TangledOuran- I See No Resemblance

Tamaki Suoh stared at the open word document on his computer.  The page was blank, but above it were ten whole pages he'd already written up on his father's family history.  Beside him was a book Shima had loaned him which detailed the history of the Suoh family.  It wasn't the most interesting read, and quite frankly, Tamaki was sure certain parts were made up or at least exaggerated (he had a hard time believing his Great-Great Uncle Goro was fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, Latin and Tagalog when his written testimonies betrayed a lack of knowledge of his own native language).  The 'Research Your Family History' project came as a surprise and didn't really count for much beyond extra credit, but he was putting his all into it anyway.  He'd completed the portion about his father's family; now he needed his mother's, and that's where the problem lay.

In all the time she'd raised him, his mother never had much to say about her extended family.  Her own mother died long before Tamaki was born and her father passed away two years before he moved to Japan.  Besides them, Tamaki had no idea if he had Great Aunts or Uncles or even what his Great-grandparents were like.  Asking his father or paternal Grandmother would achieve nothing, and the latter would just give him a hurtful glare and some insulting words.  

Stuck in a rut, Tamaki sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk.  Leaning back in his seat a bit, he caught sight of a bright star through his window and gave a weak smile.

"I wish I could just meet my ancestors," he muttered to himself.  "That would make this much easier."

As he said this, the star seemed to brighten a bit.  Tamaki furrowed his brow and watched it grow brighter, so bright that it was blinding him.  Tamaki yelped and threw an arm over his face to shield his eyes from the intense glow.  He heard two consecutive thumps across the room, followed by the glow dying back down to nothing.  Tamaki was almost afraid to open his eyes for a minute, but finally did so and had to gasp aloud at what he saw.

Two people, a man and a woman, both with short-ish brown hair and western features stared back at him from over by the bed.  Their clothes were very odd, like something out of a European fairy tale, but both of them were very attractive, especially the woman, whose cropped brown hair and large eyes reminded him of his dear daughter, Haruhi.

Tamaki just stared at them for the next few minutes, and they stared right back.  He wondered briefly if they were burglars or kidnappers and if he should call security, but that didn't explain how they'd actually gotten past the guards in the first place, let alone how they made it into his room.

Suddenly, the woman coughed.  It was enough to break the tension and send her male companion charging for Tamaki, who shrunk back into his computer chair as the man pulled something off his belt and held it in Tamaki's face threateningly.

"Alright," the man said harshly.  "Who are you, and how did we get here?"

"Eugene!" the woman scolded, taking a step forward.  "Stop that, you're being rude!"

The male, apparently named Eugene, gave her an incredulous look while Tamaki backed up just far enough to get a good look at the brunette man's weapon.

"Are you…" he trailed off, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.  "Are you threatening me with a frying pan?"

"…yes."

By now, the woman seemed to have had enough and stormed over to her companion, grabbing the frying pan from his hands and making him sputter in protest.  

"I'm sorry," the woman said to Tamaki.  "My husband here is just scared because we got caught in some sort of light and don't know where we are right now."

"I see.." Tamaki didn't really know how to answer that.  "Forgive me, but I have no idea why you're here either.  I was just working on a project for school and I-"

Tamaki gasped, remembering clearly the wish he'd made on the star and the subsequent  blinding light it created.  Suddenly, the couple's period clothes made sense, but he had no idea how it could be possible.  He wasn't concerned with that though.  Right now, he was too filled with happiness and gave a shout of joy before he could stop himself.

"You must be my ancestors!" he cried, pulling them into a hug.  "How wonderful, this means my wish came true!  Oh, I have so many questions to ask you."

The woman, while confused, hugged back.  Eugene just made a noise of annoyance and pulled away.

"Woah, woah woah," He said with light agitation.  "Hang on a minute, pal.  Are you trying to tell me we're your ancestors, and you wished us here on a star to interview us or something?"

Tamaki nodded. "That's right."

Eugene looked at Tamaki, then at his wife.  There was a pause, and then he smiled easily and gave a chuckle.

"Okay," he said.  "I get what's happening here.  I had too much to drink at the banquet last night and now I'm having some kind of weird alcohol dream.  Makes sense."

Satisfied with this, Eugene flopped down on Tamaki's bed without permission and closed his eyes.

"I'll just wake up now, back in my room, in my castle, with my wife in my arms and everything will be normal."

"Eugene, I'm right here," replied his unamused wife.

"Yes, but you're not the real Rapunzel," Eugene answered condescendingly.  "You're just a figment of my imagination.  Goodbye now, Dream Rapunzel.  Goodbye, crazy blonde guy who thinks I'm related to him… man this bed is comfy."

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow.  She stood for a moment tapping the frying pan lightly against her side.  Then she briskly approached her husband and smacked him on the side with it.

"AH!" Eugene shrieked, his eyes snapping open.  "What that hell was that?  That hurt!"

"Did it?" Rapunzel said in a mock-innocent voice.  "I guess that means you're not dreaming, huh?"

Eugene opened his mouth, but gave no response.  His pupils seemed to shrink as he realized this was actually happening and not just a figment of his imagination and he sat up on the bed listlessly, trying to comprehend what was happening.  Tamaki, for his part, was too busy staring at Rapunzel to notice.

"Did he just call you Rapunzel?" he asked slowly.

The woman blinked, then smiled.

"That's me," she answered pleasantly.  "And you are?"

"Tamaki Suoh," he introduced himself.  "It's wonderful to meet you, my dear."

His charming smile faded once he realized he was essentially trying to flirt with his Great-Greatx Grandmother.  Rapunzel didn't seem to notice and just gave a giggle.

"Well, I don't know if he's really our descendent," She said to her husband.  "But he sure is charming like you, Eugene."

The man gave her a flat look.  "You acutally think I'm in any way like this guy?"

"Well, we are related," Tamaki answered for her.  "By the way, what year are you two from.  This is 2011, so-"

"2011?!" Eugene yelled, shooting up.

"Wow," Rapunzel commented in awe.  "That's a long time."

"How could you be so calm about this?!" Eugene demanded in a slightly high pitched voice.

"Well, it's not the strangest thing to happen to us," Rapunzel answered with a shrug.  "You freaked out way more that time I healed you hand."

"You healed my hand with your 70ft long magical glowing hair," Eugene flatly replied.  "That is... roughly on par with this, give or take."

As soon as he heard the '70ft hair' part, Tamaki's jaw dropped to the ground.  He stared at his female ancestor in complete shock, something that made her rather uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, leaning back a bit.

"You…" Tamaki was at a loss.  "You're… Rapunzel?"

The aforementioned woman glanced at her husband, then back at Tamaki.

"Yes, that's my name."

"THE Rapunzel?"

This time, it was Eugene's turn to be confused.

"What do you mean, 'THE' Rapunzel?"

They stared at Tamaki expectantly, but he was unable to answer them for a few moments as the discovery sunk into his mind.

'She's Rapunzel… does that mean the fairy tale is true?' he thought to himself.  'I'm actually descended from Rapunzel…'

"Hello?" Eugene waved a hand in Tamaki's face impatiently.  "Crazy Guy, you in there?"

Eugene snapped his fingers in Tamaki's face a few times, bringing him out of his daze and back to reality.

"You're Rapunzel!" he cried and pointed at the woman.  "This is incredible, does that mean the story is true?!"

The couple looked at each other.

"What story?" asked Rapunzel.

The next few minutes were spent with Tamaki explaining the Rapunzel fairy tale his mother often told him when he was a child.  Thinking back, he had to wonder if his mother knew they were descended from the real thing.  It had been her favorite story to tell.

When he finished, Eugene and Rapunzel were staring at him with twin looks of shock and speechlessness.  Tamaki, usually more than happy to be the center of attention, felt a bit uncomfortable under their gazes.

"That's the story they tell?" Eugene asked in complete disbelief.

Tamaki nodded and frowned.  "Is it not accurate?"

Eugene snorted in response.  "Understatement of eternity, pal.  First of all, I was no prince, Rapunzel here is the royal one.  Second, the last thing Gothel would've done is cut her hair off.  Third, I think I would remember getting thorns shoved into my eye sockets.  Fourth-"

"Hang on!" Tamaki interrupted, scrambling for his desk.  "Let me get my notebook."

He grabbed it and a pen before turning back around to face Eugene, vaguely noticing that Rapunzel was now exploring his closet.

"I'm doing a report on my family's history," Tamaki explained.  "And since I'm your descendent, I bet the real story of Rapunzel would be great for my report!"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea!" The brown haired female called over from the closet.

Eugene, for his part, was trying harder than ever to convince himself that this really was just a dream and that he'd wake up any second now.  He was becoming less and less sure every second.  

"Oh!" the two men jumped at Rapunzel's exclaimation.  The petite woman was now holding a large wooden box in her arms and had an excitable look on her face.  "You have a paint set!"

Tamaki looked confused for a moment, then gasped in recognition.

"That's right, I bought that for an art project last year!  I forgot I had that.  Do you paint?"

"I love to paint," Rapunzel gushed.  "Back when I lived in my tower, I painted all the walls until there wasn't a single spot left blank.  And when I moved to the castle, my parents gave me a room I could do whatever I wanted with and so I painted those walls too."

"Wow," Tamaki gushed back.  "That sounds amazing!"

Rapunzel gave an excited nod. then gasped as an amazing idea hit her.

"I know," she said to him.  "Since we're related and all, how about I paint something for you?"

If possible, Tamaki's smile widened even more.  The thought of his ancestor, who also happened to be a beloved fairy tale figure, painting something for him was nothing short of amazing.  Plus, his father told him when he first moved in that he was free to have his room redone in any way he saw fit, including repainting the walls.  This counted, right?

"That would be fantastic!" Tamaki exclaimed.

Rapunzel immediately ran to the wall, grabbed a chair to stand on and set to work.  Meanwhile, Eugene watched the entire display with increasing levels of non-amusement.

'Well,' he thought to himself.  'I can definitely see some similarities between those two, but I'm still not convinced.'

"So, will you tell me the story?"  Tamaki was begging.  "Pleeeease?!"

Eugene just stared back at him.  "Okay, let me get this straight.  I'm in the future, with some kid who claims he's my descendent and wants me to tell him my life story for his homework."

Nobody gave him an answer.  Mostly because Tamaki was too anxious to hear the story and Rapunzel wasn't listening.  After a moment of silence, Eugene gave a laugh and shrugged his shoulders dramatically.

"Alright, fine," he said in a defeated yet accepting voice.  "I give up.  I don't know what's happening here, but I just don't care anymore.  However, you should know that this is the second strangest thing I've ever done."

The former thief rubbed his hands together and gave Tamaki a weird smile.

"Start taking notes, kid," Eugene told him.

Tamaki readied his pen and gave the older man a look of intense concentration.  Eugene took a deep breath and began.

"This is the story of how I died… don't worry," he added when Tamaki's face fell.  "This is actually a very fun story.  In fact, it's not even mine."

Eugene paused, giving a quick, loving look at his wife as she painted something currently unrecognizable on Tamaki's wall.

"This is the story of a girl," he continued in a noticably softer tone.  "Named Rapunzel…"

**
ROUGHLY NINETY MINUTES LATER

"Now I know what your thinking, did Rapunzel and I ever tie the knot?  Well, I'm pleased to tell you that after years of asking and asking and asking…"

Eugene paused for dramatic tension, as he'd done multiple times throughout the story.  Tamaki leaned forward a bit, eager to hear the rest.  Finally, Eugene gave a smug smile.

"I finally said yes," he smirked.

"Eugene," Rapunzel wryly piped in for the first time.

Eugene playfully raised his hands in surrender.

"Alright, I asked her."

"And you're living happily ever after, right?" Tamaki said through the happy tears now streaming down his face.

"Yes we are," Eugene answered, gazing into Rapunzel's eyes.

Without warning, Tamaki's warm fuzzy feelings boiled over and exploded causing him to squeal like one of his fan girls and tackle hug Eugene, almost knocking him over.

"THAT'S THE SWEETEST, MOST ROMANTIC STORY I'VE EVER HEARD!" Tamaki yelled.  "I can't believe the fairy tale got so much wrong.  The real story is so amazing!"

"…you don't get out much, do you?"

"By the way," Tamaki said as he calmed down and let his ancestor go.  "I wanted to ask you about that 'smoulder' thing, do you think you can show me?"

At this, Eugene put on a decidedly cocky grin.

"Oh what," he said in a superior tone.  "You think you can pull off the smoulder?  Hate to break it to you pal, but I'm the only one who can do it.  I'm just gifted that way you see."

He chuckled to himself, but his smirk faded a bit when he realized that Tamaki hadn't backed down.  

"Well, if you insist," Eugene shrugged, not sounding too upset at being asked to show off.

He lowered his head a bit, and when he raised it back up, had one his signature look.  Tamaki studied him like a student taking notes from a teacher.

"Oh," he said in awe.  "So it's like…"

Tamaki made a face similar to the one Eugene was making.  The moment he did so, Eugene's jaw dropped, completely ruining his smolder.  He looked like a fish with his mouth just hanging open and his eyes bugging out, but he didn't notice or care.

"My God," he whispered in awe.  "You ARE my descendant."

Tamaki's face broke out in a grin, and for the second time he cheered and launched himself at his ancestor.

"I knew it!" he cried happily, holding the older man in a tight hug.  "I knew it, I just knew it!"

"Stop hugging me," Eugene said awkwardly.  "Seriously, do you do this to everyone?"

"I'm done!"

The two men looked out at Rapunzel and gasped.  Well, Tamaki did anyway.  Eugene had already seen enough of Rapunzel's works to know how she painted.  With only a little time, she hadn't painted the whole room as usual.  Instead, she painted part of the wall his bed leaned against.  An array of bright colors forming fancy designs lay were there had once been just plain white.  Stars, hearts, loops, you name it.  It all came together to form an indescribably lovely work of art.

"So, do you like it?" Rapunzel asked with a hint of nervousness.  

Tamaki couldn't answer for a moment, leading Rapunzel to wonder if he didn't.  Then he finally regained his ability to speak.

"It's beautiful," he said in awe.  "Thank you so much."

Rapunzel made a joyous squeak as Tamaki went to hug her.  Unlike Eugene, she was completely receptive and hugged back just as tightly.

"Okay, okay," Eugene said loudly, breaking them up.  "We've told our story and painted the room, now how about you send us back home?"

Tamaki glanced between the two of them, completely unsure and at a loss.

"I'm sorry," he said solemnly.  "I wish I knew how.  All I know is that you got here when I wished on that star and-"

Tamaki stopped when he turned to point at the star in question and found something very peculiar.  It was glowing brighter again.  Just like the first time, it was blindingly bright in only a few seconds and Tamaki didn't even have time to say goodbye before Rapunzel and Eugene vanished before his eyes and everything went dark.

**
"MASTER TAMAKI!"

Tamaki yelped and shot upwards.  His eyes met the annoyed ones of his housekeeper, Shima.  She was a bit too far up, even for his bed.  That's when Tamaki noticed he'd been sleeping on the floor before she woke him up.

"Master Tamaki," she said again sternly.  "I don't know what you think you're doing, but sleeping on the floor is completely unacceptable."

Tamaki looked at Shima, though he wasn't really listening.  His mind was too busy trying to sort through everything that happened last night.  

'Did I just dream it?' he wondered.  'It all seems so real, what if…'

"And where did this come from?"

Tamaki jolted at Shima's harsh tone.  He turned to ask what she was talking about, then gasped.

There on the wall above his bed was the mural Rapunzel had painted for him, every shape and color accounted for.  His stomach rising, Tamaki scrambled to his feet and grabbed the notebook off the floor, flipping it open.  The notes he'd taken last night were still there.

"It was real…" he whispered in complete amazement.

"Master Tamaki, what are you talking about?" Shima gently demanded.

Tamaki paused for a moment, then turned to the elderly woman was a bright smile.

"I'll be staying in today, Shima," he told her.  "I have a report to finish."

With that, Tamaki raced to his laptop, restarted it, and got to typing at a frenzied speed.  He was so involved in his work that he barely heard Shima's continuing questions about the mural and what he was writing until she eventually gave up and left the room.

As he typed, Tamaki couldn't stop smiling.  He knew this story was going to be something else, and there was no doubt in his mind that he would pass the assignment with flying colors.

**
"You got an F, huh, Boss?" Hikaru teased two days later when Tamaki received his paper back.

"Can't say I'm surprised,"  Kaoru said.  "That whole Rapunzel story of yours is ridiculous.  Did you really expect your teacher to believe you're the descendent of a fairy tale character?"

"What's your next report going to be on," Hikaru said with a teasing smile.  "How you're the reincarnation of Edward Elric?"

"I'M TELLING YOU, IT REALLY HAPPENED!" Tamaki shouted at them, flapping his arm and waving his graded paper around.  "THEY WERE REAL!  WHY DOESN'T ANYONE BELIEVE ME?!"

Tamaki ran to the girl sitting on one of the Host Club's couches reading a book and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Haruhi, you believe me right," Tamaki cried desperately.  "You have to believe your own daddy!"

"Senpai," Haruhi responded in a flat, calm voice.  "No one is going to believe a story like that."

Tamaki felt like he'd been smacked upside the head.  He knew Haruhi hadn't meant to be offensive, she was just being her adorably blunt self, but right now that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Alright then," he snapped, folding his arms across his chest.  "How do you explain the mural?  I can prove that exists."

"Yeah sure," Hikaru said with a shrug.

"But you'll never be able to prove-" Kaoru continued.

"That the person you say painted it-"

"Is really the one who did it."

"I have to agree with them, Tamaki," Kyoya casually butt in, not taking his nose out of his notebook.  "You could've had anyone paint that for you.  It's really not evidence of anything."

Tamaki felt like dying right there from a combination of embarrassment and frustration.  Then his eyes found Haruhi again, and he remembered something else he learned last night.  Something he hadn't put in his report.  Standing tall and removing all traces of negativity from his face, Tamaki strode back over to her, casting a shadow that made her look away from her book and at him.

"Tamaki-senpai, wha-"  Haruhi stopped when she got a good  look at his face.

Tamaki was pulling the best smolder he could, and Haruhi just stared at him in wonder.  She tilted her head a bit and raised a finger.

"Senpai, are you alright?" she asked.  "You look like you have a stomachache."

Tamaki didn't come out of the corner for twenty minutes.