Emiya Clan – Ouran 08

Takeshi found his father seated in his office, going through the daily reports Takami-obaasan had sent to him for review. He knocked on the doorframe to get Shirou's attention, then leaned against the archway as the other man looked up. "Hey, Dad? Could I use the Fuyuki-house this coming weekend?"

"What do you need it for?" Shirou asked as he continued to flip through the stack of paperwork.

"I, ah, accidentally invited my classmates over to 'my house', and I'd rather they didn't," Takeshi muttered. "Actually come over, that is."

"Why not?" Shirou frowned, "If it's the girls, I can ask them to behave themselves."

Takeshi shook his head, "I'm not worried about that... well actually – now that I think about it – I am. I just want to limit the Club's exposure to, well, us."

"Us?" Shirou gave his eldest son a piercing stare.

Takeshi looked uncharacteristically flustered. "I mean, I'm not comfortable with most of my classmates finding out about our true nature."

"True nature," his father repeated. "Explain that."

"Well, that half of us are magi," Takeshi pointed out. "And the other half are... simply not human."

"And how would your suggestion resolve this 'problem'?" Shirou asked.

"Well, to begin with, we could limit the amount of family members they interact with. Maybe just you, Mom, and myself. You said yourself Kaa-san pretended to be human for most of her life before she met you, and you know how to hide your own abilities when the situation calls for it."

"Nobody else?"

"That's all the people I think we should need," Takeshi suggested.

"No, that's all the people I think you trust," Shirou clarified. He watched as his son flinched at the subtle accusation and lowered his head. Shirou leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms. "I think you're doing your family a disservice, Takeshi. I think you're doing even worse to your friends. I'll grant you that we're not your usual ordinary family by any stretch of imagination, but that's still a big jump between somebody thinking we're just a family of oddballs to somebody who will begin to treat us as a threat."

Takeshi's head came up, "I don't feel threatened by my classmates."

"But you're still worried about bringing them home."

"Well, yes. Isn't that normal in our situation?"

Shirou sighed. "Takeshi, did any of Kaien's classmates react badly to Deviluke-san and her sisters?"

"Well, no, but their school also had several other extra-terrestrials enrolled so I'm sure they were used to—"

"What about Chisame and her school?"

"Their teacher is a magus, but they didn't know about us until recently so—"

"And Kyon and his club members?"

"... Isn't keeping us a secret from his Ashikabi an inviolable rule?"

"Right, that one's a bad example." Shirou leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk before him. "Takeshi, the only way we could keep our existence a complete secret is to completely cut ourselves off from society. Doing that is bad for our mental health, and for those of us who choose to go forth and protect others, it's important to maintain ties to the people around us. Otherwise we might as well live in an ivory tower and just stay disconnected from the world."

"Us versus them," Takeshi said quietly.

"Right." Shirou pointed off in the general direction where Kaien's Ashikabi had set up her transdimensional residence. "Yes, I want to limit the amount of people who are allowed to get close to us, but I don't want our family growing up in isolation. By allowing ourselves visitors, yes we have slightly increased the numbers of our enemies; but on the other hand, we've also gained larger numbers of people we can call close friends of the family. In Kaien's case, we have possible alliances in progress with multiple planets. In Chisame's case, we've earned the respect of the Kyoto Branch of the Mage's Association, as well as the leaders of Mundus Magicus." Shirou suddenly scribbled a quick note to himself. "Remind me to ask Lorelei what steps the Clock Tower has taken to open diplomatic ties with them..." he muttered.

Takeshi cleared his throat.

"My point," Shirou said, sitting up straight, "is that I think you're overreacting. So, no, you don't get the house. If your friends want to come over, let them; just let us know ahead of time. And Takeshi?"

"Hm?"

"Whether or not your friends are ready to know everything is for you – and you alone – to decide. I trust your judgement."

Takeshi nodded, resigned. "If you say so, Tou-san."

ooo

Haruhi found the other Club members already gathered at the directions Takeshi had provided them. It was a relatively quiet street several blocks away from the downtown area, close enough to the population centers for easy shopping, yet far enough away that there was not much foot traffic. There didn't appear to be any houses or apartments nearby, just a long row of well maintained but otherwise abandoned-looking buildings. She frowned and rechecked the address, noticing the twins and Kyouya were also scowling at their own sheets of paper.

Honey bounced over as she walked up, "Haru-chan! You made it!"

"I guess I did," she said uncertainly. "Is this the right place?"

"Apparently so," Kyouya said as he adjusted his glasses. "This is where Emiya-sempai requested we meet."

"And right on time," said a new voice. They all looked over to see Takeshi walking up to them. Like the others, he was dressed in casual clothing; but where the other hosts – aside from Haruhi – were decked out in fashionable, brand-name attire, Takeshi sported a simple long-sleeved shirt and slightly faded jeans. He looked around at the assembled group and spun on his heel. "Follow me closely, my house is just this way."

""We're not going to take a car?"" The twins asked. Hikaru gave a meaningful look around the street. "I don't see any houses in walking distance."

Takeshi waited until they all stepped after him before he answered. "There's an interesting quality about the house's architecture," he said slowly. "If you don't know exactly where to look, your eye just sort of... slides past it without seeing anything." He continued walking in silence for about a minute, then lifted an arm to point to the side. "Like that."

Haruhi looked in the indicated direction, then her eyes widened as she took in the sight of an absolutely ginormous mansion. There were a few exclamations from he rest of the Host Club, though from the sound of it they were less impressed with the size of the building and more surprised they hadn't noticed something this large so close by.

"Waa~h." Honey bounced excitedly, "Takeshi-kun's house looks very nice!"

Kyouya narrowed his eyes. "I'm very interested in seeing the plans for the building's architecture. That was a remarkable demonstration."

""Meh, our place is bigger."" The twins shrugged their shoulders, clearly unimpressed.

Takeshi looked somewhat embarrassed. "This is the side entrance."

""Ooh...""

Haruhi grimaced. Damn rich kids...

Takeshi made his way to the gated entrance and swung it open. He stood in the entrance, blocking the others' way as he paused. "Before you guys enter, I should warn you that you might find my family a bit... odd."

"How odd?" Tamaki asked curiously.

"Some of them would give the twins a run for their money."

""Challenge accepted,"" the two chorused.

Tamaki shivered.

Takeshi finally pushed his way in, allowing the others to follow him. "Oh, and beware of the dog."

ooo

"Tadaima~" Takeshi called as he stepped through the door. He'd made sure to let everybody know they should expect guests and had also let them know when he was leaving to meet the group. He expected a few of the more curious ones to show up.

Miya was waiting at the entrance for him, ready to play the gracious hostess. Nobody else appeared to be around, but he didn't put it past Matsu or Karin to be watching from the safety of some faraway room. Doubtless they were also streaming their camera feeds to some of the other parents and siblings, respectively.

Miya bowed to the Host Club as they entered. "Welcome to our house. I am Miya Emiya, Takeshi's mother. Thank you for taking good care of my son," she said with another bow.

Tamaki graciously stepped forward and took one of her hands in his own. "I assure you, Madam, that the pleasure is all ours. Your son is a valued member of our club and a good friend to us all. I can finally see why, after witnessing your own breath-taking beauty and grace in person. Your husband must be a lucky man."

Miya lifted her free hand to her mouth and tittered. "Ara ara, what a charming young man; you certainly know how to make a lady blush." Her smile remained the same but the air darkened around her slightly. "However, please do limit your exuberance while you are guests here. Lewd acts in the Emiya Mansion are forbidden."

Tamaki, Honey, and the twins reflexively yelped and dove for cover. Almost immediately afterwards, the air returned to its normal brightness.

"Ah, good," Miya said. "Takeshi has trained you all properly, I see."

Haruhi quirked an eyebrow at Takeshi. "I think I can see the relation," she quipped.

Miya smiled and raised an arm to the nearby doorway. "If you'll follow me this way, we can introduce you to some of the others."

Eyes wide, the other Club members stared between Takeshi and his mother, but followed her without further comment.

Takeshi, for his part, kept a polite smile on his face as they all shuffled past, then grimaced slightly after their backs were all turned.

ooo

Haruhi watched as Kyouya cleaned his glasses with a handkerchief, then set them back on his face with a frown. "Emiya-san–"

"Please, call me 'Miya', it will be much less confusing that way."

"Miya-san, then," Kyouya corrected. "but are you familiar with a Sakura Emiya? Is she perhaps a sister of yours?"

"She is not, but she is part of this family." Miya gestured towards the room they were approaching. "Fortunately it is a weekend, so I think you might get to meet almost everybody."

As they rounded the corner, Haruhi nearly ran into Tamaki's back as the club members in front of her suddenly stopped in the archway. "Ah! What the-?"

"Everyone, meet Takashi's schoolmates," she heard Takeshi's mother say.

""Hello!"" came a chorus of voices. A very large chorus of voices.

She moved around until she could peek through the doorway and froze in stunned disbelief as she saw a whole roomful of people turned their way. They ranged from school-aged children, to young adults, to middle-aged grownups. Each person wore almost wildly different clothing and different hairstyles, she saw a few other purple-haired individuals, but for the most part there were mostly quite a few blondes, brunettes, and redheads scattered around.

She sensed Takeshi moving up behind her before he cleared his throat with a cough. "Ah, guys?" He waved out his arm to take in the room as a whole, "This... is my family."

If Haruhi had any doubts that her life had been anything but normal, this moment cleared all of her uncertainty away. Ever since she had enrolled into Ouran she'd felt as if her life was some weird shoujo manga. A literal gathering of good-looking guys, each with an odd personality quirk. It was like a reverse harem in real life. A small part of her wondered which unlucky girl happened to be the focus for these boys' attentions, but the closest person she could think of would be Renge-san.

However despite all that, she was certain this topped the list of strange things she had seen. Desperate to find some shred of normalcy in the situation, she turned towards her sempai. "Please tell me this is an orphanage and all those women are the day-care workers."

Takeshi slowly shook his head.

ooo

Honey was fairly happy with the situation. There were lots of interesting people to meet, lots of interesting stories from all the children of the Emiya Clan. Most importantly, however, was that in preparation for their guests, some thoughtful person had prepared a whole table full of treats. Doubtless it was meant to last for the whole day, but Honey was not one to leave a sweet-looking pastry alone, much less an entire table full of them.

As he munched happily on his latest acquisition, he saw a tall, slender woman navigate her way through the crowd. She was dressed in a comfortable looking black sweater and slacks, with her long purple hair tied near the tip with a matching black silk ribbon. "Haninozuka-kun, was it?" she asked.

Honey mumbled happily in confirmation, then swallowed. "That's me! Are you another one of Takeshi-kun's mothers?"

The woman nodded, staring intently at him. "Medusa Emiya, though I mostly go by 'Rider'."

"That's fine, I prefer people to call me 'Honey'."

"Honey-kun," Rider said. She stared at him in silence for a few more moments, then quietly spoke up, "Forgive me for asking, but are you really eighteen years old?"

"Yep!" he said happily as he cut away another slice of cake. Then he ate the cake, leaving the tiny-looking slice on the plate. "I may not look it, but I'm the oldest one in the Club!" Rider watched him for a few more moments as he demolished the rest of the sweet, then an odd look came over her face. Honey paused as he tried to catalog the expression. It was almost crestfallen? Regretful? Envious? A mix of all three?

"Rider-san?" he asked quietly.

"How...?" she suddenly said with a short choking sound. "How are you so small?"

Honey stared in confusion as the tall woman suddenly broke into quiet sobs.

ooo

Mori held himself very, very still. It was not because he was scared, nor was it because he was overwhelmed. Though the revelation of Takeshi's family certainly merited a surprised reaction, he'd easily, calmly took it in stride. No, the reason he was in this state was because a tiny little blonde girl had crawled into his lap and promptly fallen asleep.

"Hm? It seems she really likes you," said a kindly voice. Mori looked up to see a petite woman smiling down at the dozing toddler. Her dress was in soft shades of green and she had an unruly mop of long blonde hair cascading from her head. "You must be the type of person who easily makes friends with animals, aren't you?"

Mori thought about the small bird and tanuki he kept as pets at his house. ". . . Perhaps," he said quietly. He moved an arm over the child, ready to scoop her from his lap. He stopped as the woman raised a hand.

"Don't worry about little Ichigo," she said. "She seems happy enough where she is." Green eyes glanced around the large room, them focused back on his own. "Or would you rather go rejoin your friends?"

". . . I'm fine," Mori said after a few moments reflection.

"Ah," she said, sounding pleased. "Well, just let me know if you need anything then." She turned away slightly, then paused and turned to face him again. "By the way, are you the one with the swords?"

". . . What?"

ooo

Kyouya turned towards the window, staring out at the field outside as he lifted his cellphone to his ear. "Yes?"

"Young Master," the voice of his head guard, Tachibana answered. "There is a young female student wandering outside around the street. She seems to be unable to locate your position exactly, but we have watched her pacing back and forth for the last half-hour."

"Can you identify her?" Kyouya fought to keep the irritation from his voice. He'd been in a sour mood ever since he had realized the extent of the gap in his information regarding Takeshi Emiya. Not only had he apparently misinterpreted the facts before him, he had not even known of the existence of this residence. From his survey of the surrounding view from the windows, he judged the property took up a relatively large proportion of Shin-Tokyo. How a residential complex of this size had escaped his attention was completely beyond him.

And now his guards were reporting a random passerby accomplishing a task they themselves were unable to complete, having tracked or followed the Host Club successfully to this location. He apparently was unable to fully hide his anger from his voice, as Tachibana paused slightly before he replied.

"We don't recognize her, but Aijima was able to get a picture of her. He's mailing it to you now," his head guard reported.

Kyouya's phone chimed a receipt and he ended the conversation with a curt, "Keep me informed." As he called up the picture, he saw a refined looking girl wearing a hooded black cloak. He didn't recognize her on sight either, but something about her seemed familiar enough that he figured she was a student at Ouran. He'd have to remind himself to go through his customer database when he got back home.

"Not enjoying the party?" a voice said from behind him. He waited a three-count before he turned around, so as not to give the impression that he'd been startled. He came face to face with a grinning redheaded woman roughly his height. Her eyes twinkled from behind large glasses as she smoothed down the fabric of her white dress.

"On the contrary," he said, forcing a smile onto his face. "It has been quite an enlightening experience so far."

Something in the woman's smile changed, unnerving him. " 'Enlightening' is not the same thing as 'enjoying'," she said. She held out her hand, "Matsu Emiya."

Kyouya took and shook her hand briefly, "Kyouya Ootori."

"Tell me, Kyouya-tan." He tried not to flinch at her casual form of address. "What do you think of our Takeshi?"

"Fairly intelligent, his behavior is beyond reproach, and he seems to respond quite appropriately to uncommon situations." Kyouya shrugged. "I'm sure he'll do your family proud."

"Good, nice, polite answer," Matsu said. She leaned forward and smiled; if he didn't know any better, he'd say she was smirking at him. "What do you really think about him?"

He arched an eyebrow. "I'm not certain I understand your question," he said carefully.

Matsu leaned back with a slight pout on her face. "Hmm, pity. I would have expected more from someone who is supposed to be compared favorably against Yuuichi-tan and Akito-tan."

Yuuichi, Akito, his elder brothers. His smile faded and he looked at the woman before him with a critical eye. "The identities of my family are a matter of public record. If you're trying to impress me with meaningless trivia, you'll have to do better than that."

"Perhaps." Matsu did not appear to be offended at the accusation in the slightest. "Information, after all, is a matter of knowing where to look and being able to put together the clues correctly. You did pretty well trying to find out about Takeshi, but you only got halfway there, I'm afraid. Pegging Sakura-tan as his mother was quite amusing, you know."

Kyouya stared blankly. Though he'd had his guards searching for information on the woman, he'd never let anyone else know about his theory. His notes had never even left his... "You're quite an accomplished hacker," he concluded, narrowing his eyes. "The security programs on my personal computer are some of the best in the world."

Matsu's grin had returned in full-force. "It was a nice little challenge," she admitted. "But I would hardly say it's amongst the best." She slipped an arm around his and tugged him towards a nearby pair of chairs. "As one information-obsessed person to another, I wouldn't mind helping you out on occasion."

Kyouya let himself be dragged over to a chair and sat down, helping himself to the tea set on the table between them. "What's the catch?" he poured out a second cup. Guest or not, he still thought of himself as a gentleman.

"No catch," she assured him, accepting the cup. "You're Takeshi's friend, and you're here. That practically makes you family already. But if you need something hanging over your head to motivate you..." she shrugged. "I could wreck Ootori Medical with a few well placed viruses, but personally I think that'd be a waste. You could do some great things there, I'm sure."

"You seem convinced I'll be the one my father chooses as his heir." Kyouya did not allow himself to feel any hope along those lines. He was the third son in a powerful family, with highly intelligent elder siblings to go against. In order for the line of succession to fall to him, he would have to greatly impress his father over anything his brothers could do.

"If you don't," Matsu said with a grin, "then I'll be greatly disappointed in you."

He had no hopes for a miracle, but that certainly didn't mean he wasn't going to put forth his best effort to gain recognition. Anything less was unacceptable.

Kyouya stared into his tea for a few moments. "You wouldn't be the only one," he said, taking a sip.

ooo

Hikaru and Kaoru found themselves cornered by a quartet of children. Front and center were two girls sporting glasses and identical grins.

The taller one with purple hair spoke first. "So you're the two Takeshi-nii was talking about?"

The twins traded a glance, then looked back at the speaker. ""There are stories about us?""

The redhead nodded, "Oh yeah. He told us you made his life a living hell and came pretty close to driving him absolutely nuts at times."

The other two children, a girl and boy pair, blonde and redhead, nodded in unison. "It really told us something," said the girl. "If Takeshi was still unsettled by you two, even after having to live with Riko and Karin, that says something right there."

The Hitachiin twins shared equally blank expressions. ""Is that supposed to impress us?""

The purple-haired girl, Riko, shared a look with her red-headed sister, Karin. "I don't know, what sort of things did you do to him?"

The two rubbed their chins thoughtfully. ""Well, we usually open up with the 'Which One is Hikaru' game... ""

"Hikaru, Kaoru," said Karin, pointing at each of them in turn.

""Bzzt, wrong.""

"Nope," Karin smiled. "I'll admit I can't really tell you apart, bu~ut I saw Haruhi-chan introduce you two to our parents." She tapped her head, "I've got a near-perfect memory, so unless you do something drastic with your appearance I'll probably be able to tell you apart for the entire rest of the day."

"Hm, eidetic memory?" Hikaru regarded her thoughtfully. "That could be handy sometimes."

Karin's glasses flashed with sudden reflective light. "You've got no idea~ nfufufu... "

"To be honest, there's no set pattern to our methods," Kaoru said. "We simply find which buttons to press to make a person uncomfortable and utilize it."

"Hm... I guess that could work," Riko said. "At least it keeps you from being predictable. Still, there's a certain joy to be found in finding one really good trick and exploiting it over and over again."

""Oh? And what sort of things do you do?"" The twins had an expression that read 'go on, impress me'.

As if on cue, a shrill scream cut through the air and heads turned to watch a grey-haired teenage girl drop her drink and rush out of the room.

There was a silent pause, then the twins turned questioning eyes on their conversation partners. ""What was that?""

"That," Riko grinned, "was our brother, Kaien."

Hikaru looked back to where the far door was swinging closed. "Brother? You mean sister, right?"

Karin pulled out a small tablet PC and glanced at the screen. "Only for... the next hour or so." She pocketed the device again, muttering something along the lines of 'thanks, Lala'.

The Hitachiin twins stared at the two grinning girls with cautious expressions on their face. ""What sort of prank was that?""

"It's a se~ecret."

The twins stared for a few moments longer, then looked down at the drinks in their hands. Then they slowly put them down onto a nearby table.

"You, ah, wouldn't happen to have any bottled water, would you?" Kaoru asked nervously.

The blonde girl stared at the doors for a few more moments. "Kiri?"

"Yeah?" said the redheaded boy.

"Go keep Kaien from doing something stupid to try to change himself back."

"I'm going."

ooo

Tamaki leaned forward with a soft smile. "Is everything to your liking, Hime-sama?"

Fuuko giggled and allowed the boy to hold her hand between his own. "How is it you don't have a girlfriend yet?"

"Because if I had done so, I never would have been able to have this chance to bathe in your radiant beauty," he smoothly replied.

"I bet you say that to every girl you meet," she cooed.

"Ahem." The two of them looked up from their table to see an annoyed-looking woman staring down at them. "Fuuko? What do you think you're doing?"

Fuuko grimaced, "Mother..."

Tamaki's eyes widened. "Mother?" He stood up abruptly. "Madam, I sincerely beg your forgiveness. Your daughter here merely wished me to demonstrate our club's daily activities so she could–"

"Oh hush," Kazehana silenced him with a finger to his lips, then applied pressure to his shoulder to force him back into his chair.

Then she turned around and dropped herself in his lap. She wrapped a companionable arm around his shoulders and gave her daughter a glare. "Starting without me, I feel cheated." She turned to give the suddenly pale boy a sultry grin of her own. "Please, Tamaki-sama, continue." She suddenly yelped as a metal serving ladle crashed down onto her head.

"Ara ara~" All three of them looked up to see the smiling face of Miya.

"Tamaki-san, Fuuko, You." Miya held the utensil to her chest in a deceptively gentle-looking grip. "Do you recall what I stated earlier?"

All three paled as the air around them darkened. Cries of the damned filled the air.

"Lewd acts in the Emiya Mansion are absolutely forbidden."

"Not the bleeding eyes!" Kazehana wailed.

ooo

Takeshi found himself outside, sitting on a patio where he could still look through the glass door and watch the events inside. After a few minutes, the door clicked open and his potential Ashikabi stepped outside to join him. Haruhi handed Takeshi one of the two cups she had taken from the refreshments table and then dropped into the seat beside him. They sat there in companionable silence for a few moments as they watched the various Clan members interacting with the Hosts.

Tamaki and Homura had their heads together in discussion about their hosting experiences. Kiri, Haru, and Chisame were asking the two for advice at several points in the discussion while Uzume, Kyon, and Jun simply watched in silence.

Kyouya was seated across from Matsu and Lorelei, all three scribbling notes into computer or onto paper as they talked.

Honey was fighting with Reiko over a large pudding dish. Saber, Rider, Aya, Aoshi, and Gekkou were also clustered over by the dessert table, trying keep out of their way as they enjoyed their food.

Mori seemed to have found himself covered with sleeping toddlers. Kumako and Shinra were curled up against his side, while Akitsu and Koyuki had joined him, with Aleksi and Aliisa nestled in their own laps. Sakura, Kusano, and Sakuya were ferrying refills of drinks and desserts back and forth between the tables and the 'babysitters club'.

Off in the far end of the room, Rin, Luvia, and Tsukiumi were locked into a catfight, with the Hitachiins, Riko, and Karin cheering them on. Musubi, Karasuba, and Shinta were watching for the sheer entertainment value.

At the opposite end, Kaien was sitting against the wall sullenly while Chiho and Arika tried to reassure her that the sudden gender swap was temporary. Chiyo was off looking for their resident alien visitor to see if she had something to reverse the change ahead of schedule.

Shirou and Gilgamesh were not visible, he could easily imagine them staring down the guards Kyouya had brought over. Either that or they were having a small party of their own in the kitchen. It was sometimes hard to tell when Shirou was allowed to play host.

"You have a nice family," Haruhi said.

Takeshi looked over at her.

"They're weird, but it's nice." She cradled her cup in her hands and met his eyes with her own. "I can see why you're so protective of them."

Takeshi nearly choked on the sip he had just taken. "What?"

"Well, whenever the subject comes up at school you sort of withdraw into yourself. You become defensive." She sipped at her own drink. "It's subtle, but it's there. You're the eldest child, right?"

"Um, yeah," Takeshi stammered. "Backtrack a bit, I become defensive at school?"

"Mhmm," she confirmed. "It's fairly obvious to me. I think Tamaki-sempai knows too. He's actually pretty sharp when it comes to these sort of things. But after seeing your family in person, I think I understand why now."

"And what is it you think you understand?" Takeshi said quietly.

"Well, like I said, you're very protective of your family. I think it's understandable, it's quite different from your usual family. You have what, over a dozen moms?" Haruhi held out a hand and began mentally tallying up the women she had met today.

"I have siblings from twenty-two different mothers, including my own," Takeshi said. "Some of them aren't here because they travel the world. One is probably holed up in her room."

"They must all like your father quite a bit if they can all peacefully coexist like that," Haruhi mused. They both flinched as one of the combatants inside was flung against the window. The window held, and the irate woman inside threw herself back into the furball. "Especially if they don't normally get along."

"There's a very good reason for that... "

"So you're the oldest child in a family that almost has more kids than a single classroom in our school," Haruhi summarized. "I think I noticed quite a few of them are in the same age groups, but you're all alone, aren't you?"

"The next oldest are all two years younger than me," he confirmed.

"So you probably feel responsible for all of your younger siblings," Haruhi suggested. "Polite society might see them as an aberration or worse, so you're not comfortable in letting the public know about you." She pointedly looked through the window where the Tsundere Trio were currently tearing at each others' hair. "Given some of the adults in your life, I can see why you felt you couldn't leave it just to them... "

"Fine, so I'm a bit overprotective of my family," Takeshi growled. "What's wrong with that?"

"You shouldn't have to shoulder all of the responsibility alone. Your family seems like they know what they're doing, you can trust them. I mean, when was the last time you did something for yourself?" Haruhi leaned over to look him in the eye. "When was the last time you did what you wanted to do?"

Takeshi looked away.

"You can't think of a time, can you?" Haruhi chewed on her lip for a moment. "Takeshi-sempai, why did you join the Host Club?"

"What?" His head whipped around to stare at her.

"Well, you always seem slightly upset that you're there. You're always doing that glaring thing, kind of like your Mom does. I know Hikaru and Kaoru can be a handful, but even with Tamaki-sempai, Kyouya-sempai, Honey and Mori-sempai, you always seem like you're about to have an aneurysm." She fell quiet for a few moments, then leaned into him.

Takeshi quickly leaned away from her, and she sighed as if the action had proven her point.

"Even with me. If you really dislike us that much, why did you join us?"

Takeshi grimaced, then checked to make sure the door was still closed and nobody was watching them. After making sure everybody was currently preoccupied with breaking up the fight inside, he turned back to face Haruhi. "First, please promise me you won't repeat anything I'm about to say to the others, especially Ootori-kun."

" 'Kyouya-kun', Sempai," Haruhi smiled supportively. "You have my word."

"Right..." Takeshi fell silent for a few moments as he tried to gather his thoughts. "There's one final thing you don't know about my family. It's part of the reason why we're so large in the first place. We're, ah... wearenothuman."

Haruhi blinked, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

Takeshi took several deep breaths. "We're not human. Well, most of my siblings and I are half-human at least... but my parents are a race of near-human beings called 'Sekirei'."

"So... you're an alien wagtail bird?"

"I'm only Half-alien," Takeshi closed his eyes at the absurdity of his explanation. He half expected her to break out into mocking laughter, but when he opened his eyes he found Haruhi looking down in concentration. Her fist was pressed to her mouth as she thought.

"Does this have anything to do with why everybody is calling your grey-haired sister your brother?" she finally asked.

"Um, partially." Takeshi frowned, "Kaien's a bit special because of Homura-kaasan. But it doesn't help that he was winged by a mad-gadgeteer genius. I wouldn't be surprised if Lala-san had something to do with today's event."

"'Winged'?" she pounced on the unfamiliar term.

"Oh... well," Takeshi scratched his head. "At a certain stage in a Sekirei's life, we have what we call a 'Reaction'. It happens when we find a compatible partner, what we refer to as an 'Ashikabi', who will then 'wing' them. A Reaction can take numerous forms: for some, it's not unlike falling suddenly, deeply in love. For others, it causes them to lose control over their abilities." Takeshi closed his eyes. "For me, it seems to have taken the form of a constant, ridiculously annoying headache."

"Oh," Haruhi was quiet for a few moments, then she blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Takeshi sighed. "So... that's why I joined the Club."

"Who is it you are Reacting to?" she asked.

Takeshi blinked and suddenly felt like slamming his head against the ground. "You! I'm Reacting to you, Fujioka-san!"

"Me?" Haruhi's eyes went wide. "Why didn't you just say so from the start? How can we fix this?"

"I... tried, at the beginning. I wasn't able to say it then." Takeshi lowered his head. "And the only way to stop a Reaction is to perform the Winging Ritual." He looked back up at her, "Again, it wasn't something I wanted to simply force onto you."

"Well, it's hurting you isn't it?" When Takeshi nodded, Haruhi gave a sharp nod herself. "Right then, so how do we perform this ritual?"

Takeshi stared at her, "I'm not sure you fully understand what you're about to get into."

"What's to understand?" she asked. "If a person is in pain, it's only right to help them alleviate it. To do anything else would be cruel. How do we do this ritual?"

Takeshi ducked his head. ". . ." he said.

"You're mumbling again."

"We kiss."

Haruhi stared at him. "Kiss," she repeated.

Takeshi nodded mutely.

"Okay." Haruhi shrugged as Takeshi stared at her with wide eyes. "What? It's just a kiss." She grabbed his chin and turned his head. "On the cheek should be fine, right?"

"I'm... pretty sure that's not how it works," Takeshi stammered as she leaned forward.

Just then the door slammed open. "Hee~ey, Take-chan! There you are!"

Eyes wide, Takeshi twisted around as he saw his sister framed in the doorway. Naturally, the motion turned his head just enough that Haruhi's lip pressed straight against his own.

"Whoops," Karin mumbled.

ooo

Haruhi's eyes were wide as she watched Takeshi break away and arch backwards. Brilliant glowing wings erupted from his back, so bright she was nearly blinded. She thought she saw several streams of light converge and form an oddly shaped symbol, but when she blinked both the crest and the wings had disappeared from view. Takeshi slumped forward and she absently caught him and let him rest his head on her shoulder as he recovered.

There was a moment of silence, then Karin spun around in the doorway. "Wow, what a sudden lightning strike!" she said to the room in a very loud voice. She moved back inside, closing the door after herself. "Did anybody check the weather report? I think there's gonna be—"

Haruhi stared at the closed door for a few moments then turned back to the boy leaning against her. "Takashi-sempai?" she asked cautiously.

"Ikuhisashiku..." he mumbled.

She blinked, then pushed him off her shoulder, leaning back in to press a hand against forehead. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said. He opened his eyes slowly, then blinked and pulled himself back. "I'm... fine..." He touched his head gently.

"Headache's gone?" she asked.

"Yes... thank you," he said. Then he slumped, dropping his shoulders, "I'm... sorry."

"For what?" Haruhi asked. "It was just a ritual for your weird alien body to get rid of your Reaction, right?" She pressed her hand against her lips. "Although you did take my first kiss..."

Takeshi winced and pressed his own hand to his mouth. "If it helps any, you just took mine, too." He still looked apologetic. "But, I don't think I explained myself very well earlier. Did I say anything after... everything?"

She ran the memory through her head. "Something about forever?"

Takeshi nodded, his face glum. "When an Ashikabi wings a Sekirei, its a bonding that lasts for... well... forever."

Haruhi stared at him. "What?"

Takeshi looked away from her. "Remember when I said there was a reason why my Father had so many wives?"

Haruhi thought about it. She thought about it some more. Finally...

"Oh..."

ooo

(a/n) – new chapter length record! *waves flag* it prolly has something to do with trying to write POVs for over half a dozen character groups. i personally feel the ending part was a bit rushed, but i'm a lazy author and don't like rewriting so you're all stuck with this winging situation! hopefully everybody seems mostly in character.

school started off with a running start, so it seems like unless i don't have ongoing projects, i may not have a chance to think about story stuff until the weekends like this. sorry for those of you who were used to me once-a-day updates. but, summer's over. booo. anyhow, probably expect things once, maybe twice a week for the foreseeable future.