Title: Experiment 23
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own "Ouran High School Host Club" or "Inuyasha".

Chapter five
Haruhi's Story

Haruhi sighed. She really didn't want to tell Hunny. If he knew, his reaction would be the same as everyone else's had always been. Those few who knew were disgusted by what she had been turned into. But she supposed she did owe Hunny at least an explanation, if he would get into trouble for not bringing her back.

She began, hoping against all odds that he would be different. The only place she was truly accepted was at home…at the shrine. "Twenty years ago?" Hunny prompted when she fell silent, pondering what really should be mentioned first.

"No, not twenty years ago. It was longer," she shook her head. "I'm not sure of the details. My mom knew so much…" her voice trailed off and she pushed her tongue around in her mouth wondering. Her dad must have gotten himself involved more than he let on… She only hoped her suspicions were wrong and he was not dead. "My mom died because of me. She was on a huge case involving human experimentation."

Hunny looked stunned. It was almost self-explanatory. "Haruhi, what," he started, but she pinned him with a gloomy stare that told him if he said anymore she would lose her nerve and he would never know the truth… her truth…

"My mom is the second daughter of Tokiro Higurashi, a moderately wealthy man who makes a decent living by selling religious trinkets. Twenty years ago, my mom still lived with grandpa Higurashi and Aunt Aris. She met my dad through an arranged match that grandpa set up. Dad was the son of the owner of a chain of okama bars, sure to inherit decent wealth. But then my paternal grandpa lost the chain in a gamble after the wedding, so grandpa Higurashi told them…"

-

"No." Tokiro stated firmly, his lips pursed in anger. The Fujioka family had given him plenty of trouble with the gambling. He had thought that it would be best for his daughter Kotoko if she could be supported by a moderately wealthy family rather than marrying into love, and that was what he had done.

He had been so sure he chose a logical family, but apparently they were a far cry different while drunk.

"But father!" Kotoko pleaded, "We're married. Let me live with him. You didn't mean for me to fall in love, but I did!" She placed a hand on her swelling stomach. "Would you have me raise my child alone?"

Ryoji remained silent, knowing that his father had done wrong by him, but knowing also that there was nothing really to be done for it. Tokiro hissed in anger at his daughter, waving to the women who were everywhere in the shrine, taking care of their children… alone. "Are you suggesting my daughter cannot do something on her own?" he demanded. "I, who raised two girls myself!"

"And look what it did!" Kotoko yelled right back. "Aris has no motivation at all and spends her time fawning over that pea-brained goat you married her to! And me? I've got a degree in law, but you—YOU!—won't let me get a job in the field! So you'll pay for the education but restrict me from the job?"

"Kotoko, I said no!" Tokiro bellowed. "You will not see Ryoji Fujioka! He will leave!" Both of them looked around at that moment for Ryoji, but realized too late that the silent man had left without saying a word.

After that, Kotoko tried everything, and looked everywhere for Ryoji but could not find him. Her pregnancy began to fail, and she lost the child due to a miscarriage. It was only that which allowed Tokiro to see that he had made a grave mistake.

He didn't say anything to apologize; words didn't need to be said between the two. They understood each other. Within days, Ryoji showed up. He alone was able to cheer Kotoko up after the loss of a baby boy. The child was buried with the rest of the Higurashi family, and four years later, Kotoko had her second child, a healthy giggly girl. She was named Haruhi, after Haru, Kotoko's first child.

-

Haruhi's smile was strained. "My mom always said I look like my would-be older brother, though I never really know how she came about that opinion."

"And that's why you can't come?" Hunny asked, not believing it.

"No," Haruhi shook her head. "The reason is not as simple. That's just the start. Twelve years ago, the place my mom and dad lived… my grandpa's home was attacked by black soldiers. Grandpa's shrine had always been a place of peace. He took in mothers and children of abused families and rape victims. Widows who could not support themselves and their children came to stay with grandpa. Twelve years ago, there had been twenty-five children, including myself."

Haruhi urged Hunny to eat the brownies. He did so slowly, almost as though he worried if he ate it too fast she might stop talking. He had attached himself to the story with wide eyes filled with worry. "What happened? What did the soldiers do?"

"They killed." Haruhi said simply. "They killed, and killed, and then, they took all twenty-five of us children. We were taken to the Lab and these scientists injected us with poison after poison that burned through our veins. They would inject us, and then test us. The poisons did something to our bodies—no one is really sure what we are anymore. But we're not entirely human either."

Hunny was on the edge of his seat. "What, what do you mean?"

Haruhi sighed and got up off the chair she'd been sitting in. She supposed showing him was the only she would be fully understood. From within her, she found the ball of power as she liked to call it. Some of the others called it the remaining poison. She couldn't think of it that way, at least not if she wanted to keep her sanity. She pushed her hair behind her ear before spreading her hands out and uncoiling the ball of power through her blood. It didn't take more than a few seconds before she began to shift and her eyes remained on Hunny as he watched hair sprout from her flesh; short black hairs everywhere.

Her face altered, and her dress stuck on a newly curvaceous body with fleshy breasts that she most certainly did not have as her normal self. She had paws for feet and stood on the hind feet as well as any regular human would. The dress that once seemed so modest on her now looked something a dime-whore would wear.

Her hands too were paws, covered in fur, and she let out a soft 'mew' rather than a sigh. But she didn't stop there. She concentrated harder on that ball of power and turned it to finish the job it started. Her body shed the hair and then left her with smooth, perfect flesh, a mouth of sharp teeth, claws, pointed elf-like ears, and yet her feet and hands were human-like again. She knew she was beautiful, but at the same time… it was ugly. She was an 'it'.

Hunny's jaw dropped and he beamed at her. "You're the most cute thing I have ever seen!" He looked like he was holding himself back from squeezing the life out of her. She felt a small, genuine smile cross her face.

"Really?" she asked, a small blush crossing her face.

He nodded enthusiastically. Apparently he couldn't stop himself from hugging her though, and he scrambled the two feet (bunny forgotten) and wrapped his arms around her, nearly crushing her ribs in the process. "Cutie, cutie!" Haruhi remembered belatedly that Hunny loved all things cute and fuzzy.

"Air… ow…" she wheezed, but was still pleased. For once, someone didn't find her disgusting, and that someone belonged to a group other than at 'home' where everyone else had the same problem. No, a normal human liked it.

It was a start…

Hunny released her in embarrassment and then scratched the back of his neck. "Um, yeah, um, so you got this way…" he said quietly.

Haruhi's smile broadened. She continued this time without the hesitation of before. It was a story she didn't want to tell, but she no longer worried about it. "Yes, twelve years ago they experimented on us. We were there so long that the numbers they assigned us became all we knew and we forgot our own names. My cousin, Kagome Higurashi, fell sick under the pressure of the poisons. Her body couldn't take them all. They were going to kill her, but none of us would allow it so we made our escape."

Hunny again sat down. By then he had the whole tray of brownies in his hands and he was scooping them up with his fork, making a mess of his face. It was hard to remember that Hunny was older than Haruhi.

"We almost escaped, but ran into a tight spot. So, Experiment 25 decided to go back and created a diversion. We nearly got caught while arguing with 25 over him going back, but really he was the best one to go. He worked well with shadow manipulation. The poisons had made it so that he could create multiple shadow versions of himself. He went back in and we never saw him again." Haruhi couldn't smile over that.

"Tamaki is 25, isn't he?" Haruhi had to admit, Hunny was very sharp when he wanted to be.

"I think so, yes… and my mom then took on the case against our violators. She knew it was a big case, but she took it anyway. I heard her talking late one night with my aunt Aris. She found out that one of the reasons for the attack was for live subjects to test immortality. The one who ordered this be done to us, wanted to be immortal and he wanted to create the ultimate fighting force to not only lead in the medical field but also in being a main 'supplier' for the military. If he could manage it… but, a few days later mom was killed in a car accident that… I don't think was entirely accidental…"

End.