Okay.So, it's been...almost a year on this story. *sweats nervously* So sorry. I have no excuse for this. But hey, the gang is back! I'll hopefully have more time to update in college? *grinning* Enjoy the gang!

Ding-dong. The doorbell rang for a second time.

"Can somebody please get that?" Mrs. Ootori called from the kitchen. "I was just cutting chicken, my hands are not clean!"

Aiko sighed, supposing that this meant her, seeing as she was the only one within hearing range. Miroki was blasting pop music from her room, and Ariana no doubt had classical music pouring from her headphones as she studied. She scooted out from her desk and made her way down the stairs, opening the door at the landing to a pair of legs supporting a large stack of books.

"Um…Ootori residence…can we help you?" she said, a little unsure and confused.

Akhiko poked his head out from around the pile. "Hey, Aiko, could you give me a hand with this stuff?"

"Oh." Her initial confusion faded away, but was replaced with a new confusion as she took some of the papers from her struggling pseudo-cousin. "What is all this?"

"They're aptitude tests. I promised Miroki I'd help her figure out what job she wanted, and these seemed like a pretty good place to start."

Aiko nodded, leading him up the stairs. "I mean, sounds like a pretty solid idea, but why so many?"

He looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, to be honest, I couldn't be sure which was the most credible. I picked out the ten most successful public schools in Japan to see which tests they used, and they were all different, so I just bought all of them."

She raised an eyebrow. "And you actually expect MIROKI to take all ten of these?" she held up one of the fairly chunky books as a visual."

Akhiko laughed. "It's not as long as the book makes it appear: The bulk of that is taken up by results pages, details of different fields that the test will offer as suggestions, and then further details about careers in those fields. The actual tests only take up the first few pages."

Aiko nodded as they reached the top landing. "Even still, Miroki doesn't have that large an attention span…good luck."

He gave a small laugh in response as they reached the middle Ootori child's bedroom door. "Yeah, thanks."

Aiko knocked. "Come in!" Miroki's cheerful voice sounded from behind it over the peppy solo of some pop singer.

She opened the door to reveal her older sister's very pink room, with her laying on her bed painting her nails a violent shade of the color. "Akhiko's here." she announced. She dropped the books on the powder pink carpet, gave Akhiko an encouraging pat on the shoulder, then went back to her room.

Miroki looked up, still smiling. "Hey, Kiki! What's up? What's all that junk you got there?"

Akhiko smiled softly, happy to see her so happy. He took a step into the room and put down said 'junk.' "I thought today might be a good day to start making good on my promise."

She cocked her head to the side. "What promise is that?"

"Oh, you know, the one I made after our fight a few weeks ago, that I'd help you find a trajectory?"

"Oh! Right." Miroki said, still smiling. "But how are all of those books supposed to help?"

"Well, um, they're aptitude tests. They're each a hundred preference-type questions that'll suggest career directions as results."

She wrinkled her nose. "You want me to spend my Saturday afternoon taking tests?"

"Not knowledge based tests, though!" he explained. "They're really more like the personality quizzes in those magazines you like."

"Oh!" her smile came back. "Well okay then, let me just finish painting my nails, then we'll get started!"

Meanwhile…

"Da-ad!" Zura protested as her father led her and her sister up the long walk, their designer overnight bags rolling along behind them. "We're sixteen years old, do you REALLY think we need a babysitter while you and mom aren't home? Seriously?"

"Yeah Dad, come on, we can take care of ourselves." Taylor agreed.

"It's not your ability to take care of yourselves that I'm worried about," Hikaru said, ringing the doorbell of the large, nondescript mansion. "The last time we left you two home alone we were finding booby traps for a month."

The twins giggled at each other, but then looked down in mock shame.

The door opened to reveal a cheerful Hanako Morinozuka, wearing floral apron covered in flour. "Hello, girls! Hi, Hikaru!"

"Hello, Mrs. Morinozuka!" the girls chorused.

"Thanks again for keeping an eye on these two while we're away." Hikaru said gratefully. "I hope they won't be too much to handle." He shot them a meaningful glare.

"Oh, no problem at all! I always say Matsuko should have his friends over more often anyway. We'll have a lot of fun, don't you worry!"

"Alright." Hikaru said. "Goodbye, troublemakers. Be good." He kissed them each on the forehead.

"We will, dad." They said, and waved goodbye as he walked away.

"Come in, girls, come in!" Hanako said. "I was just baking a cake for us to eat later, I've got to go finish. You can both go put your suitcases in the guest room, Matsuko will show you where it is. Matsuko!" she called.

A pair of long legs in black sweatpants came into view as they strode down the stairs, followed by the rest of Matsuko. "Hey." He said, with a small smile.

"Hey!" the girls grinned back, excited to see him.

"Matsuko, honey, can you show your friends to the guest room, please?"

"Sure." he said, patting his mom on the head as he passed. "Come on." The tall boy took both suitcases effortlessly and led Zura and Taylor back up the way he came.

"So," he said when they reached the room, putting their bags down and turning around with a sly smile on his face. "I guess this makes me your babysitter."

"Does not!" Taylor protested.

"Well, clearly you can't be trusted on your own, or why would you be here?" he teased.

"Shut up, Matsuko!" Zura laughed. "You're only, like a year older than us anyway."

"A year and a month." He reminded them smugly.

"A year and shut up." Zura repeated. "Counting months, are you like two?"

"If I am, then you're like one."

The trio stood there, eyes narrowed at each other.

"So that's how this weekend is gonna play." Taylor observed.

Back at the Ootori mansion…

"UGH, c'mon Akhiko, enouuuughh!" Miroki plopped her head down on the book she was testing in. "This is the fourth one, it's been three hours, I'm bored! Can't we finish another day?"

Akhiko sighed and looked up from the one he was evaluating. So far, the indications from each test had been completely different, so they weren't really much farther along than when they started. But if she was tired, then there couldn't be much harm in finishing another day. "Okay," he said, shutting his book. She eagerly followed suit. "So what do you want to do, then?"

She thought for a minute. "Hmmm…" She looked at her phone, grinned, then suddenly jumped up from her spot on the carpet and rushed out the door of her room.

"Uhm, Mimi? What—"

"HEY ARIANA!" she called from the hall. "YOU WANNA GO OVER TO MATSUKO'S?"

Ariana's door opened a few moments later. "Thank you, but no, I have an economics test on Monday that I have to study for, and an essay to write for history."

"Suit yourself." Miroki shrugged and ducked back into the room, heading for her immense shoe closet.

"We're going to Matsuko's?" Akhiko asked, standing and gathering the books into a pile. He supposed it would just be easier to leave them all here for next time.

"Yup!" she called out. "Taylor just texted me and mentioned that they were there. And that Mrs. Mori made a cake." She grinned.

Akhiko grinned too. Mrs. Morinozuka's cakes were the greatest dessert he had ever tasted. And it'd be fun to stop by and hang out.

"Do you wanna call Kotoko and see if she wants to come?" she finally emerged, carrying two pairs of shoes.

"Nah," he said, putting his own back on. "She was out shopping with some girls from her fashion class today, supposedly for a 'project.'

"Okay, so just the five of us, then!" she shrugged, then held up the two pairs of shoes. "Which ones?" she asked.

"Uhh…" they were really just shoes to him, but she was looking at him so expectantly. He studied them for a moment. "Um, the flat ones? Cause…you'd usually only wear the heels to a party."

She laughed. "I mean, I was really just asking your opinion, but that is true, thanks. Good choice." She walked past him out the door, ruffling his hair as she did so. "Come on, let's go."

He smiled warmly, trying to ignore the bubbly feeling in his chest as he followed his best friend down the stairs.

Over at the Morinozuka estate…

Matsuko, the twins, Honey, Mori, and Reiko were all seated around the table. Hanako was about to cut into the cake when the doorbell rang.

Hanako cocked her head with a smile. "More guests? Was anybody expecting someone?"

They all shook their heads.

"Oh, well, whoever it is, they have excellent timing. Matsuko, why don't you go get the door while I cut everybody a slice?"

He nodded, rising from the table.

Matsuko was surprised, when he answered the door, to see Akhiko and Miroki on the other side. He raised an eyebrow. "Hello?"

"Hello!" Miroki responded with a wave. Akhiko just smiled, slightly apologetically. "Taylor mentioned that everybody was here."

"Well, not everybody, really just them and you guys. Are your sisters coming?"

"No," Akhiko answered. "They both were busy."

"Hm." Matsuko nodded. "Well, come in and have some cake."

"Woo!" they both cheered and rushed in; Matsuko chuckled and shut the door behind them, following them in.

"Look who I found on the doorstep." He announced them dryly.

"Aww, who invited the first years?" Zura complained jokingly.

"Hello to you too, Zura." Akhiko said.

"Hanako, you should give them some of this amazing cake!" Honey said with a grin. "It's delicious!"

"Of course!" she began passing it out.

Later, after the cake was finished, the five friends gathered in the guest room.

"Okay, so what are we gonna do?" Zura asked the same question she always seemed to ask, settling on the bed.

The group just kind of looked around at each other, each shrugging in turn. She and her sister sighed together and flopping back in unison.

"Why is it," Taylor began, still staring at the ceiling, "That whenever Kotoko isn't around, we can't seem to conjure up an idea for anything to do?"

More shrugging. Then Akhiko's phone rang.

"Hello?" His friends observed him curiously. "Yeah? Okay, sounds good….Yeah, we're still at Matsuko's….Okay. See you in a few." He hung up to see his friends staring at him expectantly. "Kotoko," he explained. "She stopped by to see Ariana and wanted to know where everybody was. Ariana told her and now they're both coming over."

Matsuko nodded, apparently approving.

Miroki laughed. "I guess NOW we'll be able to figure out something fun to do!"

"Well, what do we do in the fifteen minute interim?" Zura asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

"No interim, we're here!" Kotoko danced into the room, Ariana trailing closely behind her. "We were already almost here when we called. It was really just an afterthought." She giggled.

"Yes," Ariana said, sounding tired. "Kotoko thought that it was a LOVELY opportunity for club bonding, and simply INSISTED that I drop whatever I was doing and join her." She rolled her eyes, and Matsuko chuckled at her annoyance.

"C'mon, Ari, it's gonna be fun!"

"That's the spirit, Miroki!" Kotoko encouraged. "Come on Ariana, listen to your wonderful sister! Have a little fun!"

Ariana sighed and sat down on the carpet next to her. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"So," Kotoko looked around the circle, smiling, "What are we up to?"

"Actually, we were kind of hoping you would have some ideas, Kotoko." Miroki said cheerfully.

"Oh!" Kotoko returned the cheer. "Well, actually, I was just starting to tell Ariana about an idea my dad was telling me about earlier…though I don't think she was listening." She shot her best friend a pointed glare.

Ariana rolled her eyes. "I am very sorry, please tell me all about your fantastic idea for our club's next activity, which will no doubt be incredibly expensive." She apologized, looking at Kotoko with mock earnest.

She rolled her eyes and continued anyway. "Well, Dad was going off on one of his nostalgic tangents, as usual, and he mentioned that they used to do this thing when all the cherry trees were in bloom called the Cherry Blossom Ball—"

Ariana laughed. "Is THAT what you were getting at? Kotoko, I can't believe this is the first you're hearing of this."

The blonde cocked her head, long straight hair falling to the side as she did. "What do you mean?"

Taylor giggled. "Kotoko, we've ALL heard stories about the Cherry Blossom Balls—"

"It's like an essential part of all of our parents' love stories." Her sister finished.

"What?"

"Oh, come on, Kotoko, haven't you ever heard Dad go on and on about how 'cute' Mom looked 'dressed' as a girl both times?"

A look of realization come over Kotoko's face. "OH! I didn't realize THAT was what he was talking about. I guess Mom always told him to shut up before he could get to a description of the scenery. ANYWAY, I thought it'd be another great tradition for us to continue!" she enthused.

Ariana sighed and nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I DO suppose it would be a good idea. Good publicity for the club and all that."

"Oooh, we'd get to wear pretty dresses and dance the night away and have cake and cookies and stuff!" Miroki's eyes had stars in them. "Count me in!"

It appeared to Akhiko that they were going around and taking a vote, and he was next. Of course, just Miroki's enthusiasm was enough to convince him, but the image of her twirling around in a pretty dress certainly helped. He simply smiled and nodded his agreement, trying not to look at her, blushing a little bit in the process. He didn't notice the twins silently smirking at him.

Matsuko, of course, had no objection. He simply smiled and shrugged, still amused by Ariana's indifferent agreement. He silently resolved to himself to make sure she had a good time at this ball, and didn't just worry about logistics the whole time.

"Sounds like fun to me." Taylor said, taking Matsuko's nod as her cue to 'vote.'

"One question," Zura said. "Do we, ah, have to take dates?" Did Taylor imagine seeing her eyes flicker to a certain member of the group for a moment?

They all considered this, turning to look at Kotoko.

"Well, I don't know," she said. "Clearly other people seem to have better memories of this dance than I do."

"Well, if I'm remembering correctly, the members of the actual Host Club didn't traditionally take dates," Ariana said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "Clearly, as they were originally there as the primary source of entertainment," she chuckled at the concept. "However, I seem to remember being told that other students DID, in fact, go with dates, and I also remember that once Mom and Dad started dating that THEY went as a couple. So, since we are NOT a Host Club, it would only make sense for us to go with dates as well." Ariana finished saying that matter-of-factly, then sighed, fully taking in what she had said. "Of course, that leaves me with another thing to take care of…"

The whole group gave a sort of silent, unnoticed chuckle at their friend's way of looking at things.

"Okay, okay, how about we don't HAVE to take dates…" Kotoko said. "But you CAN if you want to. We don't want to pressure anybody, we just want everyone to have a good time!"

Ariana nodded approvingly. "Sensible."

They had a good time for the rest of the night, talking about everything they could do with the ball, planning and unplanning and replanning. Pillows were thrown, twins were lifted from the ground and forced to apologize, and they had an all around good time.

The Suoh family driver came to pick up both the Suoh siblings and the Ootoris as well, and they all said their goodbyes to those staying at the Hani-Morinozuka estate.

"So," Ariana said as she walked down the stairs with Kotoko. "Were you planning on asking anybody in particular to the dance?"

Kotoko smiled and shrugged. "I don't know, not really. But hey, maybe someone will ask me!"

Ariana chuckled, looking over to consider her gorgeous best friend. 'Maybe' was an understatement. The daughter of two members of the original Host Club had inherited both of her parents' best features, physically and in regard to her personality. She silently predicted that a day after the information went out, boys would be vying for her attention.

"I'm assuming you're not planning on asking anybody?" Kotoko looked at her friend, one eyebrow raised.

Ariana laughed. "No, I'll have enough to worry about, thank you."

"I bet all the first years flock to Miroki, though." Kotoko whispered conspiriatorally.

Ariana smirked and nodded. It was true, her sister had grown into quite a lovely young lady, having inherited most of their mother's softer, rounder, cuter features. Something about her and her bubbly personality just seemed to draw people in. "I would have thought you'd only want one person asking her."

Kotoko laughed. "Well, that is a wonderful idea, but I think that particular person won't have the guts or even the idea of asking her to do ANYTHING for quite a long while yet."

Meanwhile…

Akhiko was about to follow Miroki, who was babbling animatedly to Matsuko as she walked, out the door, when a hand reached out and caught him by the collar, pulling him back into the room. "Not so fast, first year." Zura said.

"We have some questions for you."

Akhiko wheeled around, rubbing the back of his neck, confused. "Huh?"

"Don't think we didn't notice you eying up your little friend all night." Zura said, crossing her arms.

"What are you talking about?" he laughed nervously.

They rolled their eyes. "We KNOW you like 'Mimi,' stupid." Taylor crossed her arms as well. "What are you gonna do about it?"

He raised his eyebrows and laughed. "What?! Wha—no, no, you've got it all wrong, I don't…I mean, why would you even…" They looked at each other, not buying it. He sighed and gave up. "Is it that obvious?"

The girls grinned at each other. "Well, all of us second years know," Taylor said.

"And we think Matsuko knows too and is just too polite to say anything." Zura finished.

He looked panicked. "But Mimi?!"

They laughed. "Calm down! She doesn't know. She's clueless." Zura comforted him.

Akhiko sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, I just figured it out myself, I wasn't really planning on doing ANYTHING about it."

"Akhiko, you've gotta do something!" Taylor laughed. "Clearly, you've noticed how adorable she is."

"Yeah…" he looked at the ground and blushed. "Um…so?"

"So, it's only a matter of time before someone else does, too, you idiot!" Zura laughed at him.

His eyes widened. "Oh. I, um…I guess I hadn't thought of that." he said.

"We know." The girls said together.

"Well, then I guess I'll—"

Miroki chose that moment to pop her head back in the door. "C'mon, Kiki, what's taking so long? We're waiting!" she said.

"Coming, Mimi!" he said without thinking. He turned to leave with her, throwing one last look over his shoulder as he did. "Thanks," he mouthed, looking more nervous around her than he ever had.

The twins had to chuckle.

"Well, I'd say our work here is done." Zura said with a smug smile, going to her bag to get her pajamas.

"Ah, not so fast." Taylor said, arms still crossed.

Zura turned, confused. "What?"

"We have to talk, too," she said. "Don't think I didn't notice how weird you've been acting all night.

Zura laughed. To anybody else, it would've sounded completely normal, but her twin heard the hidden nervousness, defensiveness, in it. "What do you mean, weird? You're weird!"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Come on, Itazura." She pronounced her sister's full name carefully. She knew this was not going to be an easy conversation. "You've been flirting with Matsuko ever since we got here, and now that I think about it, ever since the school year started. You like him, don't you?" It wasn't a question she needed answered, really, but she posed it all the same.

The defensiveness that was hidden before now made its way to the surface. Zura's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Taylor sighed. "Yes, you do."

Zura laughed now, sounding more than a little on-edge. "Taylor, you're crazy! Geez, so much for that whole twin bond thing, huh? You are SO off base! Wow!" her eyes looked wild as she grabbed her silk pajamas out of her bag—pajamas that she never bothered to wear at home. "That's…that's nuts! Matsuko's always been, like, our big brother, come on, that's ridiculous, maybe YOU like Matsuko!" she slammed the door to the bathroom, effectively ending the conversation.

Taylor sat on the bed and sighed, burying her head in her hands. That had NOT gone well.

Of course, the subject of their conversation chose that moment to appear at the door. "You okay?" he asked, confused. "Who was that yelling?"

Taylor laughed, shaking off her stress and trying to play it off. "Nothing, that was nothing! Just…well, you know me and Zura!"

He chuckled, seeming to have bought it. "Yeah, I guess I do. Well, goodnight." He left.

"Night." She said to herself, eye still on the door.

Monday…

Akhiko took a deep breath in front of the club room doors. He could hear clearly that everybody was already there. He couldn't stall this any longer.

They had announced this morning, to each of their respective classes, that the dance was going to happen. By mid afternoon, the news had spread throughout the entire school. Everybody seemed to be really excited about it, it seemed to be all anybody in any of his classes could talk about.

Which, of course, only reminded him of his nervousness even more. He had been wrestling with himself all day, trying to decide how to ask her, when to ask her, agonizing over what she might say, how she might react. This was his best friend, his closest companion from the day she was born. And he was going to…ask her out.

He shook his head. No, this was what he wanted, he just had to buck up and do it. He took one last deep breath, and opened the door.

He was instantly bombarded by a giggling, excited Mimi, and had the breath knocked out of him. He felt hot. "Um, hi, Mimi." He laughed nervously.

"Oh, Kiki, guess what, it's so exciting!" she was grinning ear to ear.

He couldn't help but smile. "What?"

"Right after lunch today, Takehiko Nekozowa asked me to the ball! Me! Isn't that fantastic!?"

His smile froze in place. He felt his heart stop. "Yeah," he managed, gulping back the emotion, feeling numb. "Fantastic, Mimi."

She hugged him again, and he stared off into space behind her, not sure that this was really happening. "Fantastic."

WOO! Clearly this is a cliffhanger so clearly I will not wait NEARLY as long as last time cuz believe it or not I hate it almost as much as you do. Love you guys, cause if you're reading this it means you've stuck with the story for over a year and THAT'S ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS OKAY I LOVE YOU R&R BYE BYE SEE YOU SOON FEATHERSONG OUT.