Episode 14

Shelter Mayhem

…

How do we always end up in these messes?

...

*Flashback*

"Hey, guys? Haru and I won't be able to attend the host club this Friday."

You know... you'd think that by now Jin would know better than to announce something like that in front of the entire host club. Considering their usual response is to fly off the handle at even the tiniest change to their schedule. But, you'd be wrong. She was quickly tackled in a tight hug by none other than Tamaki Suoh who proceeded to bawl into her school jacket.

"Why, Jin?! Why must you leave us?! Was it something I did? Or those devil twins? Whatever we did to offend you we didn't mean it!"

"Tamaki!" Jin pushed the blond away as best as she could, "You did nothing! Haru and I are just going to be very busy tomorrow and this weekend!"

The twins were the next to approach, "Doing what?"

"Well-"

"We're not telling you," Haruhi quickly interrupted her sister. The two girls shared a long stare before Jin rolled her eyes and Haruhi smiled smugly.

"Awww…"

"Why not?"

Haruhi went back to organizing her table, still looking smug about winning the silent discussion, "Because if we tell you what we're doing, you'll just follow us anyways and that's something I would rather avoid."

The twins draped themselves over Haruhi's head, almost making her to fall over, "Oh… come on! Don't you trust us yet?"

"Not even remotely."

The group looked at the elder Fujioka who simply shrugged in response, "If Haru doesn't want you there, then I'm not going to argue. Sorry, looks like you're on your own."

*End Flashback*

*Saturday*

"Jin! Front desk! ASAP!"

Jin pulled her walkie-talkie off of her belt loop and held it to her face, "On my way." She hooked the device back onto her jeans before taking a left, deviating from her original route, and flipped over another paper that was clipped to her notepad. She read the document as she continued walking down the hallway. The page was solely dedicated to the design of a backyard of a house about a half hour drive from her current location, and she examined every detail.

Five foot tall fence, grassy, and a Weeping Pagoda tree. That'll provide plenty of shade… mmm, but the Lily pond might be an issue…

"Excuse me!"

The tall brunette stepped to the left and pressed her back to the wall as a boy hurried past, toting a red bucket filled to the brim with soapy water as fast as he could. Which, in order to keep the water in the bucket, wasn't that impressive of a speed.

Jin spoke up as he passed her, without even looking away from the clipboard, "Don't forget that Kimi tries to eat the bubbles. We don't need her sick today."

"Right. And you'd better hurry, Jin. Hayashi-san seemed stressed."

"More than usual? However could that happen?"

The boy and girl parted ways quickly and Jin began scribbling her thoughts on the last paper in the stack. It certainly seemed like a good candidate, but at the same time they'd need to do something about their Lily pond before Akihiro could be placed in the home. She sighed.

The joys of working in an animal shelter.

That wasn't to say she didn't enjoy volunteering, because she really did. Jin had always loved animals, and since she wasn't allowed to have pets of her own, spending her time helping out at the local shelter was the next best step.

But of all of her years here, this was always her least favorite day.

"Fujioka!" Her boss shouted through her walkie talkie again as she was about to enter the lobby.

"I'm coming! Geez! What do you-" Her mouth fell open at the sight.

The front lobby was completely crowded. There were roughly fifty or sixty people standing or sitting around the room. Now, considering that today was Hōmusuītohōmu Animal Shelter's Annual Adoption/Siblings day, this wasn't an unusual number. It was the one day of the year that the number of volunteers and employees was upped from 19 to 36 and prices were down. They even went as far as to advertise the day for a month ahead of time. Which is why the extra 17 people wasn't nearly enough to smoothly handle everything.

Most of the people around the room were small families, but a fair few were just by themselves or just with their significant other. However, there was one big group who was dominating the most attention.

"Guys?"

"Hi, Jin-chan! I bet you're surprised to see us!"

Jin's mouth remained slack as her "boss", Hayashi-san, rubbed his forehead, "Jin… these boys claim to be friends of you and your sister and were adamant about meeting with at least one of you." Jin looked at her boss and felt her annoyance at the hosts increase.

Aki Hayashi was 34 years old, nearly 35, and had been running Hōmusuītohōmu Animal Shelter for 13 years. It had been his and his father's dream, his passion, and the place where he met his wife, and Jin held a huge amount of respect for the man despite the two treating each other like cousins. But on this day of the year, his normally bright green eyes dimmed to the color of seaweed and his russet color hair looked more grey. It was a stressful job, clearly.

And now the host club was here, stirring up trouble.

For another couple seconds, Jin stared at the six boys in the lobby before slowly pulling her walkie-talkie up to her mouth, "Haru? Do you copy?"

"I do. What's the problem, Nēchan?"

"They're here."

"They? Who they?"

"You know damn well which 'they' I'm talking about."

There was a brief moment of silence before Haruhi growled lowly out the speaker, "I'll be right there."

Jin placed the radio back on her belt loop, "I'm not speaking to any of you until Haru gets here, or else she may never forgive me." She leveled a dark stare at each boy in spinning on her heels to face the front of the lobby, "Could Mr. Sousuke Ueno please come forward?" As soon as she spoke, a man walked away from his partner and two children and approached her.

Jin offered her right hand and the man shook it, "Jin Fujioka. I've just finished going over your submitted online files. From what I've seen so far, your house is a very good candidate for Akihiro, but I do have a few concerns."

The man pressed his lips together tightly before letting go of her hand, "Is there a problem?"

Jin flipped the papers to the very back, where the handwritten notes were scribbled down, "I'm afraid so. It says here that you have a lily pond in your backyard? Lily's are very poisonous for dogs, so if you do go through with the adoption, we'll need you to either fence or block off the pond, substitute another flower for the lilies, or get rid of the pond completely."

Mr. Ueno nodded, "I understand, and I'm sure we can put up a fence to keep Akihiro out."

Jin smiled and nodded back before flipping back to the very first page, marking a check in a box near the top, "Well, we've gotten that taken care of. Would you like to meet with Akihiro still?"

He nodded, "Of course."

"Very well. I'll alert Kisumi to prepare Akihiro for a meet-and-greet before coming to fetch you and your family. It shouldn't be more than a five to seven minute wait."

The tall man smiled and performed a short bow, "Thank you."

Jin smiled, "You're welcome." As the man went back to his husband and kids, Haruhi came out from the back. She wasted no time in marching up to the hosts.

"What are you doing here?"

Jin took a step back and let Haruhi force the boys to explain themselves while she radioed Kisumi.

"Hey, can you get Akihiro ready for a meet-and-greet?"

"Of course. Papers?"

"They'll be on the front desk with Hayashi. I think I have another… issue to take care of."

"Uh oh. I know that tone. Good luck."

"I'll need it."

Jin put her walkie-talkie back on her belt loop just as Hikaru started to put out the fires Tamaki was lighting, "Look, what he means is that we were curious about what you two were doing today and yesterday."

"Yeah, we couldn't exactly follow you yesterday because Kyoya wouldn't let us skip out on the host club like you two."

Kyoya spoke from the far wall where he was reading a brochure about the building, "We closed the club not three days ago to go to the Aqua Garden, and next Friday we shall be leaving early to travel to the beach. If we continue to cancel the club regularly, eventually we'll have a full scale riot on our hands."

The twins waved him off, "Anyways, after he finished lecturing us Kyoya looked through Jin's school files."

"Since she told the School Board about her volunteer work everything was in her files."

Honey bounced forward, "We looked up what you two would be doing here, and decided that we wanted to help!" Haruhi opened her mouth, probably to point-blank tell them to leave, but Jin spoke first.

"Do you even know what you're getting into? Working in a shelter is a lot of hard work. There are many things that need to be done properly or you could risk injuring someone or ruining a potential adoption. It's serious work."

The boys straightened their backs, "We're ready!"

Jin turned her gaze to her "boss", "The final decision is yours…"

Aki brought his hand down his face, pulling at his chin while he stared at the boys sharply. Tamaki was starting to twitch before he finally spoke.

"They will be your responsibility, Jin. Find them all appropriate jobs and keep them on it."

The brunette nodded, "I will."

"Good. Now, off you go."

Jin gestured for the boys to step through a nearby doorway. As they did, Haruhi scowled darkly.

"I hate you so much, Nēchan."

"No you don't." The girls followed the boys into the hallway and gave them all a look.

"Well… the cat kennels need another pair of hands…"

"What about general maintenance?"

"Wait a moment," the twins held up their hands, "We have a quick question. Do we have to wear uniforms like what Haruhi is wearing?" Haruhi looked down at her clothes. It wasn't anything bad. Just a pair of jeans and a green shirt with the words 'Hōmusuītohōmu Animal Shelter' on the front, and the word 'Volunteer' on the back.

Jin raised an eyebrow, "Yes. We'll get you your shirts after figuring out where you'll be working."

"But why aren't you wearing one of those shirts, Jin-chan?"

The girl smirked a bit, "I kind of out-rank everyone but Aki. I can wear what I please so long as I have my name tag." She propped up the green clip that read, 'Hello, My Name is Jin Fujioka'. It was pinned neatly to her green and white checkered shirt, which was unbuttoned a little at the top to show off the white tank-top underneath. For pants she had donned a pair of skinny jeans that had a few drawings on it. Some of them looked painted, while the rest looked like marker drawings. And her feet were fit snuggly inside her red and green plaid converse.

The girl propped her fists against her hips, and with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, the stance just made her forearms that much more pronounced. Clearly, training at the Haninozuka dojo for over ten years had its physical perks.

"Let's get to work, boys."

*Timeskip*

"Perhaps I could stand outside and encourage buyers-"

"No good. Buying an animal is different than buying a pair of shoes," Jin mumbled around her apple flavored jolly rancher, "You have to really commit to buying, caring, and loving the animal for a long time."

"Well then, I can help Haruhi-"

"No. I'm doing just fine by myself thank you."

Tamaki looked around frantically, "Well… there must be something for me to do!" Jin sighed and stretched her back. It was no surprise that Tamaki was the hardest one to find a job for. The others were already settled into their various position, but Tamaki just wasn't a good fit for anything.

There were enough helpers in the cat section now, thanks to the twin's addition, and Honey was more than enough help for the small animal department. Tamaki had run screaming from the reptile cages after he witnessed a snake snap up a small mouse, and two birds had already attempted to nest in his hair.

Jin sighed and began leading them through the dog kennels again, double checking that they'd all been fed properly, "I'm sorry, Tamaki, but I'm not sure what you can help with that needs the help. There's just no-"

She was cut off as a dog jumped up against it's cage side, barking and wagging its tail at the three. The Spitz barked a few more times before running around its cage in a circle, scooping up a rope toy in its mouth and carrying it back to the cage gate. She stared up at the humans expectantly, bushy tail wagging something fierce.

Jin laughed and crouched down, reaching her fingers through the cage wires and gently tugged on the toy, making the dog start a tug-o-war with her, "I'm sorry, Kenta, but I'm too busy to play! Though, if you keep up this playfulness then I'm sure… someone… will…" The tall girl trailed off and let the dog pull the toy from her fingertips. As the white dog whipped the rope around in victory, she turned her head to face Tamaki.

"How do you feel about dogs?"

The blond brightened, "I love dogs! They're so much fun and so fluffy!" His classmate nodded slowly, a small smile beginning to grow on her face.

"I think I found a position for you."

*Another Timeskip*

A few minutes later, Tamaki found himself standing on a green, fenced in lawn. It was fairly big, perhaps not the size of his own backyard, but still a decent size. And, standing in front of him, were five dogs of different sizes and breeds. All of them staring intently at the bright green tennis ball in his right hand.

Tamaki looked over at the back of the Animal Shelter, where he could faintly see Jin and Haruhi watching from the window. Not wanting to disappoint his 'sister' and 'daughter', he turned back to the dogs and threw the ball as far away as he could. Instantly, the animals took off after it, barking madly.

The ball sailed across maybe half the yard and bounced once, twice, before being snagged out of the air by a big brown dog. He remembered Jin had called him… Dai. Which made sense, given his size.

As the dogs run back, Dai dropping the ball at Tamaki's feet for round 2, he noticed that a few people had joined the girls at the window. He remembered the second reason Jin had given him this position. So that not only would some of the more excited dogs get their energy out, but should a family be looking to adopt a more active dog they could watch them in action.

He smiled and threw the slightly slimy ball again.

Inside, Jin was mirroring Tamaki's smile, "Finally. Something we've all been needing."

Haruhi nodded her head, "Agreed. It's nice to see Senpai playing with the dogs. And it looks like they're all having fun."

"Be that as it may, you might want to keep an eye on the adoption papers." The girls looked to their left as Kyoya approached them, also watching his friend out the window. He smirked as Tamaki took off running in the opposite direction the next time he threw, so the five dogs chased after the ball, then started chasing the blond.

"If you're not careful he's going to try to adopt every single animal in here."

Jin snorted, "You came here with him, so I think he should be your responsibility."

Her sister rolled her eyes, "Besides, I don't have the time to read over every adoption paper before I deliver it, and I doubt anyone else here is going to see the amusement of Tamaki adopting twenty dogs at once."

Kyoya looked out the window again just as Tamaki was tripped by the smallest dog, leading to a 'lick-fest', "I'll try to contain him as best as I can, but no promises." The girls nodded and the three watched the playfulness for another few moments.

As they watched Tamaki be nuzzled and stepped on by multiple dogs, Kyoya cast a wary look towards the shorter of the two girls. The briefest of memories flashed before his eyes: Haruhi lunging towards him with a snarl and eyes narrowed dangerously, threats of punching on her lips. The actions had surprised and shocked him then, and they still do now.

Sure, she had apologized for her actions the next time they'd seen each other, but he couldn't quite forget how willing she seemed to attack him. And, if Kyoya were to be completely honest with himself, he was still vaguely frightened of the sheer ferocity that the two siblings loved each other. Sure, the twins were a little twisted and their bond occasionally caused one of them to lash out, but with the Fujioka girls it was just plain unexpected.

"Well, we should probably get back to work."

Kyoya quickly pulled up the clipboard in his hands, "Indeed. There are a few adoptions that I need to finish recording."

He walked away as Jin kissed her sister's forehead, "And I should probably check on the other boys anyways. Can't let them mess up, or else I'll pay for it."

Haruhi nodded in agreement and hummed, "That does seem to be the common case, doesn't it," before heading back towards the front lobby. Jin stared out the window again as Tamaki tossed the ball again, sending it even further across the yard.

Well, he seems to be okay there for a while. And… I think Mori was supposed to be at the aviary last I heard. The brunette straightened out her checkered shirt as best as she could before turning around and walking past a few children who were watching the dogs playing with big grins on their faces.

The aviary Jin was heading towards was actually no different from any other room in the building. The only thing that set it apart from the others was the fact that you had to enter a small, empty room first and close the first door before entering the aviary itself. This was to ensure that if a bird ever escaped its confinements, it would be harder for the tiny animal to escape to the rest of the building.

"Ahh!"

At the sound of the loud shout, Jin took off running. She came to a stop just outside of the aviary and was quick to enter the small room between the aviary and the rest of the building. Once she had the door shut firmly behind her, Jin looked in through the window. Sure enough, it looked like something was wreaking havoc in there.

The brunette quickly entered the room and watched for a moment as the three young teenagers in green shirts ran around the room, once in awhile crashing into a counter but careful to steer clear of the cages filled with birds waiting to be adopted out. The air was filled with shrill chirps and the volunteers shouting at each other.

"Go to the left! No, the left!"

"Do you think I should climb onto the counter?"

"You will do no such thing." The three young teens stumbled to a stop at the sound of Jin's voice and spun to face her.

"F-Fujioka! What are you doing in here?"

"I couldn't help but overhear what was going on, so I came to see what was up."

The three looked at each other almost embarrassed, "Well… one of the birds got out of their cage. We've been trying to catch it."

Jin looked around the room and saw a Long-Tailed Tit perched on top of one of the cabinets. She smiled and shook her head, snickering, "Um, I assume that you're all family of one of the year-round volunteers?"

The three kids nodded, so she laughed lightly and held out her right hand, palm facing upwards, and whistled three times. The little white bird quickly fluttered down into her palm and hopped around a bit before settling down comfortably into her hand, its head nestled in the crook of her thumb and palm.

The boys stared at the bird and girl in surprise, so she explained, "This little guy isn't here to be adopted. He's like… Hōmusuītohōmu's mascot. He's a wild bird who flew in here about two years ago, and he's never left. We named him Sora once we realized he wasn't going to leave."

She moved the bird onto her shoulder, "He doesn't have a cage."

The kids shuffled their feet, cheeks red in embarrassment, so she hummed gently, "Hey, no reason to be upset. It was just a misunderstanding. How about I help you all clean up?"

With the four of them, it only took about ten minutes to get everything straightened out once again. The volume of the chirps was halved by the time they finished. Jin sighed and rolled her shoulders back, careful not to dislodge the tiny animal still perched on her.

"There, that wasn't so hard! Now, have any of you boys seen a really tall, dark haired boy around? Last I heard he was helping out in here."

The tallest boy nodded from where he was topping off the feeders, "Yeah. He finished fixing the automatic feeders just a few minutes before you came in and left for the small animal department."

Jin nodded, "That seems likely. And it's almost feeding time there too… Thanks boys!" She spun around and cast a wave over her shoulder, "Sora's coming with me, by the way!" And she left.

As she walked down the hallway (thankfully it wasn't a long walk between the aviary and the small animal room) Sora chirped happily in her ear, occasionally pecking at her shirt or hair. Jin reached up and stroked the bird's head.

"You were just being a little stinker in there, weren't you? Letting those boys chase you around for no reason!" Sora chirped and hopped around on her shoulder.

Jin chuckled and pushed open the door that lead to the small animal room. The first thing she saw was the number of people who were standing around. It surprised her. Sure, the rabbits, ferrets, and hamsters were always a big hit for young children when their parents didn't wish to purchase a dog or a cat, but this amount of people was almost too much for the room.

Thankfully, Jin spotted Mori a little ways into the crowd by a counter top and started sneaking her way towards him.

"Mori-senpai, I've been looking for you!"

The tall boy hummed at her, which probably meant, Oh? What for?

Jin merely rolled her eyes, "I'm kind of in charge of you boys. Aki will want a report on your actions every once in awhile, I would imagine. So, what are you doing in here?"

Mori lifted a small stainless steel bowl for her to see. Jin looked around her friend to see a bag of ferret food waiting to be emptied into the five or so bowls spread out on the counter and the one in his hand.

She smirked, "I guess not giving you a single job was a good idea, huh?"

Her friend let his lips twitch in a small smile before patting her head, "Yeah."

Jin playfully smacked his hand away, "Don't mess up my hair! And where is your cousin?" Mori pointed towards the approximate center of the large crowd. She cocked an eyebrow before gently pushing her way through the crowd. Why is Honey the center of attention? I thought I told him to- Oh.

Honey was dangling halfway in the rabbit cage, his arms and face being assaulted by little bunny noses as the small boy squeaked with laughter. Everyone else in the room seemed to have made a little ring around the cage, cooing at the young volunteer so overjoyed by the "bunny kisses". Jin noticed another volunteer watching from the other side of the cage and cocked an eyebrow. The other girl shrugged in response as if saying, Hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

Jin couldn't think of an argument, considering the small pile of filled out adoption papers the other volunteer was holding. She shot a glance at the large clock on the wall and noted the time. 12:29.

Clearing her throat, Jin announced, "If we could have every non-employee or volunteer please step out of the room for ten minutes so we can feed the animals? Thank you." There was a large amount of shuffling feet as the thirty or so adopters walked out of the room, on occasion dragging their small children out behind them.

Once the door finally boomed shut, Jin pushed her rolled up sleeves past her elbows and smiled at the volunteers, "Who's ready for feeding?"

Hanan, the volunteer who had been holding the adoption papers, looked at her curiously, "You're helping us out today, Jin-san?"

"Why not?"

Hanan smiled and passed a filled bowl over to her, "No reason. And thanks."

Jin smiled back before taking the food to the ferret side of the room. Honey bounded up to Hanan for his own dish and regarded her curiously, "Why did you sound so surprised when Jin-chan said she'd help? What does Jin-chan normally do around here?"

Hanan tilted her head as she thought it over, "Well… it's a little hard to explain. Jin-san sort of helps out wherever she can, but she doesn't usually do the small jobs, like feeding or cleaning. She's more our supervisor and damage control. Jin does the big stuff. Actual adoptions, supply ordering, she even helps Hayashi-san with the financing. But on occasion she does help us out with the every-day kind of issues, especially on adoption day."

Honey nodded, feeling more than a little proud of how well his childhood friend was doing in her life. A stark difference from how her future had looked when they first met…

"Hanan?" The girl quickly handed the feeding bowl to the short boy before facing her supervisor.

"Yes, Jin-san?"

"Are these forms completely filled out?" Jin thumbed through the three stacks of papers, the same ones Hanan had been holding when the brunette first came in.

"Yeah. I was told to hold onto them until either Haruhi or someone named Kyoya Ootori came in to collect them."

Jin smiled slightly and tucked the papers into the crook of her arm, "No need. I can take them to Kyoya. Besides, I have to check on how he's doing anyways and you seem to have enough hands to finish with feeding."

Hanan's eyes widened, "Oh! He's another one of your charges?"

"Yes, he is. I just have to check on him and the twins before reporting back to Aki." She sighed, "Only five more hours of this!" The blonde and brunette snickered before they separated to do their jobs. But before she left, Jin snuck up behind the two cousins.

"Try to stay out of trouble until I come back around?"

Honey giggled as one of the more friendlier ferrets climbed onto his shoulder and started sniffing his neck, "Okay, Jin-chan! I'll be here!" His cousin grunted his response and lightly patted Sora's head from where he was still perched on Jin's shoulder.

The brunette nodded, satisfied that the tall ravenet would keep the small boy out of any peril, and left the room to go hunt for the club's vice-president.

Whom she almost ran into the second she opened the door.

"Ah!"

"Oof!"

The 2nd years both quickly took a step back, Sora chirping shrilly after almost being knocked off his perch. Jin let out a breath to calm herself before reaching up to stroke the small bird.

"Sorry, Kyoya. I didn't know you were there."

The boy readjusted his glasses, "It's quite alright. Besides, it was partially my fault as well." He looked up and stilled, "What's with the bird?"

"Hm? Oh, this is Sora. He's like our mascot. Sora flew in about two years ago and hasn't left since. He likes to hang out in people's pockets, mine especially, but since I don't have any pockets with this outfit, he's fine with being on my shoulder."

Kyoya blinked before shrugging it off. The small white bird on Jin's shoulder wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen today. No, that award went to whenever he looked in a mirror and saw himself wearing the same green volunteer shirt as about half of the staff at the shelter. But the tame, yet wild bird was still odd in its own right.

He adjusted his glasses once more, "That's interesting. But, if you'll excuse me, I..."

Jin held the stack of papers out in front of Kyoya's chest, making him trail off, "I was just in the small animal section and decided to give them to you the next time I ran into you. But if I'd known you were already on your way, I wouldn't have bothered."

Kyoya blinked once before taking the papers, "Thank you. You just saved me another tedious conversation where I have to prove that I'm allowed to take these papers."

Jin's eyes narrowed, "You have to prove to the others you're allowed to collect the adoption papers?" The girl glanced behind her at the room she'd just left, "That's... weird."

The boy let her think to herself for a moment before hooking the papers to his own clipboard, "It doesn't matter now. I've made my rounds often enough that the other volunteers are starting to remember me. All I have left for the rest of the lunch hour is one cat adoption…" Kyoya ran his finger down the list he'd hooked to his clipboard earlier.

Jin peered at the paper and let out a little gasp, "Chi was adopted? That's wonderful! She's been here longer than I have!"

Kyoya smirked, "If she had had any chance, it would be today."

The girl smiled a little bigger, "Well, since you're heading to collect Chi's papers, I might as well tag along. I need to check on the twins so I can give Aki a report of you boys."

The boy shrugged, "Very well. But might I suggest rotating the dogs that Tamaki plays with soon? I just passed by the back of the building and a few of them have grown tired."

Jin smacked her forehead, "Of course! What was I thinking? Thanks, Kyoya." She held out her right hand, "Do you happen to have a pen?"

The boy handed over the pen he had in his hand just as the two started walking through the dog kennels. Kyoya didn't exactly understand why the room with the cats was by the front of the building while all the other separate rooms were in the back with the dog kennels in between. It didn't make much sense to him, but it didn't matter enough to actually ask about it.

"You're wondering why our rooms are arranged the way they are, right?"

The ravenet looked down at his walking partner who was scribbling a few names onto the palm of her left hand. He cocked an eyebrow, "I was, but now I'm more curious as to why you're writing on your skin instead of a piece of paper like a normal person."

"I don't exactly have any scrap paper on me, in case you haven't noticed! And besides, you'd be surprised how often just writing on your hands helps with remembering short term things. Besides, this way I can just wash the ink off later instead of wasting paper!"

Kyoya shook his head, deciding not to argue to point, "Back to the previous topic. Building arrangement."

"Oh, that? That's easy. Say at cat gets out. If they snuck into the aviary or the reptile room or with the small animals, we'd have a bit of a problem on our hands. So, what better barrier than the kennels?"

Jin wrote down the name of a puppy that was barking up a storm as Kyoya processed her reasoning, "I suppose that makes sense."

The girl chuckled, "Why do I have a feeling that you have another question?"

Her classmate didn't answer her right away, "I suppose… it's not really a question. More of a curiosity."

"Oh?"

"How were you able to tell that I was wondering about the building arrangement?"

Jin tapped the end of the pen against her lips, eyeing each dog they passed in turn, "I'm not sure. Probably something to do with how well I can read Haru. You had a crinkle between your eyebrows, similar to the one Haru gets when she's curious or confused about something. Considering we were passing through these kennels towards the cat room, I just took a guess."

Kyoya stared at his classmate, "Are you saying that the way you and Haruhi can always tell what's on each other's minds is lucky guessing?"

The girl laughed, "Oh, hell no! I know my little sister better than that I'll have you know."

"Then how-"

"Looks like something exciting is going on here…"

Kyoya, though a little miffed at being cut off, stopped next to Jin as they came up to the door. There appeared to be a loud commotion inside from what they could see through the window, but Jin calmly proceeded into the room after a few seconds, Kyoya right behind her. The two stood just inside the door as at least six volunteers jogged around the room, one by one disappearing into the back, the twins nowhere in sight.

Sora remained resolutely on Jin's shoulder despite the many cats suddenly staring at him. Kyoya could almost respect the fearlessness of the bird, but he quickly caught himself. He may be wearing a green volunteer shirt and be spending his day in a commoners animal shelter, but he was not about to start thinking that Long-Tailed Tits were brave.

Jin finally spoke up as the noise level spiraled downward, "What's going on?"

A lady who looked to be in her young 30s speed walked by them with a pile of warm towels in her arms, "Mai went into labor. She's giving birth to her kittens right now."

Jin's face changed in an instant and began walking after the other volunteer, tugging her rolled up sleeves a little more, "Do you need any help?"

The lady shot a smile over her shoulder, "No need! We have plenty of hands now that your two friends are helping us out!" Jin's walking slowed down until she was standing still again. When the lady disappeared around the corner, she and Kyoya exchanged a glance.

"Hikaru and Kaoru are helping to deliver kittens," Jin couldn't help but smile somewhat evilly, "What I wouldn't give for a video camera right now…"

Kyoya matched the look on her face as he pulled a camera from his jacket pocket, "It's a good thing I have this then, hm?"

"Why do you have a camera?"

"Photobooks. I figured having pictures of the hosts cuddling with helpless animals would make for a very good 'Special Edition', don't you think?"

Jin kept a blank face for perhaps a split second before she defaulted back into a smirk, "Workaholic."

At that, the two snuck towards the back, where another doorway was opened to let out the sounds of quiet but tense instructions being exchanged between volunteers and employees alike. Jin slipped through first, followed closely by the boy and his camera.

The twins were easy to spot with their bright red hair, but it was their faces that were the actual show. The two were holding the warm towels and staring wide eyed at the swollen cat on the bench in front of them.

They leaned back quickly as the Bobtail yowled loudly and one of the volunteers shouted out, "One!" Jin snickered at the looks of disgust on the boys faces and looked to see if Kyoya was recording it as he said he would. He wasn't, but was instead snapping photo after photo of the scene. Perhaps their clients would like a laugh in the photobook? Or maybe just blackmail?

Jin toned down her faint laughter after the second kitten was delivered, "Okay, I think I've seen enough. We should probably get back to work."

The ravenet whispered back, "I agree."

They walked out of the room as 'Three!' was called out behind them. Jin split away from her classmate and approached another volunteer who was scooping out the cat's lunches, still snickering a bit.

As she began asking for the girl's opinion on Hikaru and Kaoru's assistance, Kyoya looked around for the adoption papers he was supposed to be collecting. Thankfully, after handling the same pile of colored papers for the past hour or so, they were easy to find. They were hanging from the wall of an empty kennel, held together by a single metal ring in the upper left corner. He walked over and quickly compared the name on the front page to his own clipboard. Yup, these were Chi's papers.

"Excuse me, but are you Mr. Ootori?"

Kyoya looked to his right and saw that the volunteer Jin had been speaking to was now at his elbow, "Yes, I am."

The blonde smiled broadly and quickly took the papers off the wall and handed them over, "Hayashi-san told me that you'd be here soon to get these, though I didn't quite believe him when he said you'd be here so soon after little Chi was taken home! He said you kept up with bookkeeping even faster than he could!" Kyoya was as uninterested as he could be with that useless information, but chuckled and pressed the palm of his right hand against his chest all the same.

"I'm quite honored that he feels that way. But I am only trying to do my part." The young lady stared up at him with obvious attraction, which both amused and bore him.

"Mm, yes, he does well with those kinds of things. But, in my opinion, I think he would be better served with the reptiles. I think he'd work well with them..." Kyoya's eyes snapped over to level a glare at the brunette, a scathing retort on his tongue. However, something stopped him. He noticed that Jin was smiling kindly, brown eyes dancing with jest and playfulness. He blinked a few times as a realization suddenly came to mind.

Jin was… teasing him. Similar to how she teased Haruhi and the others. There was no need to respond with fire because this was how she showed friendship. She was treating him like she treated the others.

His glare softened as a small smirk played across his face, "Well, at least I'm doing my job, Ms. Fujioka. Why aren't you assisting your charges with delivering the kittens?"

Jin's eyes sparkled as he played along, "Easy. I outrank them."

The other volunteer giggled and looked like she was about to say something as well, when she was knocked to the side by two teens rushing out of the back room with their hands held out in front of them.

"SOAP! SOAPSOAPSOAPWENEEDSOAP!"

The twins faces reflected pure and utter disgust, fingers splayed wide in clear need to keep any part of them from touching another part. From the room they just burst from, peals of laughter could be heard from the others volunteers.

As the redheads bolted past Jin in their search for a sink, or perhaps just some hand sanitizer, she spared them a glance, "Please don't run in here. I don't need either of you slipping and hurting yourselves."

The other girl pushed away from the wall she'd been shoved against and stared after the two identical boys, "Your friends are strange."

It took Kyoya a moment to realize she was talking to him.

"Oh? How so?"

The girl wrung her hands together, "We don't normally get people of your… status in here. Either volunteering or buying." She smiled again, "I bet this setting is very strange for you all."

Kyoya nodded, "I don't believe the others have ever attempted labor like this before."

"Well, we're all glad you're here! I guess not all rich people are snobs after all!" The blonde continued to smile, as if she hadn't just insulted the boy she was trying to flirt with.

As if Jin could tell her fellow volunteer's last sentence had irritated her classmate to some degree, she zipped over to her side, "Hey, Agano-san? Maybe the cats should be fed sometime in the near future?"

The blonde, though clearly older than Jin, even if by a few years, flushed at the realization that she was neglecting her duties in front of her work superior and rushed back to the counter. As soon as she grabbed the first two bowls she could, she was gone around the corner. The brunette sighed and leaned against the same wall the blonde had abandoned a moment ago.

"I'm sorry about that. Sometimes I don't think Agano-san thinks before she speaks."

Kyoya didn't get a chance to respond because the twins raced past them again, still searching for some cleaning material, and Jin shouted after them, "One of you is going to fall and die and I am not cleaning it up!"

Kyoya couldn't help but smirk in amusement as the twins disappeared around another corner, "That's one way to say it, I suppose."

"Yeah, it's a line from one of my favorite television shows. Shame they cancelled it after one season... Anyways, I should probably go rotate Tamaki's dogs and give Aki my first report of you boys." She took a few steps towards the door before Kyoya followed her.

"Try to not make the others sound like the absolute idiots they are. If they're kicked out, I'm the one who's going to have to listen to their complaining for the next few hours."

The two exited the room and Jin raised a hand in farewell, laughing slightly, "I'll keep that in mind! Now get back to work!"

*Timeskip*

"Agano-san told me that Hikaru and Kaoru are handling the cats well. They seem to be getting along with the animals and even assisted with the birth of Mai's kittens."

The brown haired man chuckled in good-natured humor, "I suppose that was a sight to see."

Jin couldn't help but smile back at her friend and boss, "It was."

Her boss shook his head before stretching his back, "Well, Jin, I must say your boys have surprised me so far. Make sure they keep up the good work."

"Can do, Aki." She went to leave the small office, but her boss wasn't quite done yet.

"Jin? I have a question for you."

"Hm? Go ahead."

Aki regarded his employee curiously, "Exactly where did you find these guys?"

The brunette blinked, "Um… it's kind of a long story, but it's Haru's fault… sort of."

"Her fault?"

"Yeah, remember how she and I are now attending Ouran Academy?"

Her boss nodded, "That rich pompous school, right? I remember."

Jin chucked, "Yeah, the rich pompous school. Apparently, before I came home, Haru accidentally stumbled into their club room and knocked an expensive vase off it's pedestal. So now she's a member of their club to pay off the damage. I joined when I came home to help pay off the damages."

Aki sat up a little straighter, "So… you're in debt to these boys?"

"Yeah."

"How deep in the hole are you?"

Jin frowned and tapped the floor with her foot, "I think the last time we checked… about 4,835,700¥."

If her boss had been drinking some water, he would've spit it out.

"4,835,700!?"

Jin blinked, "Yeah. We should pay it off by the time I graduate."

Aki shakes his head, "Oh my goodness...How are you so calm about this?"

A shrug, "I was freaked out at first, especially because Haru didn't tell me about it outright. She was actually pushed into telling me. But now... I've just come to accept it. We'll pay it off soon enough. Probably before I graduate."

Her boss sat back in her seat, "At least there's that, I suppose. And as long as you all get along I guess there's no real issue." He cast her a glance, "These boys seem like a handful… but eager to be with you two."

"Well," Jin rubbed at her left arm, "I've actually known Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai from when I was little. The twins are in Haru's grade, and they aren't really friends with anyone else. Tamaki is just friendly with everyone, and he kind of drags Kyoya along."

Her boss smirks, "Well, if you fall in love with any of them, please let me know. The other employees and I have started a betting pool on which one will snag you and your sister."

Jin's jaw dropped open, "You... you started a... c-come again?"

"Betting pool. For Haruhi I placed a bet on that tall blond. For you my money's on none of them, but now that I think about it…"

"What?! Wait. No. Stop. I don't want to hear another word." Jin felt her face heat up as she scrambled for the doorknob, "God... why would you even think that-"

"Top money is between the two black haired boys."

"Aki!"