Chapter 25

The festival came to a calm close, and when Kagome returned to the club room the following day, she was greeted by the chaos that was, at this point, normal. Or at least that was what she thought until she came face-to-face with a blonde, blue-eyed little girl. Based on the frilly pink elementary school uniform, she was clearly a student at Ouran, but that didn't explain why she was here, on the high school side of the campus.

"The tragic heroine!" She shouted with one look at Kagome.

"Exsqueeze me?" Kagome blinked, turning to look at an equally disheartened Haruhi. "Did I miss something?"

"She called us a reverse harem!" Hikaru groaned out through clenched teeth.

The girl piped up again, her wide eyes looking on with no emotion. "Debauchery!" Then, a huge grin bloomed across her face. "There's debauchery here!" She began to cheer as everyone looked at her in horrified shock.

Who was teaching this innocent child something so graphic?

She then began to point happily.

"You're the glasses character!" She smiled at Kyoya.

Next was Mitsukuni, "Boy Lolita," and Takashi, "The stoic type!"

The twins looked on in horror as she said the phrase: "Twincest!"

Haruhi flinched as the girl gave her the "Bookworm" title before calling Kagome "The tragic heroine."

But when the little girl got to Tamaki, she had a teary smile and jumped into his arms with a shout. "You have blonde hair, which makes you my big brother!"

Kagome nodded before turning away with a shake of her head and promptly ignored the situation, taking the time to sit at a table and write in her journal before their customers arrived.

Since awakening within this new timeline, Kagome has taken to writing. Keeping a collection of journals for over a year now. Her latest one is a simple red hardcover notebook, its only unique feature being the wards carved into the innermost cover, safeguarding it from curious demons (her mind going to the two such demons who had no understanding of personal boundaries). The sutras made it impossible for a demon to open, let alone touch, and any human who looked would undoubtedly think it was a work of fiction, not a diary, based on its absurd contents of time travel, time theory, cursed items, and demons.

It was a routine activity that Kagome never suspected would lead to a heartbreaking confrontation.

~o.O~O.o~

Haruhi wasn't one to pick a fight, yet she often found herself in one—not physical fights, but definitely a few verbal ones. Her strong sense of right and wrong led to action instead of understanding, and today was one of them.

The club was just in the midst of cleaning up for the day when she happened upon the red notebook. She'd seen it plenty of times to know it belonged to Kagome. And Haruhi wasn't one to be nosy, yet it seemed the notebook had been accidentally dropped and opened to a random page.

"Oh, Kagome!" Haruhi called, bending down to pick it up. "You dropped-" Her sentence died on her tongue, her eyes transfixed on a single word that seemed to jump off the pages.

DEMON.

It popped up several times, her eyes wide as she read.

'They're all demons. This school is filled with demons! And now I am forced to participate in this "Host Club."

I'm fairly certain the twins are kitsune, and the one with glasses is a snake, possibly a dragon. As for the handsy blonde, I can't say, only that he's most likely a halfer like Inuyasha. The only ones I'm remotely uncomfortable with are the tall, dark-haired one and the short blonde. They're powerful but are nothing in comparison to Sesshomaru.

Either way, I'll have to get used to them; I couldn't possibly let Haruhi be alone with them. She's human-'

Haruhi snapped it shut, afraid to see what Kagome wrote about her.

"What's this?" She demanded coolly despite the sharp pain she felt in her chest.

"Sorry-" Kagome smiled, a little embarrassed, but held out her hand. "I must have dropped my journal on accident."

"No." Haruhi snapped, her tone making Kagome jump, her eyes narrowed in a rare glare. "I meant what you wrote!"

Kagome blinked in surprise before panic spilled across her face. "Please let me explain-"

"You can't go around calling people demons, Kagome!" Haruhi yelled, her chest puffed in anger and hurt. "Not only that, they're your friends! They might be insensitive and plain rude at times, but that doesn't make them monsters like the ones in those fairytales you told at the shrine!"

Kagome's face twisted with several emotions, but she mostly looked hurt. "It's not what you think-"

Haruhi shook her head, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "And what about me? Did you also write horrible things about me? I thought we were friends!"

"We are! If you'd just give me the chance to explain!"

"What's there to explain!?"

Tamaki approached calmly, his blue eyes filled with a look of soft hurt. "Haruhi, please, you need to calm down."

"But you didn't see what she wrote, senpai," Haruhi cried, using the journey to point for emphasis. "She called everyone a demon, Kyoya, a dragon, and you a halfer."

Tamaki touched her shoulder softly, the look in his eyes as gentle as his voice. "But she isn't wrong."

She stiffened, staring at him with a shocked expression.

He grabbed the book, his face contorting into a grimace. Steam rose from his hand, the smell of burning flesh accompanying it. He held the book out to Kagome, who scrambled to get it, her face conveying her panic and concern. "We are demons, but unlike the others, I am a hanyou." He explained softly.

His appearance seemed to shimmer in an otherworldly manner. Tamaki's violet-blue eyes deepened into two-tone violet-blue and lavender, the unnatural purple hue seeming to glow against his clear skin, with a pale sky blue marking his upper and lower lids. His hair took on a more white gold shine, parting to reveal a luminous halo and star cresting his brow. Once rounded ears now ended in a soft point that peaked out from his hair.

"Tamaki-senpai!?" Haruhi looked between him and Kagome. Kagome looked at him with a look of awe, her eyes wide and glossy with surprise.

"I guess I have no choice; you owe me, Tamaki," Kyoya sighed, looking from the blonde to Kagome. "And you-" Kagome seemed to shy away from his gaze. "Good guess." Kyoya took off his glasses and, in the same motion, pushed back his bangs. Atop his head, his hair grew thick and glossy, black horns appeared to grow and curl back from his temple to his elvish ears. A bright magenta stone rests on his brow, the color complimenting his silver-slitted pupil gaze marked by purple on his eyelids.

"Yay!" Mitsukuni cheered, jumping around excitedly. "I can finally show K'gome-chan how cute I am!" As he spun around, an orange tail grew from his backside, with black stripes and a white tip. He didn't appear all that different; his hair was still blonde, and his eyes were still the same color as honey with an orange hue but with a charcoal mark upon his eyelid, making it look like he was wearing eyeliner. His ears ended in a point, with a sharp line marking his cheekbones in the same color as the three red-orange stripes on his forehead, with the middle being longer. But he looked bigger, his arms and torso looking larger as well as a couple inches taller.

Next to Mitsukuni, Mori gave a pleased hum. His grey eyes took on a dark silver hue, and his cheeks had two thick navy blue stripes. Other than the markings and pointed ears, Mori barely changed.

"You knew?" The twins spoke in unison, yet their expressions were different. Hikaru looked shocked, whereas Kaoru looked hurt. A wind picked up around them, and when it settled, they looked on with amber-slit pupil eyes. Their faces were free of markings, but their ears were pointed, and at their backs swished an undetermined amount of fiery red fox tails.

Kaoru stepped forward. "But how?"

Mitsukuni grinned, running up to Kagome and hugging her at the waist. "K'gome-chan is a miko in the Grand Daiyoukai's employ."

"I'm not in his employ," Kagome sputtered, "He's my friend."

Everyone looked ready to ask a dozen questions, but Haruhi was shaking.

Haruhi's world spun on an axis she didn't know existed, the boundaries between myth and reality crumbling before her eyes. Her mind raced, each revelation unfolding like pages from a book of myth and legend coming to life before her eyes.

She had always thought her friends' peculiarities were just quirks of their wealth and eccentric personalities. Never once had the notion that these quirks could be supernatural in nature crossed her mind.

Haruhi stumbled back, caught between the urge to run and the desire to understand. "You're...all…" Haruhi couldn't finish her sentence, her voice a mere whisper. She clutched her hands, her gaze shifted between her friends—no, these beings—stood before her, their true forms exposed, trying to reconcile the beings of myth standing before her with the people she thought she knew. She'd walked the halls with these individuals and shared laughs, but now, she realized they were more like strangers.

The once comforting familiarity of the Host Club now felt alien, intimidating, almost frightening. Every interaction suddenly flutters through her mind, trying to see the warning signs.

It was mind-boggling that Kagome, who had become her closest friend and seemingly the most ordinary among them, harbored such a profound secret.

Kagome's expression softened, understanding dawning in her eyes as she watched Haruhi struggle to accept the reality unraveling before her. "Haruhi," she started, her voice a gentle balm in the chaotic air, "Please know, they are still the people you've always known; I am the same person."

Tamaki, now revealed as something far beyond the charming, flamboyant club president, approached her with a look of concern that was both human and otherworldly; he looked painfully beautiful, like an angel. "Haruhi, we never intended to deceive you. Our true natures... it's not something we can easily share."

Kyoya, who had been silent, spoke up. "There are rules - revelations like this aren't taken lightly."

Tamaki added, "Our world is not always...safe for humans. Knowing what we truly are could have put you in danger."

She turned to Kagome, her eyes searching. "And me?" Haruhi found her voice, a mix of fear and curiosity. "Am I the only human here?" The thought hung heavy, a single thread of normalcy in a tapestry of the fantastical.

Kagome moved closer, her expression soft but serious. "I'm just as human as you."

Haruhi shrieked. "But you knew!?"

Kagome nodded. "Because I am a miko, my reiryoku allows me to sense them."

"It allows you to do more than sense us," Hikaru snapped with a hiss. "You can kill us." His body tensed as he stood before Kaoru as if to protect him from Kagome. "Our parents were informed that a miko had joined the academy. They said she could be dangerous! And here she was, pretending to be our friend!"

"I never pretended—we are friends!" Kagome cried tears now in her eyes, looking up to Hikaru and the frozen Kaoru next to him, his bangs falling to shadow his face. "I am your friend!" Kagome stressed. I would never attack any of you!"

"How can we believe you?" Hikaru asked. "You are associated with Daiyoukai Taisho! Even among our kind, his word is law, and yet you call for him whenever you please!"

Kagome looked to the floor with a pained look. "It's complicated."

"Hikaru," Kaoru whispered, his clawed hand gripping his brother's shoulder. Kaoru looked so hurt. Was it because, despite liking Kagome, they had all been keeping such big secrets from each other?

"Uncomplicate it," Hikaru snapped.

Everyone looked at Kagome, a smog of tension filling the air. Haruhi looked at each person, trying to glean something about the situation.

Kagome grew painfully still, the color draining from her face. Then, in a very quiet voice, she whispered in defeat, "You wouldn't believe me."

"Taisho?" Haruhi whispered, trying to piece together the fragments of information she knew, the connections forming an intricate pattern that seemed to weave their lives together in a way she had never imagined. She remembered Kagome's grandfather pointing out to an older, stoic man and how comfortable Kagome was with him. Could that man, Sesshomaru Taisho, be who they were talking about?

"That's enough," Mitsukuni shouted, going over to stand in front of Kagome, his tail flicking sharply against the floor, making a loud thud. The two were nearly eye level now. "K'gome-chan has done nothing wrong; besides, it's not like she was trying all that hard to hide it."

Mori nodded. "Kagome has shown us nothing but kindness and friendship since the day we met her. Her abilities do not define her intentions," Mori's words resonated through the group, a steady anchor in the midst of turmoil.

"I've known since we went to the jungle pool." Mitsukuni grinned.

Kyoya took that moment to speak up, a hand to his chin. "I had my suspicions since then; she made it clear she knew we were youkai. Even with those claw marks, Kagome has been nothing but courteous. It also would make sense as she does live on a shrine." Kagome seemed to flinch at the mention of claw marks, and Haruhi had to wonder if he was referring to the scars Kagome didn't like to show.

Tamaki in all his dramatics let out a cry. "You knew!?" Looking at Kyoya with mock betrayal.

Kyoya looked exhaustedly at Tamaki. "It's kind of obvious!"

"Kagome!" Tamaki cried, racing over to Kagome, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Why am I the last to know!? Do you not trust me!?"

Kagome smiled. "I'm sorry senpai." She hugged him and Tamaki hugged her back with a dramatic sob.

"And what about those marks Kyoya was talking about? Are you being bullied by other demons!?"

"I never meant to hide what I was from you, any of you," Her eyes swept everyone. "There were so many times I wanted to tell you all, but it never felt like the right time. I wasn't trying to hide it; that was never my intention, I promise! I value our friendship more than anything."

The tension seemed to dissipate like a relieved sigh.

And then Kagome was in front of Haruhi, holding both her hands in hers. "I am so sorry you had to find out this way." She squeezed her hands. "It wasn't my secret to tell, but I still hid things from you."

Haruhi blinked, and then she sighed, shoulders sagging. "I can't really be mad at you; I'm just not sure how to handle all this new information."

Kagome gave her a gentle smile. "I kinda freaked out when I learned about them too."

"When was that?"

Kagome thought for a moment before sheepishly explaining. "My powers awakened on my fifteenth birthday when a demon tried to kill me."

"What!?"

wolfYLady: They know! Wow, it took a long time to get here, but I'm happy to have been able to share this story with all of you! Now we can get on with some more drama.

As for pairing…. I've decided to do one-shot pairings. I will move this story into a series on Ao3, where I will post the one-shot pairing endings (as I write them). They are more likely to be drabbles- if I'm being honest. Like I said earlier in another chapter, I can't decide on this story's pairing, so I decided to do a little of everything!

Thanks for the continued support. I hope to post more soon, as our favorite wolf should appear soon!

Until next time!