A/N: I thought about cutting this chapter, then thought: "Well... It's already written..." and went along and edited it in. Hope you enjoy! Next chapter sparks more plot!

Emi

"Stop bugging me and get in your costumes."

"But you said we could come to your house!"

"That was when I thought you were fighting."

"We were!"

"No, you were acting," I snapped, shaking their hands from my shoulders.

The twins took a single step back, spreading their hands at the same time.

"A promise is a promise," Hikaru commented.

"I didn't know she was a promise breaker," Kaoru said.

"It would seem she is, though," Hikaru replied to his brother.

"I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE YOU BAKAS!"

They grinned, turning their eyes back to me.

"Bakas?" they chorused.

"Yes, bakas," I grumbled, throwing myself onto the couch and just glaring up at them. "I never promised anything."

After exchanging a look they took seats on each side of me and placed their arms over my shoulders.

"You did," Hikaru complained.

"She did," Kaoru agreed.

"You two are annoying."

"But you're not moving away," Hikaru pointed out. "So we must not be that annoying."

I started to jump to my feet just to have myself held firmly in place.

"That's why," I grumbled.

"You know, maybe she's jealous 'cause we called Haruhi our toy," Hikaru commented.

"Maybe that is it," Kaoru said.

"THAT'S NOT IT!"

"Don't worry," they said together cheerily. "You're our toy, too!"

A sinking feeling settled in my chest and I dropped my head with a sigh.

"That's what I was afraid of," I mumbled.

"As our toy, you should let us come over," Hikaru insisted.

"No."

"Bu-"

"No!"

"You two live alone, don't you?" Kaoru asked. "I heard on the news that your parents spend most of their time overseas. So what's the problem? You've had us over before."

I hesitated. At that moment Kyoya paused in front of us and adjusted his glasses.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, why aren't you dressed yet?"

The twins jumped to their feet when faced with the irritated Kyoya. Thankful, I flopped over on my stomach and just laid there as everyone went about their duties setting up for the theme today. After some time had passed by I felt someone take a seat at the end of the couch near my legs.

"Have they let up, yet?" Eri asked.

I didn't raise my head. She sighed and I could feel her adjust herself on the couch before propping her legs up on top of mine. I tensed a little as I could feel the heat coming off of them. Not for the first time, I considered the idea that she might have stayed home a few days ago not just because she was tired, but because of something more.

"Are you alright?" I questioned, my voice half-muffled by the couch.

"I'm fine," she replied quickly, I could tell from the stiff tone of her voice that it wasn't completely true.

"Look, even if you aren't coughing, if you're tired or have a fever or something, you should tell someone so that-"

"I'm fine!"

I stared at her, a bit shocked if nothing else. Her tone was a bit off- it wasn’t her usual irritation at me being over-protective. It was more angry than necessary. Was she hiding something? I opened my mouth to question her on this matter when a commotion by the door caught my attention.  My eyes flickered in that direction to find some kid sprawled out and staring at Tamaki.

"What's the matter? Are you lost? Or did you come to my place for something...?" Tamaki asked.

He was perched on his seat while dressed up like some Arabian king. The kid stared at him for a moment longer before pulling himself up to his feet. I could practically feel the weight of the kid's gaze as he drew slightly closer to where everyone was standing.

"Ah... you are 'king'?"

I grinned despite myself, the kid was so cute! I'll admit it, I have a thing for kids. They're adorable, easy to get along with, and not many of them are demons like Eri and I were. Okay, maybe that was mostly me. Still, most of the staff deserved it for looking the other way when our brother would break our toys or “accidentally” trip us. Yeah, even as a kid he’d been an ass.

Tamaki just stared back at the kid before crossing the distance between them and putting a hand to his ear.

"What'd you say?"

The kid leaned forward and cupped his hands around his mouth, "King."

Of course, with Tamaki being Tamaki he simply stood there, basking in the word. I was again reminded of the fact that any world he ruled was one where I'd rather have anarchy. This in mind, I sat up, pulling my legs out from under Eri's.

"Hey, kid," I called out.

The boy turned to face me with an indignant look.

"I'm not a kid! I am junior section grade 5 class A's Takaouji Shirou!!"

I laughed, getting up and crossing the room.

"Right, right, so, Shi-chan, what are you here to do?"

“Shi-chan?!” he sputtered. Shirou simply glared at me and turned to face Tamaki. Raising up a finger to point at him, the Shirou suddenly took a firm stance. "I would like to apply as the host club king's apprentice!"

Hell no, I wasn't letting this group of idiots mess with a kid.

__________________________________

I placed my chin in my hands, staring at the scene before me. The boy was seated next to Tamaki and one of his customers, watching them as closely as I was watching the whole scene.

"I can't believe this is happening," I grumbled to myself.

"Don't get so worked up," Eri sighed, sitting next to me. "Honestly, just because he's a kid doesn't mean he needs your help."

"No, because he's a kid it DOES mean he needs my help," I retorted. "Who in their right minds would let him be corrupted by them?"

"Emi," Eri said, sighing again. "I can't wait for the day when you have your own children so that you will quit monopolizing the ones that belong to other people."

I was about to retort when Shirou's voice caught my ears.

"If I must say it, she's more like the crucian carp in my garden's pond. I would never use such blatant words of flattery."

What?

"I like this kid," I commented under my breath.

"Of course," Eri snorted.

"Tamaki-sama, you idiot!" the girl cried out, fleeing the table.

"Wha?! Princess!!"

At that moment the twins appeared behind Shirou. I jumped to my feet, crossing the room. No way would they remotely resemble a good influence.

"This is great, Tono, you've got a cute little brother here," Hikaru said, then laughed. "I see, crucian carp, huh?"

"Hikaru..." Kaoru asked, putting an arm on his brother's shoulder. The look on his face indicated he was about to go into twincest mode, so I paused in my approach. "Hikaru... you'd prefer a brother like him better...?"

Hikaru immediately turned and wrapped his arms around Kaoru, pulling him close.

"Idiot!! Even if I searched the world over, no one could compare to you...."

"Hikaru..."

"Gag," I grumbled, turning my eyes to Shirou.

He looked like he was panicking because of the twins actions, and I didn't blame him. A second later he turned heel and started running in the opposite direction. Before I could warn him, he bumped into Haruhi, almost causing her to spill the tray she was carrying.

"Oh... did those suspicious people scare you? I was scared, too, at first. But when you've been with them long enough you'll become like a monk and won't be surprised by anything," Haruhi told him, offering one of those smiles that would have made me blush if I hadn't know that she was a she.

"... are you a transvestite?" Shirou asked, staring at her.

Everyone flipped out at that. The twins jumped in to the fray on Haruhi's side; Tamaki jumping in on the boy's side as he tried to turn him around. The twins then insisted to just have Shirou carry the tray, which was immediately dropped and added to Haruhi's dept.

"Why the hell would you have a kid try and carry that?" I demanded.

Of course, they didn't pay attention to me. They were too busy watching in astonishment as the boy attempted to clean up the mess with a curtain, which had Kyoya staring at him like he was about to murder someone. That fake smile didn't even come close to holding any pleasant feeling behind it.

"...what are you doing with my special tailor-made new curtain?"

Of course, then Tamaki flipped out on the kid, who said the same thing that I had, only adding in that he should be grateful that Shirou even tried to clean it up.

"Shiro-chan~ Let's have cake together~ I have chocolate flavor and strawberry flavor~!" Honey declared, tackling Shirou away from Tamaki.

Shirou gave him a condescending look, not even trying to seem friendly.

"Annoying, what grade are you in? Why are you wearing the senior section's uniform?"

Of course, then Mori stepped in, which scared the heck out of the kid who declared Mori a 'giant soldier'. When I attempted to step in, the kid only shot me a dirty look, declaring me creepy.

"Noisy brat!!" Tamaki announced, surprising me. "Isolate him!!"

"Yes, sir!!!" The twins chorused.

Before I could do anything about it, they had the boy placed into a cage.

"Um... sorry about this," I told him, giving a sheepish smile. "I'm sure they'll let you out soon, Shi-chan."

He looked at me for a moment before turning his attention to Tamaki, apparently dismissing my presents completely.

"What are you doing? Let me out!! Is this how a teacher is supposed to treat his apprentice?!"

"Shut up," Tamaki said while sipping his tea. He didn't even look at Shirou. "I don't have time to play with a kid like you..."

"I am serious!" Shirou shouted. "I'm running out of time. Teach me how to make women happy!! You are a genius, right? King!"

With those few words Tamaki snapped to attention and approached the kid who was let out of the cage.

"Looks like you are serious..."

I hesitated, trying to decide what side to take on this. Shirou obviously needed help with something to do with girls, and I guess Tamaki would be the best option. He was an idiot, so it wasn't like he could have too huge of an effect... right?

"Of course he's serious," I huffed.

"Okay... we’ll try to make use of your special material. Judging from your situation..." Tamaki suddenly pointed a finger at the boy as he spoke. "You have to become a 'mischievous kid' that would fit the taste of pedo girls!"

... wait.

Tamaki... what?

It was official. I would no longer believe that any of the club members could possible have a positive effect on a child. Well, except maybe Honey. He was enough of a kid himself that it could work. I tuned out most of what Tamaki went on about after that. Instead I simply watched, knowing that if I interrupted the mess that Shirou would hate me. Well, hate me even more.

"No time..." I muttered under my breath, reflecting on what he'd said before.

Suddenly, in the middle of his whatever Tamaki was having him do, Shirou stood up and clenched his fists.

"I- I’ve had enough, baka!"

Shirou tore out of the room, not even bothering to look back at the astonished club members. Tamaki, Haruhi, and I all darted out into the hall.

“Shi-chan, wait!” I said, taking a few steps after him.

“Hey, Shirou!” Tamaki called.

Shirou didn’t turn around, instead he simply ran down the hall faster.

“If you don’t want to teach me seriously, then forget it!” he yelled back at us.

Hesitating, I stared after him. That kid… he seemed really upset. More so that I’d thought he’d be when he figured out that this was pointless.

Tamaki stood not far behind me with his arms crossed. For once he had an entirely serious look on his face as he stared in the direction Shirou had gone. Haruhi was next to him, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“I didn’t expect him to dislike the mischievous type,” Tamaki commented.

He really is an idiot.

“He said there was no time…” Haruhi said, not paying much attention to Tamaki’s words.

I nodded, turning back so that I was completely facing them.

“I caught that, too. What do you think it means?” I asked.

Both of them looked thoughtful and I could see some scheme developing in Tamaki’s mind. As his eyes flickered to me I groaned a little. That was never a good sign.

_____________________________________

“How did I get pulled into this?” I grumbled, standing next to Haruhi and Honey.

The three of us were dressed in the uniforms belonging to younger schools. Honey easily blended in as a grade-schooler, and Haruhi a female middle school student after a wig had been added. As for myself, I was dressed as a middle schooler as well.

“It’s here,” Honey said suddenly, dragging the two of us into a classroom that had just been emptied of its last students. “Shiro-chan’s classroom!”

Curious, I looked around the room, taking in everything. Haruhi, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

“No one’s here,” Honey added as he started exploring.

I nodded, taking interest in some little figure carved into a back row desk. Whomever had done it probably just kept drawing over and over with a pencil until the mark was complete. I wonder why the desk hadn’t been replaced yet…

At that moment music began playing from the front of the room. Surprise shot through me as I looked up to see Honey playing a flute he must have found sitting at the front of the classroom. Haruhi looked like she was about to faint or explode.

“Don’t just play it because it was there! What if someone hears it and comes?!” she hissed under her breath. At the same time she put a finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

However, her telling him to be quite was probably useless. At that moment the rest of the club filed in, including my sister. As Haruhi tried to figure out what to do about it, the boys proceeded to do the same as Honey and I had done when we first arrived. Realizing we were being a little loud, I took a few steps towards the door to look out. At that exact moment, however, both Haruhi and I picked up on the sound of footsteps.

“Be quiet!” she ordered. “Someone is coming.”

As the words left her mouth, she drew her fingers over in a zipping motion. I swear everyone of us could only stare at her and mimic the action. It was too cute!

When the footsteps had faded we all piled out into the hall again to look for Shirou. By the time we’d found him I was ready to punch one of the boys, why couldn’t they act their age for once? It was practically impossible by this point that we hadn’t been discovered.

“Looks like it’s the required club time,” Haruhi commented when we’d located him. “Isn’t that the music club?”

“Does Shiro-chan like singing?” Honey wondered.

“I’d love to hear him sing,” I couldn’t help but add in. “That has to be cute.”

I hadn’t completely realized what I’d said before the twins both gave me curious looks. Flushing red, I ignored them and turned my attention to the going-ons. The longer we stood there and watched the events, the more obvious it became that Shirou wasn’t doing this for any girls, there was one girl in particular he wanted to make happy. The girl in question was sitting playing the piano when one some kids left the room.  Using his charms, Tamaki managed to get it out of one of them that the girl was moving away soon, and that’s why Shirou was so upset.

After that Shirou came out of the room. Tamaki had that scary serious look on his face again as he ignored Shirou’s protests and swept him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. We all stared at him in surprise, at that moment he looked more like Mori than himself.

“What are you doing?!” Shirou demanded. “Put me down!”

Shirou thrashed on Tamaki’s shoulder in an attempt to escape. Instead of listening, Tamaki simply started walking down the hallway.

“Don’t do stupid stuff, Kid!” he ordered.

“Put me down you stupid king!”

“Shut up, or I’ll throw you down!” Tamaki commanded as we all quickly followed after him. “You are the one being an idiot. How do you make a girl happy? Don’t make me laugh. Even if you asked us so much, we couldn’t answer you.”

“Wha-”

“Because you do not want to make girls in general happy, you only wanted to make her happy, right?” Tamaki continued. “That method… only you could look for it in yourself.”

Shirou seemed to lose all the fight he’d had in him as he dropped his gaze to the floor.

“Forget it… there’s no time. I wish to at least watch her play… that’s why…”

It was about that time that we reached the music room. Tamaki stalked in and dropped the kid at a piano I hadn’t really noticed in the room before. Without pausing, he pulled out a sheet of music and began questioning the kid about what his girl had wanted to play with him. I simply watched in astonishment as Tamaki sat down at the piano and began to play.

No one said anything as he played out the song perfectly and declared one week of extreme practice for Shirou. I guess Tamaki has a really nice side to him beyond all that ego.

________________________________

Most of the rest of the week was spent with Eri and I avoiding our two house guests and watching Tamaki teach the kid how to play. The twins were annoying as ever, but I could tell that even they were curious to see how all of this would turn out.

When everything was over it proved to have been worth it. The girl was called to the room by invitation and the entire club greeted her as she stepped in the room.

“Let me introduce you to today’s main show: Takaouji Shirou’s piano,” Tamaki announced calmly as she stared at Shirou in awe. “If you please, Princess.”

He showed her to the second piano that had been brought in for this purpose. Together, the two of them began to spin out a wonderful tune. Even I could feel proud of everything that had happened.

_________________________________

A few days later she moved away, but even after that, as a result of how close they’d grown, Shirou and her kept in touch. Also, because we’d ended on such good terms with the kid, I got to stare at him throughout the club hours. Unfortunately, I was still stuck between the twins, but sometimes I managed to sneak away to sit with him.

It seemed no matter how much I sucked up, though, he found me slightly creepy. While I found it upsetting, Eri simply laughed at the look he would get when I sat down.

As a result, I ended up leaving him alone as he talked about his girlfriend to the club girls. The twins dropped their hands on my shoulders, watching in the same direction as us.

“Tomorrow,” one of them said suddenly.

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

“Wait, what?” I tore my attention away from Shirou to ask. “Tomorrow what?”

They both grinned.

“Tomorrow is the day you’re having us over.”

“I thought I told you two, no!”