07.31.11

IT MIGHT ALL WORK OUT

Emphasis on might.

So my power's been out for the last few days thanks to a hurricane. I don't know how many of you readers live in my area, but you may have experienced similar problems. I bring this up because I know it's been a while since I last posted. Considering I'm coming to the end of this part of my story, I'm sure a lot of you have gotten really impatient having to wait for so long. That's why it took so long, I apologize.

Now, after spending several hours lying on my futon and staring at the wall, the sun finally rose and I was able to get up for real. My mind was still on Tamaki and what he'd said to me and what I'd say to him and the others when I found them. Unfortunately, I was drawing a massive blank on that third one.

I got dressed quickly and forewent breakfast. The hotel card clutched in my hand, I ran out the door, just barely remembering to lock it on my way out. Several neighbors who were bringing out their garbage stopped to say hello to me, but I was so distracted that I couldn't give more than a brief wave in their general direction.

I hailed a taxi and gave him the address I'd pretty much memorized at this point. Five minutes later, he was driving away from me as I stood before the hotel building staring up at a random third story window.

Now, knowing that this was a reality show on public television, you'd probably think the hotel my pet androids and the film crew were staying at would be pretty fancy. Or at least halfway decent.

You'd be wrong.

I mean it, I don't think I've ever seen a wrong ratty and broken down looking building. Not helping at all was the fact that I saw three woman leaving who looked rather suspiciously like hookers. I probably reread that little card fifteen times, making completely sure that I was in the right place and the driver hadn't missed a turn somewhere of something.

But no, this was definitely the place, and decrepit or not, I was going in and finding the androids now. I walked across the parking lot filled with purpose, taking note of the row of parked vans I knew belonged to the film crew. I pushed open the glass door, which had a large crack running down the length of it. I noticed right away that the front desk was empty, but walked over anyway, thinking maybe the person in charge had just stepped into the bathroom or something.

Being annoyingly short, I had to stand on my tip-toes to look over the edge of the counter and see that it was completely deserted. There was a smoking cigarette butt in an ashtray next to a computer that was so old, Kyoya would probably want to vomit if he saw it. From that, I could tell that someone had definitely been here recently, but for all I know, they could have been arrested for drugs or kidnapped by loan sharks seconds before I got there.

In a place like this, I wouldn't have been surprised.

I rang the small bell labeled 'RING FOR SERVICE,' not that I was really expected it to matter at this point.

"Hello?" I called out. "Is anyone there?"

A door opening down the hall drew my attention away. I turned my head and looked down a long hallway of numbered doors. The one opening was number 53 and the person exiting was a very familiar and meaningfully named Usagiuma.

"Hey!" My mouth and my feet moved without any of my own input, but I wasn't about to stop them.

Usagiuma's eyes bugged out, like I'd just pointed a gun to his head and demanded all his money.

"Oh crap," I could just barely hear him mutter.

"Hey," I repeated. "I need to talk to you."

He awkward glanced around, as if expecting to see some of his pals pop out of thin air to intimidate me away.

"Uuuh, sounds great! But now's a bad time, so if you'll just make an appointment with my secretary, I'll-"

"No, right now."

Personally, I don't know who was more shocked by the forcefulness I was showing. Because I'm not a confrontational person, and if something or someone bothers me for whatever reason, I tend to just roll my eyes, ignore them and go on my merry way. This time, however, I was close to boiling over with the desire to take what remained of my explosive anger out on Usagiuma. He'd sure be a more deserving target, the robots at least had their hearts in the right place. Mostly.

Usagiuma was taken aback, but not willing to let the situation fell out of his hands just yet. He put on a bored face and crossed his arms over his pudgy chest.

"Okay, this has been fun, but I don't have time to play games. I'm a very busy man with a TV show to shot, so if you'll excuse me, Ms. Fujiyama, I-"

"It's Fujioka," I shouted back, moving closer in a threatening manner that actually made him gasp. "Fu-ji-o-ka, and you are not going anywhere. You are going to stand here and listen to me!"

At this, my whole body was shaking and I could hear my heart beat in my ears. This man was bringing out all the anger and frustration in ways the robots never have. Thinking about that made my feelings of guilt overtake me again, but I fought them off and turned them into anger at Usagiuma. I was going to need as much of it as possible if I planned to keep this up before coming to my senses.

He opened his mouth, probably to make another excuse to leave, but there was no way in hell I was about to let him.

"For the last few days, you and your stupid TV show have been making my life miserable. Not only that, you are endangering the lives of my cousins over and over again all for the sake of ratings and money. Furthermore, you locked me in a closet when I tried to discuss this calmly with you, which led to me being mistaken for a stuntwoman and almost getting me killed! Do you have any idea how many times I could get you arrested?

"All I want right now are my friends. I'm here to get them and bring them home and there's not a thing you can do to stop me."

Usagiuma was backed into a wall by now and I didn't realize until I'd finished shouting at him and wondered just when during my tirade had I begun moving. He had a hand raised in front of his face in a defensive position, but dropped it, likely assuming that I was finished.

"W-well," he said, trying to regain his footing. "That's all fine and good, but I didn't lock you in a closet, it was a changing room. Besides, aren't you forgetting something? You're friends signed a contract, and they can't go back on that."

I grit my teeth, and my mouth ran away from me a second time.

"You can take that contract and shove it up your ass!"

"Why, you little-" Usagiuma's face broke into a snarl. His slightly crooked teeth were highly visible and his beady eyes shone with anger. I had to admit, it was kind of a scary sight. I tired to move away, but he grabbed my arm in a surprisingly tight grip. He raised the other one, his intent obvious. I closed my eyes, shrinking back defensively, but the hand I expecting to connect with my face never even got close.

I heard Usagiuma gasp, and tentatively opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was another person's hand clamped tightly around his, so tight, I think I could see some veins popping out. I followed the length of the new arrival's arm, and found myself looking into the darkening grey eyes of Kyoya. A deep frown was etched into his face, his brow set in a glare that would have made the devil cry in fear.

"Pardon me, Usagiuma-san," he said in a polite but deadly way. "But I'm afraid my cousins and I must agree with Haruhi on this."

For a moment, I was confused, but then my brain finally registered the full scene before my eyes. Lo and behold, all six robots were there. They stood as a group, the twins and Tamaki on Kyoya's left, Hunny and Mori on his right. Tamaki looked at me, a peculiar smile on his face. I almost couldn't contain the urge to smiling back.

Usagiuma was sweating now, and I couldn't tell if it was from fear or the strain of trying to free his arm from Kyoya's iron-like grip. He tried to pull it out with his other hand, removing it from my arm and freeing me in the process.

"Let go of me," Usagiuma shrieked. I could hear some cats screeching in the distance, possibly in response. "You little shit, you work for me!"

"On the contrary," Kyoya put on his signature 'I-am-superior-to-you-in-every-way' smile and I'd never been more happy to see it in my life. "The contract said nothing about you owning us. Not that it would matter if it did since there was nothing legal about that so-called contract in the first place."

That both surprised and didn't surprise me, which is a much more mind numbing combination of emotions than one might think.

"W-w-w-what?" Usagiuma shoot backwards shaking and sweating profusely and generally looking extremely guilty. "I don't k-know what you talking about!"

Kyoya bent his head a little, the sunlight shining over the lenses of his glasses and covering his eyes.

"Don't you?" He asked. "Because I find it odd that you even felt the need to sign random people on the street in the first place. Could it be that no real professionals will work with you?"

"I-I-I-"

"I see," Kyoya nodded. He stood over the sniveling form of Usagiuma, clearly basking in the glow of his triumph for as long as he could.

I felt a tugging on my shirt and looked down to find Hunny giving me a big eyed sad face that would probably make 'moe' fan girls melt into goo.

"Haru-chan," he sounded close to crying. "We're really sorry we made you mad. We won't do it again, right everybody?"

I looked away, feeling the eyes of every single one of them locked firmly on me. They didn't say anything, but gave me similar pleading faces (though without the tears). I said nothing, taking in their individual faces one at a time until I reached Kyoya, who remained impassive and stared right back at me.

I frowned, I should have known he'd be the most difficult about this. At least, that's what I thought.

"I suppose I made an error in judgment," he said softly. "It wasn't my intention to anger you and I should have quit pushing you before everything became too difficult. For this, I deeply apologize Haruhi."

I blinked. I blinked and I stared. I blinked and I stared and I opened my mouth. I don't know why I did that last one because I had absolutely no idea what to say. Here was Kyoya, having a very un-Kyoya like moment and admitting that he'd done something wrong. If it hadn't actually happened, I'd probably think someone was hacking my account and writing bad fan fiction of this blog. I couldn't take my eyes off him nor could I get Tamaki's voice out of my head:

"I love you, the others love you too."

I felt like closed my eyes and going back to sleep for several hours. This was becoming harder and harder every second, and I still had no idea how to handle the notion of six robots having real feelings that didn't tie in to their wiring. As if sensing my distress, Kyoya started to walk away, motioning for us to follow.

"We should finish this discussion in a more private setting," he commented.

I stared after him, inwardly sighing at the flippancy of his statement. Of course Kyoya hadn't really changed, it would have been stupid for me to assume as much. Somehow though, that was okay. He may have been an ass (and believe me, that's never going to change), but I know now that underneath it all, he really did care about me and the others.

I silently followed him, prompting the others to follow me. I took three steps, coming up right behind Kyoya, when two very large bodyguard-type men stepped out. I nearly ran into Kyoya, he stopped so abruptly. The duo stared down at us, dark glares that probably made babies cry. I turned around, and their were two more man behind us, baring down on Tamaki and the others. I heard a chuckle, one that filled me with pure disgust for the person it was coming from.

"So sorry, boys," Usagiuma came to stand in the middle. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave just yet. We still have several more days of shooting and I just can't afford to lose you."

"You can't keep us here!" Hunny shouted, balling his hands into fists. "We don't like you, Usa-baka, you were mean to Haru-chan!"

Usagiuma could only stare at the shortest robot.

"Alright, enough of this," he then shouted, snapping his fingers. "Boys, get them into the changing room, and throw that girl out!"

The closet bodyguard loomed over me, putting a meaty hand on my suddenly very thin looking wrist. Not a split second later, that same giant man was flying through the air, courtesy of a double punch delivered by Hikaru and Kaoru. I had no idea how they got there so fast, but you'd better believe I wasn't complaining.

"Nobody touches Haruhi like that and gets away with it!" They shouted.

The other man charged at them, while the third and fourth went for the other four. Predictably, an all out brawl broke out right there in the hotel lobby. Even more predictably, the androids were winning by a massive degree. Were it not for the sheer determination of the four bodyguards to get back up no matter how many times and how painfully their were thrown back down.

I was amazed that they weren't drawing the attention of the hotel's other guests, assuming any existed. I was starting to believe that this place was completely empty aside from this quote unquote film crew.

What a shocker.

As the fight went on, I think Usagiuma realized his trump card wasn't going to cut it. He plastered himself flat against the wall, which didn't do much good thanks to his giant beer belly. One of the men had finally been taken out, but the other three weren't done. I watched Mori deliver a high kick to one's face while Hunny was taking a lower route, going for the man's knees. The twins had the second man and moved in perfect synchronization to the point that their opponent could do little else besides stand there with his fists half raised. Tamaki had the third man, but what really amazed me was that Kyoya was actually helping him. Granted, Tamaki did the brunt of the fighting (he threw a pretty good punch from the bruises on the guy's face), but whenever he was closed enough, Kyoya would take out one or two more of his teeth.

I don't know how long exactly it went on for, all I know was that by the time the second man (the twin's) had gone down, I'd decided that was enough.

"Hey," I called out, but they didn't hear me. "Guys, stop it! You're done enough!"

The third man flew over my head, courtesy of Hunny. He sprang right back up and stumbled into the brawl zone yet again.

"Guys!"

They still weren't hearing me, meanwhile I was boiling over with frustration. This had to end and it had to end now. I took a deep breath and-

"STOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Now, I don't really know how since the room wasn't really that big, but my voice echoed several times. All movement had ceased, like time itself had complied to my demands. The six robots were staring at me now, Hikaru and Tamaki holding one man each. We all remained frozen until Usagiuma, whom I'd somehow forgotton was there, finally succumbed to whatever intense shock he was undergoing and fainted right on the spot.

I breathed heavily, my throat aching slightly from the strain. Composing myself, I crossed the hall, stepping over the two unconscious thugs in the process. I motioned for Hikaru and Tamaki to drop the other two, who by now were out cold as well from the look of things.

I stood tall, which honestly wasn't saying much, and proud. This was my way of reminding them once and for all that I was in charge and I make the rules. If that wasn't a good enough message, the next thing I did sure would be.

"Here's how things are going to work," I began, speaking authoritatively in a way I recalled my mother speaking to her clients on days when she took me to work with her. "From now on, if I tell any of you not to do something, you do not do it and you do not question me. If I tell you it's time to stop, then you stop. If I say it's time to go home, then you follow me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Haruhi-chan!" They answered in unison (though I think Kyoya left off the '-chan').

I was a tiny bit taken aback by their compliance, but I kept from showing it pretty easily. Besides, I knew that they couldn't disobey me anyway.

'Tamaki did,' a little voice in my head whispered. Annoyed, I brushed it aside. That issue was for another day, right now I just wanted to get home and make myself a nice big cup of coffee.

"Good," I nodded. "Now let's go home."

"So this means you forgive us?" The twins called out.

I stopped, staring at the twins who looked back expectantly. I bite my lip and looked away, knowing that a part of me still hadn't. Or rather, a part of me wanted very much to walk away and let them fend for themselves.

But there was another part of me, a much stronger one that shoved that first part back and reminded me that they weren't really so bad, they just made a mistake, it's only-

…my train of thought kind of crashed right there.

I shook my head, coming back to reality and reminding myself that I still needed to answer them. I studied their faces, their hopeful expressions, and that second part of me claimed an indecisive victory.

"I forgive you."

They looked ready to start cheering and possibly hug me into an early grave.

"This time," I added immediately. "Don't ever do anything like this again."

The six of them quickly agreed, still smiling just as happily as though I hadn't said anything. As I'd suspected, I got a bone crushing hug from everyone aside from Kyoya. He was never the 'hugging kissing' type anyway, so he just smiled and patted my shoulder twice before taking the lead and walking out of the hotel and into the sun. We were halfway to the street when a thought struck me.

"The film."

Everyone looked at me with curiosity.

"What film?" The twins asked.

"You know," I motioned with my hands. "The film that they shot with you guys, they still have it!"

They collectively blinked, then, to my utter confusion and agitation, burst out laughing. Their humor came in varying degrees, Kyoya was chuckling softly, the twins were rolling around on the ground like asylum escapees.

"What is so funny?" I demanded, my face turning red.

"Oh, Haruhi," Tamaki managed, grasping my shoulder to gain some balance. "You really think we haven't taken care of that?"

I blinked.

"Yeah, Haruhi," the twins slithered up in front of my face. "We broke into the editing room and destroyed it all hours ago."

My stomach dropped. Very slowly, my neck turned to the person who I just knew had the idea to do that. Kyoya smirked at me.

"It wouldn't have been a good idea for Ouran Co. products to appear in the media anyway."

I didn't know whether to laugh uproariously or punch him in the face.

So that's how our adventure as reality show stars came to an end. When we got home, I made myself that cup of coffee, and then had to make a second one because Tamaki was so fascinated by it the first time and begged me to show him how I did it. I tried to refuse, and then he tried to do it himself.

Meanwhile, Kyoya was back to using my laptop and installing updates to programs I later found he had put on by himself without asking. Hikaru and Kaoru took over my TV again and put on another horror movie marathon that scared Tamaki and Hunny to the point where they wouldn't come out of the closet until I ordered them to put on something else. The channel they clicked onto turned out to be a cooking network doing a special on cake decorating, and Hunny had it one for the next four hours.

All in all, it was pretty much back to business as usual. Only now they would at least stop when they knew they were getting too crazy. I was surprised by how easily I slept that night, knowing that tomorrow I'd have to chaperone these wild robots for yet another very slow day of headaches.

But things were getting easier. Slowly but surely, I was growing accustomed to them, even though it would be a while yet before I could completely enjoy their presence in my life.

Right then and there, the only thing I knew was that this might actually work out in the end.

Might.

Posted by Haruhi at 9:16 pm 0 comments