Haruhi's Sister

Chapter 15: Old Friends

After a couple days shin was finally healthy again and back to her normal picture perfect self. It was almost like she'd never even been sick in the first place, almost. Nobody could really put their finger on what the cause was but ever since Kyoya and Shin had spoken in the hospital the club room had become tense. Everyday there was a new gift for shin sitting in the kitchen with no note or sign of who sent it. Everything was always carefully wrapped and smelt heavily of disinfectient even before shin got to it.

It was clear to pretty much everyone that Kyoya was the one giving her all the gifts but if shin knew she certainly didn't act like she did. The twins had tried to tease her about a particularly nice gift basket full of exotic teas for stress but shin had simply ignored them and brewed some of the tea for the club that evening. She had been treating Kyoya with a slightly colder then usual air of professionalism and despite the gifts Kyoya had been treating her no differently then he ever had. He was kind and professional towards her, taking her curt responses and slight avoidance in stride. He still hadn't decided exactly how he felt towards the girl and her cold demeanor wasn't really helping.

For a week the odd tension hung in the air until finally on Friday a tall young man entered the host club and requested to sit with shin. The entire host club seemed to still as all of the hosts turned to inspect the young man that wanted to see shin. He was tall, almost as tall as Kyoya, and he had long black hair that fell to his waist. He had sparkling blue eyes and an air of confidence about him that set Kyoya on edge. The young ootori couldn't pinpoint exactly what he didn't like about the guy but suffice to say there was something that rubbed Kyoya the wrong way about him. Maybe it was because his smile was too broad and confident or the way his eyes seemed to bore right into kyoyas, whatever it was Kyoya wasn't happy about it.

He was about to turn the young man away when shin walked out of the kitchen only to see that everyone was staring at Kyoya and a vaguely familiar boy. It wasn't until she walked a bit closer and realized exactly who the young man was that Shin seemed to smile and rush over. She set her platter of spicy banana nut bread to the side as she happily said "Luther, what brings you here? I thought you were in Spain with your father this year? How did you know I was here?" The tall young man seemed to brighten at the sight of shin as he excitedly said "why else would I be here but to see you my darling, I'll be happy to tell you all the details in exchange for a date this weekend." It was so quiet in the club you could hear a pin drop as all the hosts except Haruhi held their breaths.

To everyone's surprise marriage hungry shin just laughed and rolled her eyes as she said "whatever you say Luther." Her eyes then flitted to Kyoya as she realized how disruptive her little reunion was being too the club. She blushed and smiled apologetically as she said "come on now Luther, I'm in the middle of work and you're being disruptive. We can chat while I work just don't touch anything, ok?" Luther chuckled as he quickly followed close behind shin, whispering something in her ear as they walked, causing her to giggle and wave him away playfully.

Unbenounced to the two giggling fools all of the host club were watching Kyoya as he stared after the two with a stormy look in his eyes. Luckily Kyoya didn't show his annoyance for more than a second as he quickly turned, snatching a slice of bread from the long forgotten platter before sitting back down at his desk and beginning to do research on exactly who this Luther was. It seemed like the rest of the club had the same plans as it only took a minute for tamaki to declare the club was closing early and for all the hosts to usher the ladies out before turning to Haruhi and beginning to interrogate her about who the man in the kitchen was.

Haruhi sighed as the entire club looked at her expectantly, Kyoya trying to look uninterested and failing as he typed away on his computer. She glanced towards the door unsure if her sister would be happy about the host club knowing her past with Luther, she didn't usually like talking about him unless he was actively next to her. She glanced back at the obviously jealous Kyoya as she said "I don't really know much about their relationship, so if you want to know more you'll have to ask shin. All I know is that shin and Luther have been friends pretty much since birth. Luther moves around a lot so they don't get to see each other often. They've always been really close and everyone knows Luther has a crush on shin but she always just laughs him off and says they're just friends. I don't know why she's never seriously given him a chance, every time I try to ask she just laughs and says he makes a better cat then a husband. I've never understood what that meant."

As if on cue shin walked into the main host club room while giggling with Luther right on her tail. They both held treys of snacks as Luther tossed his from hand to hand while Shin smiled and playfully glared at him while threatening to throw him out the window if he dropped anything. It took a moment for the two to realize the room was mostly empty except for the members of the host club all crowded around Haruhi. Shin raised a brow in question as a small frown graced her face and she said "where did all the guests go? Didn't I tell you to warn me if you're suddenly going to close the club? This completely throws off all my plans." She seemed honestly upset as she centered her glare on tamaki who was usually the cause of such events.

Said blonde was about to defend himself when Luther butted into the conversation playfully nudging shin's trey with his as he said "lighten up Babybug, I'm sure they just got nervous that a new attractive guy was in town. They were worried I'd steal all their customers so they sent them on their way. Honestly I'd be more surprised if they hadn't closed when I showed up." Shin seemed to relax at the joke as she rolled her eyes exasperatedly and said "Uh-huh you know I wonder if someone were to pop that big head of yours if you'd reincarnate into a cat in your next life? I mean you've got the flighty overconfidence of one." She was already walking back towards the kitchen as Luther followed her and said "I don't think that's how that works sugar lips but it's a nice thought. Hey, If I'm a cat in my next life are you going to be my owner?" The door to the kitchen closed before any of the hosts could hear anything other then shins giggles.

The room was deathly silent as only the sound of Kyoya typing furiously on a keyboard could be heard but it only took three seconds of that silence before tamaki started screaming about bad influences on his daughter and tried to run into the kitchen after the two to "protect her honor" surprisingly it was honey and mori who held him back as Haruhi tried to calm tamaki down by saying "Tamaki just leave her alone. Trust me if you of all people go in there and make a fuss about this you're only going to make her angry. Shin doesn't like being told what to do, much less by you." Tamaki was all but bawling as he yelled "IF NOT ME THEN WHO?"

It was then that the entire host clubs eyes snapped simultaneously to Kyoya. And then tamaki was on his knees begging him for help "MOMMY PLEASE! OUR DAUGHTER IS GOING TO BE INFLUENCED BY THAT HORRIBLE MAN! HE'S GOT TO BE HARASSING HER IN THERE! DIDN'T YOU SEE HOW HE HUNG ALL OVER HER!? YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING MOMMY!"

Kyoya sighed irritated as he pushed up his glasses, causing the light to glint off them as he said "there's nothing we can do Tamaki, ms fugioka is an intelligent young woman that can make her own decisions. If she wants to spend all day with her childhood friend there's nothing we can do about it." This statement seemed to send a depression over the entire room as they all realized Kyoya was right. Shin wasn't beholden to the club, she could pay their debt whenever she wanted she simply chose not to because haruhi would be uncomfortable accepting that much money from a stranger. But if shin ever decided  that being in the club was more trouble then it was worth then she would pay the debt and both her and Haruhi would leave. None of the host club wanted that so they were all forced to wait.

Shin was done rearranging her baking schedule an hour before club time ended and everyone was slightly surprised to see that instead of staying the last hour to clean like she normally would, she left early with Luther after telling Haruhi that she wouldn't be home in time for dinner. And indeed she wasn't home in time for dinner that night, she came home long after the sun had set with arms full of bags stuffed with new expensive things and after putting all of those things away she took a long steaming hot shower before making a cup of tea and crawling into bed.

The rest of the weekend was much the same. With Shin spending most of her days with Luther and only coming home late at night. It wasn't until Sunday when Luther and shin decided to go to an expo that things changed.