Chapter 28: I Wish I'd Never Been Born!

The first thing she was aware of was the rocking motion of her body. Jin moaned, having been shaken from a pretty decent sleep. Last night a fire had started in one of the apartments at their complex. No one had been hurt, but the Fujioka girls had lost out on good portion of sleep. It had been all Jin could do that day to stay awake enough in class to write down all the homework she would have to do over break. Now she was trying to squeeze in a little bit before hosting hours started and who dareth awaken the beast?

Groaning, the brunette swatted at the hand touching her, "Alright… alright I'm up!" The hand quickly withdrew and she sat up, her long hair falling in front of her face. Jin rubbed at her eyes, trying to get her contacts to stop feeling so uncomfortable, "Is the hosting about to start?"

"Um… yes. Might I ask you, Miss… where did you come from?"

Jin sighed and rolled her shoulders, not really in the proper mood to go along with whatever game Tamaki was playing, "Hey, look, Tamaki… I'm not really in the mood right now, okay? Thanks for waking me up, but please wait until I'm actually awake to start cracking jokes."

"Jokes? Wait a second, how do you know my name?"

Jin's eyes cracked open to peer between her fingers, huffing an un-amused breath into her palms, "Really, Tamaki?"

"Boss? What's the hold up?"

"Wait… who's that?"

Groaning, because of course the twins were behind this, Jin raked her fingers through her hair, trying to untangle it but still not bothering to pull it away from her face, "You guys, too? Isn't there anything I can say to get you to not involve me in whatever game you've recently cooked up?"

"Game?"

"Boss, who is this? Do you know her?"

"No! I don't! I just came around to double check my table and she was sleeping here! She wasn't here two minutes ago and I didn't see her come in!"

"What's going on over there now?"

The brunette's shoulders sagged in relief. Finally. If anyone could make the twins see sense it's Kyoya…

"Oh… who is this?"

Jin's head snapped up, her hair falling away from her face a bit. The four boys were standing in front of her, watching her with confusion. Behind them she could see Honey, Mori, and Haruhi making their way over.

"You guys… are joking, right? I mean, this is some sort of… elaborate prank that you somehow managed to get Kyoya to go along with? Right?"

The hosts looked at each other with rising levels of concern. Jin could pretty much hear her pulse pick up. A stupid but frankly horrific ' What if' began circling in her head, eyes falling almost helplessly on her sister as she joined them.

"Haru?"

The other brunette stopped walking forward, her head tilting in curiosity, "Haru? Wait, do I… know you?"

Okay, now this wasn't funny any more. Jin felt her knees begin to shake under her skirt. There was no way that Haruhi would ever agree to a stupid joke like this one.

"Miss? Are you alright? You're looking pale. Would you please tell us your name?" That was the final straw. Seeing Kyoya bent down a little, smiling understandably at her with that freaking fake grin instead of the sincere one she had grown so used to. Nope. She wanted out .

Whipping herself off the couch Jin raced for the door. Behind her the boys screamed 'Hey' and 'Come back' but she ignored them. Tears of panic welled up in her eyes as she ran, hearing the sound of large shoes hitting the tiles behind her. Mori-senpai had given chase.

But I'm fast, too.

She raced around the corner to the nearest staircase, taking two steps at a time on her way down until she was at the halfway point. Just as Mori and Honey appeared at the top of the steps, she had hoisted herself up over the railing and dropped down to the floor. She would've done it from higher up, but she was still wearing her high-heel wedges. Not good for jumping.

Jin reached the front door before she came to the conclusion that she had nowhere to run too. If Haru didn't recognize her, Dad wouldn't either. Neither would anyone at the dojo or the animal shelter or anywhere at all for that matter. So, until she figured out how to get back home, she needed a place to hide.

Hide…

Hide!

Taking the hedge maze so she wouldn't be easily followed, Jin took the same path she and her host club had taken after the newspaper club snafu. She saw the same rose pairings too… except the green rose was gone.

Tears were falling freely down her cheeks now. Her chest heaved, and not from the run. She reached her destination just as the faint sound of the host club's calls began reaching over the hedge. Not daring to take a break, she started climbing the Wisteria tree. It took some extra work finding a spot that was actually hidden from sight, unlike the last time she'd climbed this tree, but she was satisfied with the end product. Jin ended up perhaps three-fourths of the way up the tree, her legs tuck up to her chest, and completely hidden from the sidewalk unless someone were to walk right underneath it and look up.

Finally alone, she began to cry in earnest. She was scared. Sad. Confused. And greatly hurt by the lack of recognition in her sister and friend's faces. Why was everyone acting like they didn't know her? This was way too similar to those stupid episodes where the character is thrown into an alternate reality where they'd never been born and everything was different.

Jin sniffled and pressed her cheek against her knees. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I wanna go home. I wanna go home… Haru… Mom, please help...

"Where'd she go?"

"Yeah! She was in heels! How could she possibly run that fast?"

"I still think I should call for backup."

"No! You'll just frighten her, Kyoya! We need to find her before she hurts herself!"

"Hold up, Boss, have you ever considered that she might be a danger to us, too? I mean, how did she know our names?"

"Yeah, she acted like we should know her or something."

"I'd be tempted to suggest that she was a guest of ours considering the way she reacted when we didn't recognize her, but I've never seen her around Ouran Academy before."

"But… she was wearing our uniform." The boys slowed down in their search, and Jin found herself letting loose a string of Italian swears under her breath as Mori and Honey stopped right beneath her. Of. Freaking. Course.

"Well, that's true."

"And there's no way for someone to get a hold of an Ouran Academy uniform unless they're a student here."

"Do you think she's a new student?"

"I highly doubt that. It's very unlikely that any schools are accepting new students so late into the school year. After all, summer break does start tomorrow."

Jin watched in silence as Honey pushed himself up a little higher on his cousin's shoulders, ready to toss in his own two cents. But she knew he wouldn't. His knee hadn't gone far enough forward, and as he quickly threw his weight onto the knee the blond slipped backwards with a yell. Mori was quick to reach behind him and support his cousin's back, but now Honey was staring straight up.

"Hey! It's you! Guys, I found her!"

The other hosts let out sounds of surprise and raced to the bottom of the tree. Jin couldn't hold back the whimper as she scrambled backwards on the branches, crawling to the other side of the tree. Another small whimper escaped when, in her haste, she smacked her cast against a branch. Ducking behind the trunk, she held the plaster close to her chest and shook, willing the pain away enough to climb back down and keep running.

Unfortunately, she felt the tree shake in a manner that could only mean someone else was climbing the tree. In the space of three seconds, she'd figured out who it was. Haru -er, her Haru- was terrible at tree climbing, and it was a stretch even with her imagination for either the twins or Kyoya or even Tamaki to have spent any portion of their lives scaling the trees around the parks. Unlike two other boys, who had -incidentally- taught her the joys of seeing the world from a distant view. And with the way the tree was shaking, only one person was crawling towards her.

"Hey silly! Why'd you run?"

Honey was smiling as he drew closer, gracefully jumping from one branch to another before coming to a stop two branches away. Jin felt like her heart was crumbling to dust inside her chest cavity as his happy-go-lucky face changed once he saw her.

"Honey-senpai?"

"Everything okay up there?"

The blond's mouth flapped, a few random syllable falling out before he tilted his head in a downward side-angle, wide eyes still watching Jin, "Haru-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a… cousin... or something?"

There's a brief period of silence.

"No. Neither of my parents had siblings."

Despite everything else going on, Jin couldn't help but feel a quick pain in her stomach at the loss of her uncle, aunt, and even Eiko. There went three more ties she had with her world. What else didn't exist here!?

Honey was still staring at Jin, brown eyes flicking around her face, "...What's your name?"

"Jin."

"That's pretty… what about your last name?"

The brunette looked away, " You wouldn't believe me. "

"Try me."

She contemplated her options. This whole idea was just really, really dumb . Like, really? She appeared in some wack-job universe where she doesn't exist? Stupid. But… if it were real, then the person most likely to believe her would have to be…

Tamaki.

But she supposed Honey-senpai was a pretty close second.

"Fujioka."

Honey just looked even more confused, "Are you sure?"

"Really? Of course I'm sure! Look, I know this is going to sound crazy to everyone except Tamaki down there, but I'm not from here. Where I'm from, my name is Jin Fujioka and Haruhi Fujioka is my little sister. I don't know why I'm here and I just want to go home."

"Uh…"

"Hey, Honey-senpai!"

"What's going on up there?"

The third-year didn't respond right away, staring at Jin instead as if he could see in her face whether she was lying or not. He must've decided she was telling the truth though, because he gave her a firm nod before calling out to the others that they were coming down.

Jin swallowed nervously before following.

"Oh, thank goodness, Princess! We thought we'd lost you! I apologize for frighten… ing… you…" Tamaki's smile slipped away just like Honey's as the rest of the Host Club got their first proper look at Jin's face. Haruhi was the only one who didn't look shocked.

She noticed the other's though. "What? Why are you all staring at her?"

"Haruhi… she looks like you."

"Huh?"

"Yeah! She's got your hair and eye color… actually your eyes look almost completely alike! And your noses are the same!"

"She seems to also share a few characteristics with your father, Haruhi."

"That's because she's Haru-chan's sister from another universe." The hosts stared at Honey, who didn't look at all ashamed by what he'd just said, "We need to help her get back home."

"Mitsukuni… how much cake have you-"

"It's the truth, Takashi! I saw it in her face!"

"Look, Honey-senpai…"

"...just because she looks like Haruhi doesn't mean she has to be related to her."

Jin shuffled her feet, "But I am… where I'm from. I'm not sure if universe is the right term, but I do know I'm Jin Fujioka and my little sister is Haruhi."

"I see…" Kyoya shifted his glasses further up his nose, "Miss, would you mind accompanying us back inside? I'm sure we can find someone to help you back home."

"I don't think calling the psych ward would do me much help, Kyoya Ootori."

The ravenet blinked, "You know my name?"

"Okay, so we're going to do this the cliché way. Fine, I have proof." Digging into her pocket, the brunette closed her fingers around the rectangle object they found there. She pulled her phone out and began tapping at the screen.

"What's that?"

"My phone."

" That's a phone? "

Jin's eyebrow lifted, "What do your phones look like?" The twins were the ones to pull theirs out, a blue and orange pair of flip phones. Jin nearly laughed aloud. "You all use flip phones? Wow! Where exactly did I land again? The Dark Ages?"

The boys looked affronted, "What's so bad about flip phones? These are the best phones around!"

"*Snort* Whatever you say. This is an iPhone. Unlike your flip phones this has touch screen, 16GB of storage, and front and back facing cameras. But that's enough bragging, you'll all get there eventually, just look at this."

The seven hosts managed to stop looking so offended by their phone choice to slowly lean in towards the picture Jin was showing them. It was clearly taken with that front-facing camera she had just mentioned, and it showed the entire host club. Hikaru and Kaoru were front and center of the photo, grinning cheekily at the camera with Haruhi unhappily squished between them. Honey was waving at the phone with Mori's face beside him, just behind Kaoru's head. Behind Hikaru in the background Tamaki looked to be in another one of his "rage moods", Kyoya beside him smirking in amusement. And right beside Mori, her head perched atop of Haruhi's, was Jin. She was smiling broadly, seemingly not bothered that her phone had been hijacked.

Jin watched their faces, aching to find a hint of belief in them. And she almost did… until-

"Wow, those are some excellent photoshopping skills."

"Yeah, you can't even tell!"

Her mouth flapped, "It's not altered!"

The twins looked at her, unimpressed, "Look, you might be one of our more devoted fans, but we never took this photo, so…"

Jin's free hand came up to her head, forgetting it was in a cast but not really caring. She ran her fingers through her hair, really ripping it out. If they're not going to believe this, then-

"Jin. Your hand." The brunette froze and looked up at Mori. He was holding out his own hand, asking for something. Normally this was when Jin would read his expression and know instantly what he wanted. But this Mori was different. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, and it unsettled her greatly.

"What?"

"Takashi wants to see your cast, Jin-chan."

Despite everything, Jin slowly laid her cast into Mori's large hand. Gently, the tall boy rolled her wrist around, looking at the cast with curiosity and a little surprise.

"Mitsukuni, look."

The blond leaned in and gasped, "Those are our names! Our signatures! Guys, we signed her cast!"

"What?!"

They all rushed forward to spot their own signatures, spot the fakes. But one by one, Jin saw the distrust fall away into shock. The boy's different signatures (and occasional drawing) were simply too diverse and intricate for her to mimic perfectly. A few were also in spots that would've been incredibly difficult for her to reach herself.

Eventually, Tamaki looked up at her.

"Maybe… we should go inside."

Jin slowly stirred her tea, watching as the milk she'd just poured in slowly billow out within the otherwise golden colored liquid. For some reason she'd always liked watching things like this. Whether it was mixing paints or tea and milk, it was oddly calming and mentally stimulating at the same time. Both of which she really needed at the moment.

"And you're sure? "

"Yes, Tamaki, I'm very sure I don't have any memory of running into a witch, or a cursed object, or anyone particularly Divine."

"Hm… what if we-"

"We're not making an offering to any Gods to send me home."

The blond slumped, "Well, I'm out of ideas."

Jin rolled her eyes and removed the small silver spoon from her cup, taking a small drink before cupping the warm porcelain in her hands, "I think we should just wait it out. Somehow I ended up here with no warning, I'll end up back home in no time."

"You're really okay with waiting?"

"Won't your family be worried sick about you?"

The brunette held the teacup a little tighter, "I… I hope not. If I could have it my way, time would stop until I got back to them. But if it doesn't… I just hope I get back as soon as possible. I don't even want to consider what Dad and Haru would think if I just disappeared off the face of the Earth. Let alone the boys… oh my God if they all think I'm missing they're probably going ballistic right now."

The redheads leaned in closer, butts nearly sliding off the couch they were resting on, "So Jin-senpai, what are the Hikaru and Kaoru in your world like?"

"Uh… not much different from here, I guess. Or at least nothing physical. Personality wise you also seem pretty similar. You've got the Jokester positions down back in my world, too, but I've gotta ask; did you also have that fake fight a few months back?"

The twins nodded.

"Huh. I wonder what else is the same…"

"I don't think much would've changed, Jin-senpai," Haruhi tapped her fingers against her own teacup, brow furrowing, "From what you've described, the only difference between where you're from and here is-"

"Me."

Jin didn't realize she'd done something weird until Kyoya cleared his throat.

"Hm? Oh!" The others were watching her in surprise as she ducked her head, "It's… it's something Haru and I do. We're a bit like the twins, I guess… we can tell what the other is thinking really easily. Tamaki calls it mind-reading. We finish each other's sentences a lot."

The twins leaned forward, eyes narrowing in curiosity, "You and Haruhi are pretty alike, then, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Can you tell us apart, too?"

"Definitely."

"Hm." The two stood up, whipping a pair of green caps out from behind them, "Then let's play the 'Which one of us is Hikaru' game!" Quickly slapping the hats on and spinning around the brunette multiple times, the two came to a stop in front of her.

"Hikaru's on my left."

The two froze, gaping, "You really can tell…"

Jin shrugged, sipping at her tea again but with a small smile, "I've had a lot of practice. I was actually childhood friends with Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai, so I learned how to read Mori-senpai's face for conversation purposes. And then Haru and I have always been able to read each other's thoughts, so it's easy to tell one twin from the other."

As the others processed, Jin's eyes passed over what should be her little sister. What she actually saw was confusing as Hell. Because, she looked like Haru and talked like her and probably smelled like her and Jin could still read the girl's face like a book, as she'd always been able too. But what she saw there wasn't her sister. She saw a much more withdrawn girl in her place, closed off from everyone. Jin's Haru had nothing on this one in regards to dismissal of the Host Club, and then there was the unnerving blank expression this Haru had when looking at her.

Back home, Jin would never, ever, ever, ever again think to herself that her life would be easier if she didn't have someone who could read her secrets with just a glance. Because now she had it and it was actually really freaking uncomfortable. It sounded cheesy and so overused, but Jin now understood why authors use 'losing a limb' to describe their splitting of two close characters. That's exactly how it felt looking at her sister and not having a 2-way internal conversation.

"Jin-senpai? You still there?"

The girl jumped, "Yeah! Sorry, Haru. Zoned out. What were you saying?"

Haruhi seemed to hesitate, "I… I'm sorry, Jin-senpai. I know you're going through alot right now and I'm going to sound really insensitive but… could you maybe not call me Haru?"

It would've been kinder to kick her in the stomach with a metal-toed boot.

"...Oh. Sure."

"I'm sorry. It just makes me uncomfortable."

"No, no, I get it. Some random girl calling you 'Haru'. Too familiar. It's a little weird for me, too, I guess. Because, you know, I see my sister… but you're not my sister."

"It's weird to call your own sister by her full name?"

"Well, normally when I use her full name, it means she's in trouble."

"In trouble?"

"Yeah, like when I found out about the 8 million yen debt through Tamaki, because she didn't want to make me worry about it. Called her by her first name then. Oh, or that day when the host club went to the beach and those drunks showed up. I was already up there keeping them away from the girls when Haru showed up and threw sea urchins on the guys. Called her Haruhi when I told her to run, and then again later at dinner when we were explaining to her that she should apologize."

"Wait a minute…did you say you dealt with drunks? "

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"Um… Haru got pushed off the cliff and Tamaki dove in after her. I headbutted one guy, kicked the other in the chest so he flew backwards, and then I roundhouse kicked the third guy who'd been hiding in the shadows… after he smashed his beer bottle on my head."

The others gaped.

"...I guess we have some things to talk about while I'm here?"

* Time Skip *

"Oh my go-No!"

"You're making that up, I know you are!"

Jin was cracking up, holding her stomach, "Haruhi, be very grateful that you do not have Eiko in this world. I'm sure that if I wasn't here all of that anger would be focused on you."

The shorter brunette shook her head, "I just don't understand how you could even deal with something like that. She really tried to get you both drunk?"

"Yup."

"Please don't tell me that all the young children you know behave like brats."

Jin snorted, "Other than Eiko and Shido, I get along really well with children. I babysit most of the kids that live in my apartment building and… oh, yeah! Did Kirimi-chan show up here for you guys, too?"

"Yeah!"

"And she called you a Reverse-Harem, right?"

Tamaki nodded, "That she did."

Jin laughed again, "I nearly had a heartattack when she asked if I ran it! Thank goodness for Ume-kun coming in when he did."

"Ume… kun?"

"Uh… Umehito Nekozawa? He's still here, right?"

The tall blond screamed and fell off the couch, the twins leaned in to take up the newly vacant couch-space, "You call Nekozawa-senpai, Ume-kun?"

"How?!"

"Because of Kirimi-chan." Jin tilted her head, "I babysat her and became friends with Ume-kun in the process. I taught him music and we decided to… wait a second." The brunette leaned forward, "I'm not in this universe... then that means no one taught Ume-kun how to play guitar. How'd he and Kirimi-chan make up then?"

"It was really great, Jin-chan! He conquered his fear of sunlight, jumping out the window and chasing a cat away from Kirimi-chan!"

She nodded slowly, "Sure… naturally. So, to make sure I heard you right… you said he jumped out a window?"

"Uh huh."

"...It was on the first floor, right?"

"Nope. Second floor."

"Hm. Were there bushes to cushion his fall? Just a little bit?"

"No, I think he jumped straight to the cement."

"...Oh... okay, you're probably going to think I'm crazy for asking this, but the window was open when he jumped through it… right?"

No one answered her.

"Ah. So you mean to tell me that Ume-kun jumped out of a second story, closed window, onto cement , and none of you were concerned for his safety? "

This time around no one even looked at her, except for one.

"He jumped out on his own accord before any of us could stop him. He didn't appear to be harmed from the jump at all, in fact it was the sun that was more damaging than anything. Do not mistake our calm for lack of caring."

Jin sighed, rubbing at her eyes, "Yeah, I know, I know. But give me a little credit, Glasses, I just learned that my friend apparently has a tendency for jumping out of second-story windows without even bothering to open them."

"...Terribly sorry… were you referring to me just now?"

The brunette jolted, looking up at the boy and back down again, not liking the calculated look in his eyes, "Sorry. Slipped out."

"The other me has a nickname?"

"Only from me. You almost keel-hauled Tamaki when he used it, so…"

"Is the other me… accepting of this nickname?"

"Seems like. The other you doesn't get mad or look uncomfortable when I use it. In fact, I think he likes it."

"He does? Are you sure you aren't assuming? Personally, I'm not all that comfortable with nicknames myself, so if we are the same person perhaps you should ask ."

Jin frowned, not really needing this at the moment, "Are you sure that you aren't assuming either? I've been friends with my Kyoya for a lot longer than we've known each other. And I must say, you two are actually very different, if I do say so myself."

Kyoya didn't seem to have a response, merely pulling out his usual black journal and starting to scribble in it. The brunette frowned again. She was not enjoying herself at all. These people might be her friends, they weren't at the same time. And it was much more than just their memory of her, their personalities were different as well.

The twins were decently more withdrawn than their counterparts in Jin's world, actually sitting a small distance away from the rest of the group. Same could be said for Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai. The two were acting like they were taking a backseat to whatever was happening in the club, content to just watch and not necessarily interfere. Tamaki was, if possibly, even more spastic than usual. Jin knew he was capable of a deeper thought process at times, but she still had yet to see it in this guy. Haruhi… she didn't want to think about it any more, actually. And then there was Kyoya. Jin almost wanted to bang her head against the table, because the way he was acting now reminded her of when they had first met. In fact, they all were. It was like starting from the bottom again, which would be incredibly tedious.

"Jin-senpai? You're glaring at your tea. Is it too cold?"

"I need to get home. Sooner rather than later."

"But didn't you just say we should wait?"

"Well, what's the harm in trying?"

The hosts shifted in their chairs, not knowing where to start. The elder Fujioka almost screamed ' You're all friends here! Just brainstorm together! Come on! Talk to each other! '

Instead, she tapped her toes and mused, "Maybe I need to fall asleep again? I mean, the last thing I remember is settling down for a nap and when I woke up here-" Jin faltered. Unconsciously she had started reaching for Kyoya's journal, only to have it quickly moved out of her reach. Everyone was staring.

"Miss Jin?"

"Sorry. Force of habit…"

"The other me lets you see the contents of this journal?"

The brunette shrugged, "I plan to become an accountant, and I like numbers. I help a lot with the financials of this club."

"Well, you don't here. Please do not touch this journal." Receiving a nod, he stood, "I'm going to brainstorm for a bit. Why don't you all… entertain yourselves. Excuse me."

Watching Kyoya walk away, Jin felt a strange emotion bubble up inside of her that she hadn't felt in a long time. Resentment.

"Jin-chan?"

"Why do I care so much about an asshole who wears glasses?" Not wanting an answer, she looked back at the others, "Wanna keep comparing universes?"

" Send my love to your new lo-over~

Treat her be-e-e-etter~

Gotta let go, of all of our goals…

We both know we a'int kids no more…

If you're ready

If you're ready

If you're ready

I'm ready "

"Miss Jin?"

"AH!" The girl jumped in place, teacup nearly flying out of her hands and sending sprays of soap everywhere, "Yes! What? Hi! Who?" She turned to see Kyoya standing at the entrance of the kitchen and sighed, "Sorry, it's disorienting here."

"Understandable. I was wondering where you had disappeared off to."

Jin gestured to the soap-filled sink, "Washing the dishes. It's something I do for my club. I know you probably let the janitors do it here but I needed something to occupy my time."

"Smart. But then again, any sister of Haruhi would no doubt be incredibly intelligent." The ravenet walked closer, his earlier dismissal of her presence now gone, replaced with intentional flattery, "At first I wasn't sure if you were telling the truth about being related to Haruhi, but clearly you've proven me wrong."

"Skip the fake flattery and tell me why you went looking for me." If he was taken aback by the sharp statement, he didn't show it, which kind of pissed Jin off. Instead Kyoya kept his expression completely neutral, even as he thumbed the back cover of his now opened journal. The move was so casual and typical Jin almost felt physically sick.

"I've been cataloging a few facts and traits you've been showing for the past hour, Miss Jin, to try and get a handle on your personality. Perhaps the reason you are here is to help us with something. As nothing terrible has happened recently or in the time you've been here, I must assume is has something to do with us as a club, rather than any physical calamity."

Jin nodded, rubbing the clean (and not broken) teacup with a soft towel, "And you found..?"

"The way you address, treat, and react with our host club speaks of a very close bond between you and your club members. You trust them, which bleeds over to us. And as you seem surprised whenever they don't return that same amount of trust, I have to assume that they are just as open with you. Additionally, you are incredibly close to your sister, Haruhi. Perhaps more so than the twins are close to each other, but not in the same fashion. You don't depend on each other, but you can always rely on having her by your side."

"Good work. I see you're both a workaholic here and in my universe." He hesitated, which was more like the Kyoya Jin knew, and she felt the small cavern in her chest shrink.

"I've also thrown together a small hypothesis, but I can not tell for certain if it's the truth."

"A hypothesis? Wow, way to be scientific. Go on then, test it out."

"Miss Jin… in your world, are you and I in a relationship?"

This time she did drop the dish in her hands.

Thankfully it was only a spoon. Un fortunately she had been rinsing it at the time and the water running out of the faucet was now hitting the curve of the spoon, sending water everywhere. Jin grappled for the utensil as she tried to answer.

"No! No, no, we're just friends!" She turned the water off and pulled the spoon out, cheeks a little flushed.

"Very close friends it would seem, if you have a 'cute' nickname for me and I share the information in this journal with you."

Jin groaned, "Like I told you, I help with financials! You're the one who asked for my help in the first place! Unlike in my world, you and I don't have any history yet! I can't expect you to understand, but we are friends and you trust me! Heck, you're the one who carried me across a beach and waited for me to wake up after that drunk broke a bottle over my head! In my world, we actually get along ! It took some time, because you used to be like this, but now you're actually really cool to hang around! When we played those kid games for the Newspaper Club to write about, you tried to cheat by tickling me when I was supposed to be still!"

She stopped to breath and was pleased to see Kyoya looking quite shocked. He had some trouble collecting the words for his next sentence.

"You say that… and you tell me about everything the other me partakes in… yet we are not-"

"No, you're not tied down or anything, Mr. Ootori."

"Hm."

Jin wasn't expecting him to move, so when he was suddenly way too close and pecking her cheek she hadn't been ready. Of course, by the time she was, he was too far away for her to quickly punch his shoulder.

"What was that?! Why'd you-"

"To test my hypothesis."

" What?! "

"You say that we are not in a relationship where you are from, but it would seem as though you aren't too keen on that statement."

Jin couldn't think of a single thing to say. But, as it so happened, she didn't need to.

" Nēchan… Nēchan…"

"Did you hear that?"

Without waiting for an answer, Jin brushed past the boy and tore out of the kitchen, glad to get away. Her hands were still a little wet from the water, but she couldn't even feel it. The other boys were scattered around the room and staring at the ceiling or the doors.

"You heard it, too?!"

"Yeah…"

"Who was that?"

The twins looked over at the shorter brunette, who was the only one still seated, "It sounded a bit like Haruhi."

"Haru!" Jin grinned. For the first time since she'd taken off after her nap, she felt like her body was whole again, "It's my sister! She calling for me! I can go home!"

" Nēchan… Nēchan…"

"I need to go!"

The brunette started running through the room, ducking around pillars and couches. It sounded like the voice was coming from the doors, so she kept following it.

"Wait!"

Jin skidded to a halt. For a moment she wonders why her body automatically stopped when she could still hear her baby sister's voice calling out for her. Then she realized it was because it heard Haruhi telling her to stop and wait.

The small girl in question was still on the couch, hands in her lap, but staring straight at Jin. All eyes were on her and she looked back down at her woven fingers, "Do you… really have to go?"

Jin tilted her head. Around them she could still faintly hear her real sister calling her name. It was driving her crazy, but something about Haruhi's tone made her pause. "What do you mean?"

Haruhi looked embarrassed, ducking her head.

"Haruhi?"

"I want a sister!" She had stood up very suddenly, hands jumping down to her sides in tightly clenched fists, "I… I-I want someone who will hold me when I'm scared! Someone to share my secrets with! Someone who will always be there to keep me on the right track! And… someone who won't leave me all alone…"

Jin could feel her heart crack, and all she could do was reach out and collect the small girl into a hug, where Haruhi promptly burst into tears, "I'm sorry! This is so stupid of me when you need to go home and I know I told you to not call me Haru but I just… I knew you'd have to leave! I've always wanted a sibling, y'know with being alone all the time! Now… now you're going and I still don't want you too!"

"Oh Haruhi… I'm so sorry I'm hurting you like this, but I've already got a sister than I have to get back to. You're wonderful, but I want my Haru… my Host Club… my Glasses. They're important to me. And I'm important to them in ways that I'd never have here."

The small girl nodded, hugging Jin tighter, "I should've enjoyed have a sister when I had one. Before you go, can… can you at least…"

Jin smiled, still able to read her sister like a book. She pressed a lingering kiss to Haruhi's forehead, " I love you, Haru. "

The little brunette sniffled, finally releasing the taller girl, who ruffled her hair once before turning back towards the door. Lifting her right foot into a half-skip, she ran towards the double doors and pushed them open harshly. Without even a backwards glance, she dove through the darkness.

Behind her the Host Club watched with mixed emotions as she left, probably for good. She hadn't been around long, but there was just something there when she spoke to them. Or even looked at them. It was a security most of them didn't really have. And now she was gone after only a short hour.

Kyoya was the first to break the silence, sighing aloud.

"The other me is an idiot… but he definitely is a lucky idiot."

"Nēchan! Nēchan, wake up already!"

Jin jerked awake, launching herself forward and falling off the seat. Looking around frantically, she saw the inside of an oddly vacant train car. There was only one other occupant, an elderly lady at the far opposite end who was reading a newspaper, ignoring the two teenage girls she was sharing a car with. One of whom was now on the floor, her right hand caked in dirt from other traveler's shoes.

Steadying her breathing, Jin slowly push herself back up into a chair, wiping her dirty hand on her jean shorts, "Haru?"

Haruhi was sitting beside her, eyes wide with concern and a hand gripping her arm tightly, "Nēchan, what happened? I've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes!"

Jin didn't know how to answer, her clean hand coming up to her forehead, only to pull her fingers away with a light sheen of sweat. Geez, people actually wake up in cold sweats? Huh.

"Woah, Nēchan… are you okay? We're almost at Karuizawa, maybe we should stop at a hospital-"

"No… no, I'm fine, Haru."

Turning to stare at her little sister, Jin saw the recognition and the way Haruhi's eyes roamed her own face for nonverbal cues to have a silent conversation. She smiled and leaned back.

I'm just fine.

If you're sure…

At the response, Jin grinned and shut her eyes. It was just a bad dream. Nothing more, nothing less. My stupid imagination… I must really need this vacation more than I thought.

"So, how long until we get there?"

"Two minutes until we get to the station. Misuzu-chi said he'd be there to walk us the last couple blocks. But Nēchan are you sure -"

"Haru? Po-si-tive."

Finally her sister relaxed, "Good. If you're sure, I won't ask any more." Jin smiled again, throwing her left arm over Haruhi's shoulder and pulling her close, but still making sure not to smack her in the face with her cast. With Haruhi happily resting her head on her sister's shoulder, she didn't realize Jin had pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

Jin quickly and quietly went through her photos. She came across the one she had used from her dream. Now that she was awake, she could see the few little bits and pieces she had forgotten while asleep, not to mention the clarity of it all.

Then she swiped right.

It was when Hikaru and Kaoru had taken her phone in the first place for the photo. In the picture was her and Kyoya. She had yet to realize that her phone had been taken, but Kyoya was the one facing the camera. He was smirking kindly, but whether or not it was at the twins holding the phone or how Jin looked to be in a deep, hands-flailing sort of talk with him remains a mystery.

You say that we are not in a relationship where you are from, but it would seem as though you aren't too keen on that statement.

Smiling, she pressed the power button just as the train came to a stop.

" Karuizawa station. "

"Ready for summer vacation, Haru?"

"Definitely."