Author's notes: A bit of a short chapter this time, but that's just how it worked out, and next chapter is the longest one yet.

Thanks as always to my reviewers! Last chapter's concluding scene was one that I heavily rethought and revised as I was writing it, and at one point questioned if I should be writing it at all, so it's such a relief that it went over well. (So far, at least; there are a few regular reviewers who haven't said anything about it yet.)

- Chapter 15: Imperfect Timing -

Kanae enjoyed her time shopping with Haruhi's two friends. She had been slightly worried that without Haruhi around as a go-between, the girls might be uncomfortable hanging out with an adult of no familial relation to them, but both Ishigaki and "Little Sis" (as everyone seemed to call her) were vibrant, energetic, and unreserved, each in turn freely leading the group into whatever shop caught her interest. Little Sis was even unashamed to ask Kanae to buy her things, and Kanae was unashamed to fulfill her requests, and bask in her cheerful, giggling gratitude.

Ishigaki was in a spending mood as well, and by the end of the day had a whole new outfit. "Suzumiya's going to wish she had come with us," she grinned. "I look almost as good as she does now!"

"Oh, don't give us that 'almost as good' stuff, kiddo," Kanae said. "You're very cute in your own way, regardless of the outfit."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that." She twirled in front of a mirror and flashed it a flirty pout. "Your niece has great looks and brilliant fashion sense, which I guess she doesn't flaunt as much while she's visiting you, but for most of us girls it's pretty hard to shine while she's around."

"If her fashion sense is that good, you should have her pick out an outfit for you."

"Oh, I know. I looked absolutely killer in that fashion show she put on. Usually I don't worry about that stuff too much, though. I mean, I already have a boyfriend."

"Huh?" Little Sis looked puzzled. "What's having a boyfriend got to do with it?"

"Nothing, sweetheart," Kanae assured her.

Ishigaki looked a little sheepish, but cheerfully so. "Yeah, Haruhi tells me I'm a little boy crazy. That's not something you need to worry about anyway, Little Sis. I can already tell that when you're grown up, no boy will be able to resist you."

"Hmmm!" the little one pronounced, clearly not yet sold on the whole dating scene, and munched on one of the Pocky sticks Kanae had bought her.

When they got back to the house, Kanae started to fear that despite the assurances when they left, they might walk in on Haruhi and Kyon making out. On the face of it it seemed ridiculous, especially since Ishigaki had made it clear that Kyon was not Haruhi's boyfriend, but there was no predicting that niece of hers, and Kanae really didn't want to have to deal with a scene like that. So as they walked up to the door, she hollered, "We're home! Up an' at 'em – the party train is pulling into the station!"

"Toot, toot!" Little Sis sang.

Haruhi opened the door almost immediately, startling Kanae. She hadn't been actually expecting her niece to have to break off a lip-lock, but ordinarily Haruhi was not one to answer the door, especially not for someone who had a house key.

"Hey, you guys are back!" She was grinning brightly. "It's been so dull here without you! What'd you get? Wow, Yui, you look terrific! Almost as good as if I'd picked your outfit out for you!"

Kanae was more than willing to show off what they'd got, but Ishigaki was enjoying the admiration, and Little Sis was holding up the new comic book she had to show Haruhi, so she instead sidled past the three of them and went looking for Kyon. She found him in his guest bedroom. It looked like he was working on his homework.

"Hey," she said.

He started. "Oh, uh, hello Miss Suzumiya. Sorry, I didn't hear you guys come back." He scrambled to his feet to give her a short bow of penitence. "Did you have a good time?"

"Sure did. You two missed out. Anything interesting happen while we were gone?"

"Interesting?" That one word seemed to worry him. And while she had of course expected it to worry him, this wasn't the "She's onto us" worry that she had expected to see. It was more like worry that something bad had happened to the shopping party. "Why do you ask that?"

Kanae shrugged. "Well, maybe I'm imagining it, but Haruhi seemed relieved to have us back home."

"Oh." The relaxing of his shoulders was subtle, but Kanae had been watching for that. "Yeah, there was one thing. A man came by and said there's been a gas leak in the area, and there's a chance it could cause hallucinations."

"Oh boy. You're serious?"

"Yeah. Haruhi didn't tell you?" He said that like it was shocking, but also par for the course where Haruhi was concerned.

"I only saw her for a couple of seconds. Did the man say we should evacuate?"

"No, just avoid stuff like driving until it clears up. It's not toxic or anything, and he said even the chance of hallucinations is pretty low. I mean, you haven't seen anything funny, have you?"

"Not yet. Ohhh, never a dull moment. Are you two okay?"

"Yeah. You know Haruhi; stuff like this only excites her."

"Mmm hmm. Well, I won't keep you from your homework any longer. Stay frosty, kiddo."

She headed back downstairs to find Haruhi had got out the mahjong tiles and was setting up a game with the other girls.

"Hey auntie!" she called. "Come play with us!"

"Oh, honey. I don't think I even remember the rules anymore. Why don't you ask Kyon to be your fourth?"

Haruhi's bright smile turned to a scowl. "Kyon's no fun to play with. He's a sore loser."

"Huh?" His sister looked genuinely baffled. "But you said his grouchy loser faces are always so funny."

"Yeah, well... They've gotten old, okay?"

Ishigaki gave her a penetrating look. "Did you and Kyon have a fight, Suzumiya?"

"Besides," Haruhi said to Kanae, taking obvious care to avoid looking at Ishigaki. "If you don't want to play with us, you should be interviewing Kyon for your book. The rest of us can do a three-player game."

Kanae didn't want to step into the middle of a fight between Haruhi and Kyon (or between Haruhi and anyone, for that matter), and she did want to get some insight from Kyon for her book anyway. "Alright, honey. You girls enjoy yourselves, okay?"

She got a pair of thumbs up, and a "Yeah!" from the little one, so she went to her study, grabbed her notebook, and headed upstairs again.

The door was still open, but she knocked on it as she poked her head in anyway.

Kyon looked up. "Oh, hey Miss Suzumiya."

"Hey. Still working on that homework?"

"Um, yeah."

She gave him her best abashed smile. "Well, I know what I said when I left you twenty seconds ago, but are you at a good point to pause and tell me a few things for my book?"

"Sure." He seemed relieved for the excuse to put aside his homework.

She sat on the bed and readied her notebook. "Okay, let's start at the beginning. How did you and Haruhi meet?"

He sighed. "Of course. You already asked Haruhi that, but she couldn't remember, right?"

That was surprising. Haruhi had already made it plain that she and Kyon were close, but to know that she wouldn't remember their first meeting... Well, maybe she shouldn't ask how he knew that. It might be a painful subject.

"Do you not want to tell me about it?"

"No, it's fine." He managed to smile at her, if a bit wryly. "It's just, you couldn't have known this, but I am in the worst possible mood to talk about Haruhi right now."

"So you guys did have a fight?"

"That's not it. If it were just that, I'd be happy to talk about her."

She stood up from the bed. "We can do this another time."

She meant that, honestly, but a moment later he said, "Hold it." There was a struggle on his face. "We're leaving tomorrow, right? And knowing Haruhi, there's not much chance we'll get another moment of free time between now and then. And you really do want to write this book for Haruhi, don't you?"

"Of course." She almost added "You don't think I agreed to do it just because I wasn't comfortable with refusing, do you?", but remembering how Kyon objected when Haruhi demanded the book cover her and her friends, she worried that he knew Haruhi well enough to suspect the fact that Kanae had on more than one occasion yielded to her demands because she was uncomfortable with refusing. So instead she told him, "I don't know that I would have made it through the cancer without her. She always brightened my day. I think it's only fair that she get a mention in the story of my struggle with cancer."

"Then let's do it," he said. "Because I'm feeling like, as much of a pain as it's going to be, talking about Haruhi will leave me feeling better about the grief she's putting me through right now."

Kanae didn't ask what he meant by that, figuring they would cover it during the interview, whether she asked or not. She sat back down and readied her pencil.