The host club waited outside the estate until Fuyuki walked through the gates. As the gate shut behind him, he leant back against it and breathed out.
As he stared at the ground, the host club, all except Kyouya, crept out of their car and swarmed him.
"Ichikawa-senpai!" Tamaki cried out.
Fuyuki jolted up in surprise and observed the group.
"The host club wants to help you reunite with your sister!" Tamaki chirped.
Fuyuki furrowed his eyebrow at the mention of the host club and said, "No."
"Don't you want to be able to spend time with your sister?" Honey asked, noting his distaste for the club.
"Why else would you drive out here every day to see her?" Tamaki added. "You clearly miss her and want her to be a part of your life. Whatever the reason, we will help."
"No, we're fine," Fuyuki said. His patience was running low as he scanned the area for his driver. As he looked about, he caught sight of the host club's not-very-subtle limo parked a block away.
And from the limo, Kyouya got out of the car.
Fuyuki clenched his fists tightly and stormed past the host club, in the middle of Tamaki's speech.
"Leave. Now." His words were venomous, which caught everyone's attention.
"Hello, Ichikawa-senpai," Kyouya responded coolly.
"You're not welcome here."
"We just wanted to help restore the relationship between you and your sister."
"Don't talk about her." The grip on his fists were tightening and shaking in rage.
"Rest assured that all of our intentions are good."
"You. Stay. The. Hell. Away. From. Her."
Fuyuki lunged at Kyouya, but Mori sensed it immediately and prevented the assault. Although Mori held on with a tight grip, Fuyuki continued to punch at the air near Kyouya. The speed and power behind the punches could be heard by rush of air.
"You fucking bastard! You stay the hell away from her! Hasn't she been through enough without you adding on more?!" Fuyuki's car pulled up and the driver quickly rushed out to try to soothe his employer.
"Ichikawa-sama, please calm down," the driver said. "Your parents request your appearance immediately."
Fuyuki stopped immediately and let out a harsh breath. He flung his arms out of Mori's grip and started to move towards the car.
"If you had any decency, you will never bother her again!" Fuyuki spat at Kyouya before he entered his car.
The host club stood in slight awe and curiosity as to what happened.
"I've never heard Fuyuki-senpai say so many words," Hikaru started to break the silence.
"So many curse words too," Kaoru added.
"IT WAS SOOOO COOL!" they cheered and pulled out a "Go Fuyuki-senpai" sign out of nowhere with flowers and confetti exploding everywhere.
"Kyouya-senpai, what did you do to the Ichikawa family?" Haruhi asked.
Kyouya didn't respond as expected. Instead he glanced over at the Ichikawa Summer Home with an interesting form of determination and strolled towards the gate. He dialed the numbers to the house.
"Kyouya, what are you doing?" Tamaki asked puzzled.
"Ichikawa Summer Home, who is speaking?" the gatekeeper's voice asked as all the cameras on the nearby gates swung to focus on the group of high school students.
"Hello, we are representatives from the Ouran Academy interested in speaking with Miss Ichikawa about re-entering Ouran Academy."
"Yes, that sounds well and all, but who is speaking?"
"Kyouya Ootori."
Upon hearing Kyouya's name, the gatekeeper immediately responded, "We respectfully decline, thank you for your interest in – "
Before he finished speaking, Kyouya cut in, "Tamaki Suoh is here representing the current headmaster of Ouran Academy, Yuzuru Suoh. It is of the utmost importance that Mister Suoh meets Miss Ichikawa to converse the further development of the Ouran Music Program as agreed in the Suoh-Ichikawa Agreement, drafted 12 years ago."
There was silence on the other end for over ten minutes. "As this is an agreement between the Ichikawa and Suoh families, only Suoh-sama is permitted access."
Tamaki then rushed over to the microphone. "Please sir, my name is Tamaki Suoh and I would like to insist the company of my colleagues."
"They serve no purpose within the agreement. They do not have permission to enter the property."
"It is of the utmost importance that my colleagues come," Tamaki persisted. "The Hitachiin twins will be ascertaining the style of Miss Ichikawa and identifying the best manner in which to intergrate her fashionably into Ouran Academy. Morinozuka-senpai and Haninozuka-senpai are both representatives from several Ouran athletic clubs and are very familiar with how to run programs. Ootori-san is the Vice-president of the Ouran Host Club and handles all financial and planning aspects of the club. He has a perfect understanding of how to integrate the further development of music program. Haruhi Fujioka is here to give the commoner perspective of Ouran."
Haruhi sighed in irritation at his statement about her understanding of the "commoner perspective." Once again, there was silence on the other end of the line.
Then the gates rolled open. The host club shuffled into the limo and sat in slight awe of Kyouya. Only slight awe because it was Kyouya. He could get into any building, no matter how much they didn't want him in there.
The host club shuffled out of the limo and a maid met them at the front. She bowed deeply as she half-heartedly said, "Welcome to the Ichikawa Summer Home."
"Thank you very much," Tamaki chirped. "I am Tamaki Suoh and I have brought my fellow host club members. We apologize for the inconvenience. From now on, we intend to call beforehand."
"It is no problem, Suoh-sama," the maid said as she escorted them into the home. "However, due to the timing, you have just missed our mistress's daily piano rehearsal. She only plays at 5pm sharp, which is why we did not wish for you to come."
Although she said that was the reason, there was a notable glare sent to Kyouya when she mentioned the lack of desire for the summer home entry.
Despite this, the host club gained some information about Fuyuki-san. He rushed to the summer home by 5pm every day just to listen to his younger sister practice the piano.
"Would it be possible for us to hold an additional piano practice today for this special occasion?" Kyouya asked with a glare over his glasses preventing the maid from reading his expression.
The maid furrowed her brow; "It would be strenuous for my mistress as she has recently come out of surgery a few days ago."
"Oh my, is she alright?" Tamaki asked with genuine concern.
The maid studied Tamaki for a bit before responding, "She is recovering well as this is not the first surgery she has undergone. If you do wish to hear her play a piece, I'll ask her if she'll be interested."
"Interested in what, Aya-chan?" a soft voice asked. The host club could hear the sound of tapping, getting louder and louder until a small girl with bandages wrapped around her eyes appeared, leaning against the wall by the stairwell.
She held a white cane in her left hand as she pressed her right hand against the wall. "Aya-chan, where are you?"
"I'm coming mistress," the maid rushed over and grabbed the girl's right arm, slowly removing the cane from her grip. "Mistress, we have several guests today from Ouran Academy."
The girl's face lit up with a bright smile. "Oh, I'm very excited to hear we have guests! My name is Natsuki Ichikawa, it is nice to meet you." She bowed.
"Hello, my name is Tamaki Suoh!" Tamaki chirped.
"Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachin."
"Hi Na-chan~! My name is Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but everyone calls me Honey~ ! And this is Takashi Morinozuka."
"Hn."
"I'm Haruhi Fujioka."
Everyone turned to Kyouya, anticipating the girl's reaction to his presence. They already knew that Fuyuki and the maid couldn't stand him.
"Hello Ichikawa-san, we've met before," Kyouya simply stated.
There was a pause. Natsuki's smile dropped. She seemed utterly surprised. She tried to move forward towards Kyouya, but was restrained by the maid.
"Kyo, is that you?" she asked as an even bigger smile spread itself across her face.
"Yes, we've come to discuss the development of the music program at Ouran Academy as drafted in the Suoh-Ichikawa Agreement," Kyouya said.
"Oh," Natsuki said with a tone of disappointment. Then her smile returned immediately, "Would you like to hear me play the piano then?"
"Ichikawa-sama, you've already played," the maid persisted. "You need to rest."
"But Aya-chan, there are guests," Natsuki chirped. "It isn't very often that this occurs. A little more practice wouldn't be a bad thing. Please, Aya-chan."
The host club members, excluding Haruhi took in the odd site. It was uncommon for someone of Natsuki's status to be pleading her maid to do as she pleased.
The maid held a stern face before allowing it to soften. "Okay, but only for half an hour."
"I'm so excited! Thank you, Aya-chan!"
The maid sighed as she faced the host club, "Please follow me to the music room."
The host club took in an eyeful of the luxurious summer home. Large spacious rooms with marble floors lining the entire building. However, Haruhi could only think about one thing. How lonely it must be to live in such a large building by yourself. She couldn't imagine being a blind girl moving around the large empty hallways.
As they climbed up the white marble staircase, Natsuki used the maid and the wood and iron railing to maneuver up. "We're going to our second music room, do you have any requests?"
"How about a duet?" Tamaki suggested. "We can start with Mozart's Sonata in F major, K. 497."
"Sounds lovely, do you play often?" Natsuki asked. As Tamaki and Natsuki chatted about music, a calming environment was created. Hikaru and Kaoru bragged to Natsuki about how magical their "boss" was on the piano and she'd never hear anything to compare it to. Honey asked the maid if it would be possible to bring some cakes into the room as they played music. Everyone seemed to get more comfortable despite the hostile treatment, all except for Kyouya.
They entered the large music room, which seemed to be furnished with all the instruments they could ever imagine. While the pianos and organs took the center of the room, the other smaller instruments were located in the corners of the room, organized by their classification. The northwest corner held the string instruments, the northeast with brass instruments, southwest with percussion instruments, and southeast with woodwind instruments.
Natsuki and Tamaki sat together playing piano piece after piano piece. As they finished their third piece, Scheherazade, Op 35, Kyouya spoke at last.
"As I recall from primary school, in addition to being a talented musician, Ichikawa-san is also a talented original songstress," Kyouya said glancing at the girl.
Natsuki beamed at the direction of his voice. "You have an excellent memory, Kyo-kun. I have been working on a few songs lately."
Then her maid interjected, "Ichikawa-sama, it's been well over half an hour. It's time for you to rest."
"Please Aya-chan, just one. It'll be very quick." Not waiting for a response, Natsuki stood up and trekked across to the northwestern portion of the room without any guidance. She reached out her hands and ran her hands along the wall of instruments. She stopped when she touched an acoustic guitar.
She pulled down the guitar and immediately turned to move southward. She grabbed a tambourine and sat down on a perch in the percussion section. She placed the tambourine beneath her foot and tuned the guitar to her liking.
There was a noticeable pause between the time she finished tuning and the time she began strumming, worrying her maid.
"I've just recently started writing this song," Natsuki said. "So I apologize for any stumbles I may have."
She then tucked her head down and began to sing, "I want to be my own light that fills up this room, you don't got to flip that switch for me. I want to be my own light that fills this room." She began to tap her foot, which pressed down the tambourine and released, created a drum-like sound of beat with symbols.
"I won't expect you to be chivalrous to me. I won't expect you to do anything for me. I won't paint pretty pictures in my head, that way I won't be disappointed. I won't expect you to put down your life for me. I won't expect you to even call me pretty. I won't replay moments in my head, that way I won't be disappointed."
Then in the middle of the song, her maid swept in and pried away the guitar.
"I think the students have heard enough," she said as she placed the guitar on the ground.
"The song was quite lovely, we'd like to hear more of it if possible," Tamaki said standing up from his position at the piano.
"No more today," the maid insisted as she helped Natsuki to her feet, but shielded any visual of her. "She has strained herself too much as it is. I have send someone to come and escort you all out."
And with that, the maid disappeared with Natsuki. Tamaki sighed and sat back down on the piano bench. Then something on the ivory keys caught his attention.
"Well, that was rather rude," Hikaru stated matter of factly.
"Yeah, she was a pretty good singer," Kaoru said, "She didn't even have a Japanese accent when she sang."
"I think there was something wrong," Haruhi said.
"She's sick," Tamaki said simply. The host club members spun around and stared at him with confused faces. "She was bleeding during our performance." He gestured towards the red droplet on the ivory keys of the piano.
Immediately the host club members noted a larger puddle near the percussion section perch.
The host club was escorted out of the Ichikawa Summer Home. No one knew what to say. They all piled into the limo and began to drive off.
"Let's begin Project: Reunite Fuyuki-senpai with his Sister~" Tamaki chirped breaking the silence.
"Why can't we ever stay out of other people's business?" Haruhi responded. "Clearly, their family is going through a personal problem and we should respect them enough to let them deal with it on their own."
"I would hardly consider locking away one of their children 'dealing with it,' " Hikaru retorted.
"They don't want to lock her away," Tamaki said. His gaze kept out the window. "The dedication that Fuyuki-senpai has to to his sister is incredible. No matter the situation he comes to see her every day at 5pm."
"But Na-chan doesn't know Fu-chan comes everyday," Honey said. "Na-chan looked so excited to hear there were guests as though she's never had a visitor."
"And that is why we have to reunite them!" Tamaki cheered jolting up in the limo, shaking the car a bit. "Let's begin Project: Reunite Fuyuki-senpair with his Sister!"
Song: This Room by Cassandra Farrar + the Left Brains