Japanese as well at this point. Haruhi had no clue what he had meant by that statement, but it obviously bothered the blond girl – Winry? – and the short boy. The two transfer students both blushed, each a furious shade of red, as they stuttered incoherently, waving their hands in front of their faces in a dismissive manner.
"I-I Have no clue what you're talking about!" The boy stammered, looking somewhat pissed. The girl looked ready to hit Tamaki with the wrench, still clenched in her hand.
Haruhi was honestly tired of all of this, especially trying to figure out what they were saying, and decided to put a stop to it. "Tamaki-senpai, are you going to introduce us to your friends here?" she asked in annoyed tone, poking him in the side.
Looking down at Haruhi, it took Tamaki a moment to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, right, sorry about that!" He said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, before making a grand gesture to the trio of foreigners. "Host club, I'd like you to meet my cousins, Edward and Alphonse, and their friend Winry."
Cousins? Haruhi blinked. It seemed that no one in the host club expected that (except for Kyoya of course.) But, come to think of it, she could see some resemblance; the two boys both had blond hair like Tamaki, if a different shade at least, and the shorter one did sound a lot like Tamaki. Their eye colors didn't match, but like Tamaki's, theirs weren't a common color like blue or brown. All in all, she didn't have too hard of a time believing it. As for their friend, she seemed like a nice enough person, if a little baffled by all of this madness.
However, she did find it strange that the transfer students would be related to Tamaki. Not to mention that they would be living in her apartment building. For all she knew, this was one of Tamaki's elaborate schemes so he and the other hosts would have an excuse to drop by more often. It was annoying enough when they stopped by out of the blue as it was, but with family nearby, Tamaki was likely to be here almost every day! Groaning inwardly, she prayed that this wouldn't be the case.
The other hosts were already making their introductions to the newcomers, who seemed fluent enough in Japanese to make small talk. Haruhi hung back a bit, deciding it might be better to introduce herself later once all the madness died down a bit. The groups were animatedly chatting, but Haruhi wasn't paying much attention to that. She was more focused on something else.
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw someone watching them. When she turned around though, no one was there. She shrugged it off, figuring it was just a shadow. But she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her.
Unbeknownst to Haruhi, her suspicions were more than just her imagination.
A/N: … Worst. Cliffhanger. Ever. ._. It took me half an hour to come up with too! D: *jumps off the cliff of failure*I also feel like I made Haruhi and Winry into brainless idiots in this chapter. Hopefully, they shall redeem themselves in the future!
Short chapter is short. My apologies. :U
Just a notice: Today's my birthday! :D *bricked* I'm not trying to promote it. I just wanted you to know I got an iPod Touch (4th gen.), so If I'm suddenly inactive, blame that. And if you can make any app recommendations, I'd appreciate it! :D
Also, from this point forward, I plan to do my best to include something worth reading at the end of each chapter! :D For this one, I took the time to do some googling (is that even a word? :U), and managed to find some similar voice actors in the English dubs of Ouran and FMA. Sorry if some of the side-comments I made are obvious to you, they may not be for other readers. Some of these relations will also explain the confusing family tree in this story, such as why Ed, Tamaki, and Alphonse are all cousins :D
- Vic Mignogna: Ed and Tamaki
- Caitlin Glass: Haruhi and Winry
- Travis Willingham: Takashi (Mori) and Mustang (Hard to notice though, Mori rarely speaks! D:)
- Todd Haberkorn: Ling Yao (FMA Brotherhood/Manga character) and Hikaru
- J. Michael Tatum: Kyoya and Scar (o_o ?)
- Luci Christian: Mitsukuni (Honey) and Truth (Once again: o_o ?)
- Monica Rial: Renge and May Chang (FMA Brotherhood/Manga character)
- Patrick Seitz: Nekozawa and Sloth (FMA Brotherhood/Manga character)
- Mike McFarland: Ranka (Haruhi's Dad) and Jean Havoc
Thanks for reading, all reviews are appreciated, and all flames shall be used to roast marshmallows ('cause Roy's on vacation)
*NOTICE!* This story is in need of a beta reader! Any volunteers for the job will be appreciated!