Emiya Clan – Ouran 09

Takeshi stretched out his arms, basking in the warm sunlight. It was unusually warm today, given the late season, but Takeshi also noted the increased humidity in the air and the shadow on the distant horizon which suggested the good weather would probably not last. He wondered if he should make his observations known to their host.

Looking around, he saw he was alone in the well-kept grounds. The shrubbery along the walkways were healthy-looking and seemed to be maintained regularly, and the flowerbeds looked to have been replanted recently with late-blooming plants, allowing them to survive the coming autumn.

He did wonder – briefly – why everything was laid out with a very familiar-looking cat motif. Even the walking paths curled around the grounds to suggest the outline of a certain person's hand-puppet.

"Do you like our gardens, Emiya-kun?" a low voice loomed from behind him in the shadowed doorway he was standing in front of. "I have always enjoyed the craftsmanship our family's caretakers have put into their work... from a distance, of course." Umehito Nekozawa held a cloaked arm over his face protectively, warding off the bright sunlight Takeshi was enjoying.

Takeshi slowly turned to look at the shadowed figure lurking in the archway. "I can see a great deal of thought and planning went into it's construction, Nekozawa-kun," he said honestly. He did wonder, however, how the young scion of the family was able to enjoy anything involving outdoor activities, given his apparent light sensitivity. Maybe he only went out on extremely overcast days.

When they had returned to school from their visit to the Emiya Mansion, the Host Club had found Nekozawa waiting for them in the clubroom. Evidently he'd found out about the results of the Hitachiin's little form of blackmail and had offered the club the hospitality of his own family's mansion. "If the season were more appropriate," he had stated, "I would have liked to show you my family's coastal properties." Unfortunately, this late in the year was not a suitable time for heading for the beach and a day trip to Bali was out of the question, given that Haruhi did not possess a passport. The twins were extremely put out by that development.

The Nekozawa mansion was actually not what Takeshi had been expecting. Mostly. The gothic architecture and dim, candle-lit hallways were certainly present, but much of the house was actually quite brightly lit and richly decorated. Statues of cats and other feline figures were in abundance, which had been explained by a cat-eyed maid of the house. The family had apparently been worshipping cat-shaped idols for generations, dating back from their origins in the so-called Russian Tokarev Dynasty. Takeshi recalled the name as being the Soviet's best small-arms weapons designer from one of Keiko's research projects, which the maid confirmed as being the Nekozawa family's primary business.

Tamaki had wanted to turn the visit into a full-on Host Club event, which resulted in another house party of sorts. For the most part, Tamaki, Kyouya, Hani, and Mori had been available for the largest groups, while Hikaru and Kaoru had led several timid girls through the sections of the house Nekozawa had decorated for his purposes, passing it off as a Test of Courage. Seeing as Nekozawa himself abhorred bright lights and had a taste for the occult, it certainly provided a somewhat haunted house vibe. The majority of the gathering took place in the gardens, so Takeshi had not seen much of their host until now.

"Is there something I can help you with, Nekozawa-kun?" Takeshi asked politely. "If it's about your invitation to join your Black Magic Club, my answer is still the same."

Nekozawa smiled tightly, "All the same, our doors will always be open to you, should you reconsider. The reason I have approached you is to give you warning: a terrible curse has fallen upon your Host Club." As Takeshi's eyes narrowed, he nodded. "Yes, I have suspected it for some time, but you should beware of a female who plans terrible curses for one of your number."

Just at that moment, there was a high-pitched cry from the garden area. Heads turned towards a very young blonde girl, probably no more than three or four years old, as she launched herself into the arms of a surprised Tamaki. "Onii-chan!"

Girls all around the two squealed in delight at the touching scene, disregarding Tamaki's bewildered expression.

Takeshi turned towards Nekozawa. "Is that who you were talking about?"

"Kirimi!" the cloaked boy shouted. He pulled the hood over his face protectively as he stepped out into the direct sunlight. He stalked over towards Tamaki, who was fielding excited questions from the customers gathered around him.

"I don't have a sister!" the blonde insisted. "At least, I'm pretty sure I'm an only child... "

"But she has the same hair as you, Tamaki-sama!" said one guest.

The small girl tugged at the ribbon holding one of her pigtails up. "You're not my Onii-chan?" she asked with teary eyes.

Tamaki stared down at her for a moment, then hugged her to her chest. "I am! Starting today!" he bawled.

"I know you're feeling sorry for her, but don't say things without thinking," Haruhi said as she walked up with Hikaru and Kaoru beside her.

"If Tono isn't her brother, then who else could it be?" one of the twins asked.

"Ki...ri...mi..." Nekozawa gasped as he reached the group. The others turned towards the black cloaked figure as he seemed to waste away before their very eyes in the sunlight. He managed to pull himself up straight, his hands weakly clawing at the air as he struggled to reach for the toddler. "Be a good girl and come with me... "

Tamaki and Kirimi both shrieked in wordless terror and clutched at each other.

Hikaru dropped a fist into his palm. "Ah, that's right, this is Nekozawa-sempai's house, naturally 'Kill Me' is his sister."

Haruhi looked at him, " 'Kill Me' ?"

Kaoru scratched his head, "I thought he said 'Creamy', personally. But yeah... " He reached over to the stumbling third-year and whipped off his cloak, revealing a blonde figure that would have looked rather dashing if not for his widened eyes and sallow skin. "Nekozawa-sempai is also a blonde, I'd almost forgotten about it since he wears that cloak and wig all the time."

Takeshi looked towards Nekozawa, who had joined Kirimi in shrieking his lungs out, though the girl herself was now staring at her brother with wide eyes. There was a sudden rush of wind and he saw the cat-eyed maid he'd spoken with earlier drop to the ground behind her master.

"Apologies for our tardiness, Young Master," the maid said." She quickly yanked the black wig and cloak from Kaoru's surprised hands and threw them back over Nekozawa's head. A bald butler followed with a light-blocking umbrella, holding it over Nekozawa's head as the student recovered. He stammered out relieved thanks for the two, Kuretake and Kadomatsu.

The second his features were lost to the shadows again, Kirimi renewed her crying, causing Tamaki to wince and hand her over to the maid. "Unfortunately, while Kirimi-sama adores Umehito-sama," the maid Kuretake said, "too much light means death for our Young Master."

"On the other hand," the butler Kadomatsu added, "Kirimi-ojousama is terrified of the dark."

Hikaru nodded sagely, "We should keep her away from Takeshi-sempai, then."

Takeshi glared at the redhead. "I wouldn't do anything to a little kid. I'm not one to intentionally go out to traumatize random people. Speaking of which, where have you two been?"

"Exploring," Hikaru said. "Nekozawa-sempai has some pretty interesting stuff in his section of the house."

"It's actually rather creepy," Kaoru added. "Several of our guests were pretty upset."

"All according to your plan, I'm sure," Takeshi grumbled.

""We have no idea what you're implying, Takeshi-sempai,"" they answered innocently.

"Interestingly enough," Hikaru said. "Haruhi didn't seem to be fazed by any of it."

"And don't think we haven't noticed that she's immune to your little Glare of Doom either, Sempai," Kaoru added. "So it got us thinking of a new activity called... "

""... The 'Who Can Find Haruhi's Weakness' Game!"" the two of them grinned.

Takeshi stared, "Your naming sense leaves something to be desired... "

"Hang on, let me grab Tono and include him in this too," Kaoru said as he walked off.

Hikaru remained where he was, still wearing that playful smirk. "So, are you interested?"

"I'm interested to know how you plan to win this 'game'," Takeshi said darkly.

"Simple, Nekozawa-sempai said we could stay the weekend, right?" Hikaru thought for a moment, then nodded as if confirming for himself. "So, the time limit is until we leave tomorrow. Like the name implies, whoever can find Haruhi's weakness first by then is the winner."

"That..."

"What's the prize?" Tamaki said as he and Kaoru returned. Takeshi looked over and saw Haruhi still in discussion with Nekozawa, his sister, and his servants, happily oblivious to the twins' latest mischief.

"And so, I pray every night that Kurimi will learn to love the darkness," Nekozawa was saying.

Haruhi waved her hand dismissively, "No, you've got it backwards, I think. You should be trying to get used to the light."

"The prize," Kyouya had joined them, "will be these assorted pictures of Haruhi from when she was in middle school." He held up a fan of prints showing Haruhi before she had cut her hair, dressed in various styles of casual and school clothing. Most of them were candid photos, most likely taken by Haruhi's father and traded to Kyouya in exchange for favors or information about his daughter's classmates. There were a few, however, that appeared to be archived screenshots from a closed-circuit camera system.

Matsu-kaasan and I are going to have words, Takeshi thought darkly.

Tamaki and the twins all had expressions suggesting they were taking this contest very seriously. Hani had also arrived and was bouncing around excitedly at the idea of a contest. Takeshi himself wasn't immune to the idea of having pictures of his Ashikabi. If nothing else it would serve to remind himself that she was, in fact, female. In fact – he took another surreptitious look at the sampled photos in Kyouya's hand – he noticed just how feminine his Ashikabi could be with just a simple change of wardrobe.

""Ah, it looks like Takeshi-sempai wants to join in as well."" Takeshi blinked as he suddenly noticed the twins staring at him with knowing smirks. He looked to the side again, Renge had joined Haruhi and was talking with Kirimi and Kuretake in excited tones. Apparently they had found some sort of common ground. Haruhi stood by Nekozawa, both of them sharing glazed-over expressions as whatever the other three were talking about sailed completely over their heads.

He shook his head as he gathered his thoughts. "That's not it," he said. "I just want to make sure you guys don't get the pictures. Who knows what you'd do with them?"

Their heads bobbed with an agreeable expression. ""Suu~ure... ""

ooo

"Oi, Haruhi!"

Haruhi looked over to where Kaoru was waving her over. He and Hikaru were standing in front of a darkened entryway with a group of customers. "What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, we were just telling the girls about the history of this place," Hikaru was saying. "Apparently the Nekozawa family has some pretty interesting stories behind it."

"Like this place," Kaoru waved a hand around. "Apparently this is a cursed room, every time the previous master of the family perished, the staff always found the body... here."

One of the girls gasped in dismay. "In... in here?"

Kaoru shook his head, "No, actually, it was right—"

A skeletal hand clamped itself around Haruhi's shoulder. "—here!" Hikaru whispered from behind her.

She didn't even blink, brushing the arm off with a casual gesture.

Hikaru pouted, "Weren't you listening to our story?"

Haruhi grimaced, "I did, but I had a feeling you two were going to try to pull something like that. Besides, I'm the type of person who needs to see something before I'll believe in it."

"So ghost stories don't scare you?"

"Not really, no," she confirmed.

"Tch."

ooo

"Honey-sempai, why did you call me up here?"

Honey stepped away from the railing. "To see the view, of course. It's amazing!"

Though the Nekozawa's house was a (relatively) modest four stories, they had large towers at each corner of the foundation. Honey and Mori had climbed up to the top level of one, which really did feature an impressive view of the surrounding landscape.

"It's nice," Haruhi agreed. She suddenly started as Mori picked her up by her waist and raised her over his head. "What the, Mori-sempai?"

"Are you sure you had a good view?" Honey asked from below her. "I didn't get the best one until Takashi helped me!"

"Um... sure, I can see much more from up... here," she said bewilderedly.

"...And?" Honey pressed.

"And... it's much nicer?" Haruhi said, trying to figure out what sort of answer Honey was expecting from her.

There was a long pause, then Honey turned away in disappointment as Mori gently lowered her back to the floor.

ooo

"What's that you've got there, Takeshi-sempai?" Haruhi blinked as the tip of a steel katana was pointed in her direction.

"Erm," Takeshi scratched his head nervously. "It's the sword I use when I practice at home. I just felt like pulling it out."

"Ah," Haruhi didn't flinch as he ran it through several quick sequences barely half a meter from her face. "So it's a practice sword?"

"Oh no," he said. "It's quite real, quite... sharp. Very deadly, very dangerous."

Haruhi tilted her head, "If it's so dangerous, then you might want to put it away. You wouldn't want to accidentally injure one of our guests..."

Takeshi's shoulders slumped slightly as he lowered his blade.

ooo

""Oi, Haruhi, have you seen Nekozawa-sempai's study-room?""

"Um... yes, it's quite dark."

""...Boo?""

"WAAAAH! Takashi, help me!"

""Honey-sempai! Come back!""

"What are you guys doing?"

ooo

Takeshi blinked as he came upon the sight of the Hitachiin twins lounging in a side room with Tamaki. "Did all of our guests head home already?"

"Yeah, the last of them left a few minutes ago," Kaoru said. He was sprawled onto a comfortable-looking sofa next to his twin. "Kyouya-sempai had his family's chauffeurs take them back."

"I see," Takeshi nodded. "So what's going on now?"

""We're bored!"" they chimed. "This game isn't fun anymore!"

Takeshi looked over to where Tamaki was bent over the table, scribbling fast notes onto a sheet of paper. "What's he doing?"

"Tono?" Kaoru didn't even turn his head. "He's been brainstorming. He had a thought about collecting a bucket of insects from somewhere, but the house is too well-kept for that."

"At this point, I'm not sure even that would faze Haruhi-san," Takeshi said as he pulled up his own chair.

"Honestly, does that girl have any fears at all?" Hikaru complained. "She's so fearless it's not even cute. Zero points!"

"What are you saying about your sister!" Tamaki suddenly looked up with a scowl. "You're a horrible older brother."

"Sister? Brother?" Takeshi looked confused.

""That again?"" The twins frowned.

"Tono, I know you keep insisting you're Haruhi's father and everything," Hikaru idly rubbed the fingers of one of his hands together. "But what do you really think of her?"

"If we go with the 'Club-as-a-family' analogy, would that make Kyouya-kun the 'mother'?" Takeshi mused to himself. He dropped his head into his hand at the mental image that brought up.

"Is it something you don't want to consider?" Kaoru pressed the blonde. "Are you just falling back on the idea of a family to prevent yourself from thinking 'that'?"

Tamaki's eyes widened as the two rounded on him with a knowing look. "Of course..."

Takeshi broke off his musings to focus on the Host Club's leader, while the twins smirked.

"A snake!" Tamaki suddenly shouted. "Of course, what girl isn't scared of creepy-crawling reptiles? Hikaru, Kaoru, find me a snake! Maybe a python."

The two face-palmed. ""Where do you expect us to find a snake in a place like this?"" they demanded.

ooo

Haruhi struggled to keep the boredom from her face. Nekozawa-sempai had long since fled the overly sunny day, leaving her alone with his sister Kirimi, the maid Kuretake, and Renge, who had opted to stay over with the rest of the club instead of heading home with the rest of their customers. The three of them were seated around a patio table, happily conversing about various shoujo manga they were fans of. Haruhi had the feeling such topics were not suitable for a toddler, but apparently Kuretake had been using such stories to calm Kirimi down whenever she asked about her older brother.

A sudden breeze of wind caused her to look up at the sky. Clearing her throat to catch the others' attention, she pointed a finger up, "We should probably head inside. It looks like it might start raining soon." She frowned as she saw the darkened clouds which suggested there would be a bit more than rain.

Kuretake narrowed her eyes as she saw the same signs of an incoming storm. "You're right," she said. She smoothly rose from her chair and leaned over to scoop Kirimi into her arms. "Come Young Mistress, it's time to head inside."

"But I wanna tell more stories!" the young blonde protested.

"We can continue inside, maybe with some hot chocolate," the maid assured her. She turned towards Renge and bowed slightly, "Another guest room will prepared for you as well, Houshakuji-san. Fujioka-san, Ootori-san has requested you receive a guest room to yourself as well, is that acceptable?"

"Um, yeah," Haruhi said. "That was thoughtful of him..."

"I will make the necessary arrangements once the Young Mistress has settled down," Kuretake confirmed. They turned towards the house to head inside... and froze.

Standing in their path was the largest land animal Haruhi had ever seen in person. She knew larger animals, like elephants, existed in the world, but this thing was still massive. The creature was vaguely wolf-like, with spiky white tufts of fur sprouting from its head. It's shoulders towered over all their heads, though it's head was lowered towards the ground as it turned cold, yellow eyes at them. Renge squeaked in fear as the wolf turned its attention to them.

Without taking her eyes away, Haruhi turned her head slightly over her shoulder. "Kuretake-san, I don't suppose this is a pet of the Nekozawa family, is it?"

Kirimi's fearful crying was all the confirmation she needed, but the cat-eyed maid still answered, taking care to keep her voice low. "Not at all, we don't even keep cats as pets, since Kirimi-sama is afraid of them as well."

Haruhi took a long stride forward to place herself in front of the others. She noticed the wolf focus its attention on her and she took a slight gamble, stepping to the side slightly. Its head turned to continue tracking her and she allowed a tight smile to form on her face. "Get to the house," she told the others. "I'll try to keep it focused on me." She didn't wait for confirmation before she quickly walked away from the group, hopefully pulling the creature away from the path so they get to the house unimpeded.

It worked, it stepped off the path towards her, narrowing its eyes as it stalked forward. Then there was a wordless shout from the others as they ran for the house, the sound catching the wolf's attention. Without thinking, Haruhi launched herself forward towards the white beast. It turned back towards her and bared its teeth as it set itself to meet her, the door to the house banging open with a crash.

"Haruhi!"