Warning: Insanely long, but will contain review replies. If you reviewed, please stick around cause we'll have replied to it, and if you haven't reviewed… well, why the hell not? (Joking. Please just skip to the story, then!)

The Very Exciting Authors Note!

Cha-Cha: Hi there! …We have no excuse for the age it took us to update, except we are two extremely lazy teenage girls who are busy with school and like playing Pokemon games.

Mugi: Ignore her. Anyway, um… we're really sorry it's taken so long to update! Right, lets welcome our new cast member: Momoko Kinoshita! Hey! Like Hideyoshi Kinoshita! (Baka to Test fanatic alert!)

Momoko: Hey thar! :D I was created by Mugi-pyon, and I'm a total loli! Prepare for an overdose of cuteness when I'm around! I used to be a slider, slipping this way and that, from Kingdom Hearts to Baka to Test, but somehow I ended up in this world!

Cha-Cha: *stoned on lolicon-overload*

Mugi: Right… review replies.

Cha-Cha: Chirajin, chapter 9: Ahh! Sorry to scare you! ;A; I'd love to say "we're doing our best to keep the updates regular", but we can admit it; we've been kinda lazy recently. Sorry about that. Still, please keep supporting our fic!

Mai Sachiyuki, chapter 9: Aha, your reviews always make us laugh :') Oh, Takeo… *fangirl crush*

Mr Wang 330, chapter 9: Ehh? B-But Takeo is AWESOME SAUCE! No, seriously. We love him. Anyway, I know what you mean, what with the growing characters and all of that. We'll do our best to keep you guys on track, but a good idea while reading this fic would be to probably get up the forum in a new tab so you can flick through it when you get confused. It'd save a lot of headaches.

Drake Nolsa, chapter 9: Haha, no, sadly not. As far as I know (considering I'm co-authoring this fic, Mugi is awfully secretive about her).

The Layman, chapter 9: I can see what you mean :'D No doubt there will be a lot of sarcastic moments ahead.

Yowaki, chapter 9: Ahaha, me too! (Mugi barely shares any info about her, arghh.) I see what you mean about Jack. I love his character to pieces so we'll probably bring him back quite soon. (:

superstarultra, chapter 9: Thank you so much! And don't worry about it, Super! We'd be honoured if you do add your OCs to the story some time soon, but don't rush yourself. ^^

Mugi-pyon, chapter 9: Umm, well we just think it's a little messy putting in honorifics, because some people are closer than others to different people, so it'd get confusing trying to remember who was "-chan" to somebody, and who was "-sama" to somebody else. D'you get what I'm saying? ^^;; Thank you for the lovely review!

Mugi: In the near or distant future, please feel free to review, and submit an OC to become a part of Silence!

"So," Takeo began, handing me a mug of hot chocolate, "I see you've gotten taller, Rikuto."

I threw him a dirty look. "Haha, very funny. It's been, what, two years? Why haven't you come back to HQ for so long? Did you forget we were waiting for you to come home?"

He sighed, rubbing the back of his head, making his already tousled hair even more unkempt.

"I can't say I did it out of spite, young man. I've just been dealing with the grown-up stuff. They think they're so much better than everybody else… the nerve of some people…" He continued to grumble to himself as Momoka sneakily stole glances of him over her own steaming mug.

"Grown-up stuff?" I frowned. "You mean like, all the secret stuff my parents refuse to tell me? Spill!" He tutted.

"No can do, kiddo. You know the legend of the SOS Brigade?" I rolled my eyes; here it comes.

"My parents are the original founders of the SOS Brigade," he bragged, puffing out his chest. "The others being Mikuru Asahina, mother of our darling grouch queen Asami, the infamous Yuki Nagato, whose location is currently unknown and I wouldn't tell you kids anyway, and last, and least, your parents, Itsuki Koizumi and Kazue Koizumi, formerly Kazue Matsuda." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"My mother held the powers to quite possibly destroy and recreate the world, so it became the SOS Brigade's duty to make sure it didn't come to that by overloading her high school days with fun, fun, fun. Then, towards the end of their third year at the now empty ghost school of North High, the mask was dropped and they came clean of everything. My mother threw a fit and spent a long while debating whether or not the whole brigade was crazy, but finally came to when my father wooed her with his charm and good looks, which I have clearly inherited." He paused for a moment, his face clouding over. "They got married, and you know the rest."

"So what does that have to do with why they won't tell us anything?" I asked, taking a sip of my hot chocolate. He shrugged.

"When you-know-what happened, they made a pact at some point to try and keep you kiddies as protected from the war as possible. I mean, I still don't understand why they're letting kids as small as you fight, but the point is, they're protecting you from the knowledge so you don't get obsessed with this conflict going on. They want you guys to stay out of the gritty details."

"That's so unfair!" I spluttered. "I'm 16! I'm not a kid!" He raised an eyebrow quizzically, but said nothing, taking a gulp from his own mug of coffee.

"Well, you know what happened. They're scared that if they share too much information with you, what happened last time will happen again."

"But that's the bit I'm still totally unclear on!" Momoka spoke up at last. "Mr Takeo, I, for one, want to know exactly how this war started!"

Uh oh.

Takeo's left eyebrow twitched. "…Who are you?"

"I'm Momoka Murakami!" Her scruffy mop of hair seemed to quiver in excitement as she appeared to be contemplating her next move. "I'm a new recruit, but I am, admittedly, very young. I'm not very experienced at all with how this happened… and I want to know!"

He frowned.

"Momoka, drop it," Hotaru said darkly. She'd barely said a word since we'd arrived. "You won't even come close to understanding with an attitude like that."

"What?" Momoka glared at Hotaru. "Stay out of this."

"No, you stay out of this!" Hotaru got to her feet, seething. "How it happened doesn't concern you! So just shut up before I shut your fucking mouth for you!"

Momoka's jaw dropped, as did mine. Hotaru just stood there with the most thunderous look on her face I'd ever seen, before sitting back down again and draining her mug. Takeo looked troubled.

"It's okay, Hotaru…" He sighed deeply. "I mean, I'm not exactly thrilled to have to tell this story for the hundredth time, but if this girl has questions, she deserves answers, right? At least she has the guts to speak up about it." He glanced up at Momoka slowly. "…You know about my mom, don't you?"

"I know of her, yes… Haruhi Suzumiya, right?" He nodded.

"Yep, that's her… well, you know she had those… powers. Don't you? Well, I don't know how or why, but for some reason the aliens got some leads on the fact that there was a chance me and my sister… my twin sister… could've 'inherited' her powers. So they came after us.

"You see," he continued, "they were really sneaky about it. We never even realised they were following us around. My mom sensed it, but she'd always been kind of… paranoid about that stuff, especially when she knew things like aliens actually existed. My dad told her she was thinking too much - he never noticed, either, so I guess we followed him in that sense. My parents always seemed to have a bit of a strange relationship, but it was what happened to my sister that actually broke them."

He took a deep breath before continuing."I don't know if you kids are truly aware of what happened in the months leading up to it, but my mom grew more and more frightened… no, obsessed… with the idea that we were being watched, so she started controlling my dad. Not literally - she's not some spooky psychic or anything." I glanced over at Dango, who seemed to take offence; not that I could blame her, either. "But she started forcing him to stop taking us out to places, stopped him from visiting their friends, like the Koizumi's, Mikuru… at one point, she thought even Yuki had turned against them, although my dad was quick to jump to her defence. She refused to let us play outside, too. It was like she was terrified that if we stepped out of the house somebody would come and snatch us. But my dad thought she was nuts… so he went against her will, and took me and my sister out to a restaurant on our ninth birthday."

I glanced around. Hotaru had her hands over her ears. Dango was still grumbling to herself about the 'psychic' comment. And Momoka was transfixed on Takeo's story, drinking in every word.

"We didn't think it was wrong… we were excited. I mean, can you imagine how frustrating it was to be shut in the house for months on end? We were living like hermits. Can you imagine the joy we felt that our dad was letting us have our old lives back, even for a day? We ate out, and it felt good. Then afterwards, he took us to the park, where we ran around and played while my dad watched us from the park bench. Then my sister suggested we play hide and seek. I was It. So I counted to one hundred - or, at least, I was planning on it. But when I got to about sixty, I heard a scream. My dad looked up, stood up, called her name. I was frightened. I mean, I'd never seen my dad look so scared before. He shouted her name again and again, pulled me by the arm as he searched, holding me with a vice grip. He searched and searched, but it was too late. My sister had been taken, and the aliens had won."

He fell silent for a moment, as though he were lost in thought. "…When we arrived back at our house, my mom was hysterical. She knew, just knew that something had happened, and when she found out…" He buried his head in his hands. "…Well, that was the end of their marriage, to put it frankly. They sent me to live with the Koizumi's for a while, and Asami was there as well, because Mikuru had dropped her off and left her there. And, well, things were hectic. They went their separate ways, left me on my own. A few years later they got over themselves and joined forces, with this silent agreement that if it meant finding my sister, they'd suck up their pride and work together. I travelled around with them for a couple of years, and then one day I just decided to leave them a note and break away, walk my own road. Surviving was easier than it was when my parents were constantly digging at one another, cause can you imagine trying to catch a rabbit or a fox when your parents are having a mild screaming match next to you? And now, here I am, seventeen years old, alive and well."

He tried to offer a convincing smile, but Momoka didn't smile back. Instead she looked down, fumbling with her hands like an awkward child.

"I, um… that sounds like it was really rough for you… and, er… well, I'm sorry I, y'know, asked…" She was beginning to lose her composure.

"It's okay… well, it's not, it'll never be okay as long as she's in their possession, but…" He leaned back. "Well, when my sister was snatched, I think it triggered something inside my mom… either way, it seemed like her powers just disappeared, and she couldn't get them back. Since then the aliens just seemed to get stronger. Some people think it's just coincidence, and other people think there was this whole scandal where my sister 'stole' my mom's powers and they're using her to fuel their power… it doesn't matter to me. I just hope I can get my sister back and take revenge for the sick bastard who took her away from us." His fists clenched and he stood up abruptly, cursing as he knocked over his mug.

"Oh, screw this! Sayuri better have a decent carpet cleaner cause no way is scrubbing at the stain with a damp cloth gonna get that out," he spat, glaring down at the stain his coffee had made on the cream carpet. He glanced over his shoulder at us.

"Man, you guys are a real pathetic-looking bunch, you know that? Are you coming to dinner or what?"

Sometimes I wonder whether or not whether Takeo is intentionally that rude, or whether he's just oblivious to people's feelings.

"Ah, my old room!" I swiped my card key down and watched with joy swelling in my chest as the door swung open, revealing the king sized bed and en suite I loved and missed.

With a whoop I flopped down on the bed, feeling it spring and bounce under my weight. Hotaru glanced through the doorway at me, clearly unimpressed.

"Great, you've had your fun. Now can you sort me out some freaking clothes?" she grumbled. "Mine are all still damp from the snow."

I fished around in the wardrobe. "Um, all I have are some of my mom's old clothes… are those okay?"

"Why do you have your mom's clothes in your closet?" she asked me, grabbing a handful before disappearing into the bathroom. "I'm changing in here, so don't you dare come in!" she called.

"Yeah yeah, same goes here," I shot back, undressing and pulling on some dry clothes. Fortunately for me, my dad had, for some reason, left some of his old clothes in here too over the years, which meant I had no difficulty in finding out something to wear. My dad's clothes still felt foreign to wear, though, as though they were wrong on my body. It was a strange feeling, knowing that these used to fit my dad. Made me wonder what it would be like to be in his shoes right now.

"Ugh, Kazue needs to change her style!" Hotaru stomped out of the bathroom in one of my mom's old fluffy sweaters and a pair of mom jeans. Her expression read 'seriously pissed off'. "I can't believe she can feel okay wearing stuff like this!"

"Hey, this is my mom you're bitching about here!" I snapped, equally as mad. "Would you rather wear that awful red nightmare coat down to dinner?" She shut up then, though she was still sulking as we trooped downstairs.

As I pushed open the large oak doors leading to the meeting room, I was shocked. My parents had actually dressed up as adults, not parents. Hotaru wolf-whistled as she eyed my mom's spaghetti-strap white dress, eyes widening even more as she saw my dad's first two buttons were unbuttoned.

"Wow, you guys actually dressed sexy," she commented with raised eyebrows before sitting down. My dad coughed, face reddening.

"It's 'sexily', not 'sexy'," I shot back, taking a seat beside her. "Go back to grammar school."

"Hold up, hold up, we got ourselves a grammar Nazi in the room," she muttered to me, elbowing me in the ribs. Nice.

For a few awkward minutes the four of us were alone in the large room, almost like it were some crazy Koizumi family reunion, when Dango entered.

And boy, did she enter.

"Sorry I took a while," she mumbled, head bowed. It was easy to tell that Sayuri had literally forced her into the dark halter-neck dress she was in. Her short, dark hair was pinned back with a few hair grips.

"You look pretty," Hotaru complimented as Dango sat down beside her.

"Um… thank you," she whispered back, face red. "I honestly didn't want to wear this, but Sayuri insisted…"

"Somehow I saw that coming."

Takeo entered the room next, along with Mikuru, who were both also smartly dressed. Mikuru took a seat opposite Dad, and began talking to them about boring, grown-up stuff. Takeo took a seat beside her and began teasing me about my height again.

At last, Sayuri and who I assumed was that weirdo pilot from the helicopter, Nakagawa, joined us at the table as the food was served. At this, Takeo's face seemed to fall.

"Not tonight then, huh?" he asked Sayuri, who shook her head knowingly.

"Probably not tonight, pet. But who knows?"

She gave us all a mysterious smile before digging into her food.

"What do you guys mean, not tonight?" I asked, puzzled. "I don't get you two at all." Takeo grinned slyly at me.

"It's grown-up talk, Rikuto. You wouldn't understand."

This comment made me pissed.

"That's rich. You're only a year older than me and yet you act like you're so much more important."

"I am. Me and my family are right in the centre of this war. You kind of flounder at the side like a lost lamb or something."

He continued to eat, ignoring my protests. Well, screw him.

"How are you kids enjoying your stay so far?" Dad inputted, hoping to steer the conversation away from the war. I wasn't having any of it.

"Why do you always call us kids?" I snapped. "We're not blind, you know! We can see this war, we're living in it… so why can't you guys tell us anything?" My dad looked taken aback; I'd been dwelling on it since our earlier conversation with Takeo, but for my parents, this was news to them.

"What are you talking about?" My father's brow furrowed.

"I'm saying, you guys don't let us in on any of the proper information," I sulked, picking at my food without much enthusiasm. "You don't trust us. You look down on us, just cause we're younger."

"Now don't you say that," Mom said, surprisingly stern. "We've never looked down on you kids." She winced at the word 'kids', but continued nonetheless. "We're shielding you from the truth because we don't want this war to consume you. It's for your own good."

"It's stupid and I don't care how badly it affects me," I replied, sticking out my chin stubbornly. "I just don't want there to be any more secrets."

The atmosphere was icy as we ate in silence. It seemed my outburst was weighing on my parents' shoulders, and part of me felt bad for sounding like such a brat. But I deserved my answers, and they were being unreasonable for not giving them to me.

Hotaru kept kicking me under the table, glaring at me with a 'why'd you have to go and screw up the evening?' kind of expression. I gave my most ferocious sneer back, pissed off at her too for taking their side. Of all people, it was Hotaru who I was expecting to back me the most. I never expected it to be her who would side with my parents and accept being left in the dark.

The odd small talk was made then and there, and gradually Mikuru, Sayuri and Dango began to engage in a conversation, while the rest of the table pledged war against each other through a string of harsh glares, kicking under the table and elbowing in various parts of the body.

It was a dinner longer than most.

Two hours later, my mother finally decided to crack.

I had just taken a shower and had begun to towel-dry my hair when my mother knocked on the door.

"Can I come in, honey?" I debated with myself for a moment whether to open up or to play the 'I'm still mad at you' card, but in the end I opened the door and she sat down on my bed, an unhappy look in her eyes.

"Honey, I want you to know why we don't tell you guys this stuff." She beckoned for me to sit down and she began to stroke my damp hair, twirling individual strands around her index finger.

"Even if your father doesn't agree with me telling you," she began absent-mindedly, "I still think it'll do you good to know why." She sighed. "I remember as clearly as anything the day you were born. It was painful, and I was scared that you wouldn't pull through - there were a few complications before you were born and the stress made my pregnancy really difficult. But the moment I held you in my arms, I was so grateful for the life I had led. Me and your father, we held you, and we found each other in your face. It was such a big moment for us in our lives, you know? We knew that things weren't going to be easy, though. When we realised that war was most likely going to happen, we realised we wanted to protect you as much as we could, but we weren't always going to be there. That's why you were given the ESPer gene, Rikuto… so you could be strong enough to defend yourself, when we weren't there to protect you.

"Even so, we figured that if we didn't share crucial details with you, you'd be in less danger than you are already. You and Hotaru… you're our children. It's our jobs to take care of you, and if that means not letting you guys in on some of the more dangerous information, so be it. I'm sorry it has to be like this, honey…" She turned to me and gave me a hug, and I buried my head in her shoulder. I missed these times. When I was younger we used to talk all the time, sit in private and share the special bond a mother has with her son.

It's times like those we just don't have anymore.

"I miss being with you, Mom," I mumbled into her shoulder. She rubbed my back soothingly.

"Me too," she replied back, without hesitation. "So much."

My father appeared in the doorway.

"Can I come in?" he asked, inviting himself in, anyway. He sat down next to Mom and ruffled my hair.

"Where'd that come from earlier, huh?" he asked with a half smile. "You sure left me stumped."

"That was the plan," I said quietly, pulling away from Mom. I stared down at my hands. "I'm sorry… but I wanted answers. I know you guys are doing it for my own safety… but I'm not a child. Not anymore. You need to trust me now."

"You're our son," Dad said firmly, folding his arms. "I'm sorry, Rikuto… one day, we'll explain everything. But not today. Today, you're still a kid, and you're still our son. That means it's still our duty to keep you safe."

I figured as such.

"Do I detect a sour grape?" he teased as I grumbled to myself. As he reached over to pat my head again I swatted his hand away.

"No! I'm just annoyed that you guys will probably die of old age before trusting me with your secrets," I answered, truthfully to an extent.

At that moment, raised voices dragged us from our little 'moment', and my mother stood up.

"Wonder what that's all about," she murmured. As she moved towards the doorway, Mikuru tottered in the hall, face flushed with excitement.

"Oh, come quickly!" she squeaked upon seeing us. "Th-They're here!"

"They who?" Mom wondered as Mikuru shook her head and headed for the staircase. I got to my feet.

"Lets investigate!" I grinned, following suit. My parents followed my lead as I thundered down the staircase. As I skidded to a halt at the bottom of the steps, almost tripping over the carpet, I stared in shock as two familiar figures stood in the doorway, shaking snow out of their soaked hair, brushing ice from their faces, their jackets, their bags.

All I saw was a flash of yellow ribbons before I was swept up into a bone-crushing hug.

"Yo, Rikuto! It's been a long time, huh?"

"Hey, give him some room to breathe, your hugs are like a snake's death grip."

"Oh, lay off the insults, will ya?"

As I was released, I gazed into a pair of extremely familiar brown eyes. From behind me, I heard Mom gasp.

"B-But what are you doing here?" she asked. The woman who just hugged me, none other than Haruhi Suzumiya herself, turned to grin at my mother, shaking more snow out of her hair. My godfather stood to one side, shivering in his jacket.

"Oh, we were travelling through the mountains and stopped to take a teeny vacation," she shrugged. "Hey, either of you guys seen my son?"

Cha-Cha: So, it seems we discovered Takeo's past, and was that an appearance of Haruhi and Kyon I spotted in there? :O Oh, little message for Mr Wang: We're not completely sure how in-character Takeo was during this chapter… so please give us some feedback so we can get him back on track ASAP! :3

Okay, well, you know what to do. Also, I don't think we'll be able to accept OCs anymore… things are getting too hectic trying to keep on top of all of them. (With an exception of Super, seeing as he's kind of booked in advance (?) I guess…)

Anyway, review! (If you want…)