A/N: Sorry for the delay, I fell out of writing a bit before the holidays! This story takes place directly after The Director of Art and Culture.

Chapter One: Settling In

'So close...' Kiiro blushed. 'Do I...?'

Kyouya smirked as he kissed her neck again, "What's wrong Kir-?"

"Kyouya!"

Kiiro jumped at the yell.

"Kyouya, what is the meaning of this?!" Tamaki's voice yelled from the hallway.

"That idiot." Kyouya hissed. "I told him we weren't going to be able to make it today!"

"Kyouya, I'm coming in!"

"Shit."

In less than a millisecond Kiiro pushed Kyouya back on the bed and quickly hopped off, grabbing the comforter from where it sat on the floor and throwing it over him. She was momentarily impressed with her lightning quick reflexes.

"Kyouya? Are you still asleep?" Tamaki questioned opening the door to the living room and stomping to the bedroom. "Kyouya! This is the first free day we've planned and you go and send me a text like thi- Hello, Kiiro." he blinked slowly, processing.

"Good morning, Tamaki." Kiiro greeted.

"Who the hell could be asleep with all that noise?" Kyouya glared at Tamaki.

"Oh, you are awake." Tamaki opened his phone. "Why did you send me this text?"

"Kiiro and I were up late last night unpacking." he explained. "We didn't get three days to settle like you and Haruhi." he sighed.

"Still, don't you want to go exploring the city you're going to be living in for the next year?" he persisted.

"Not really." he raised an eyebrow.

"Ne? Where's your sense of adventure, Kyouya?" Kiiro joined in, smirking. "You shouldn't spend all day in bed."

His glare flitted to her, "I wasn't going to spend all day in bed, I would definitely spend some time on the floor, against the wall, or any available surface, really." he smirked.

"What?" Tamaki cocked his head obliviously while Kiiro turned bright red.

"He'll get ready and be right out, Tamaki, I'll make sure of it." Kiiro smiled, pushing the blond out the door.

"Thank you, Kiiro. See you later." he left.

"I can't believe you." Kiiro said under her breath.

"I was just telling the truth." he chuckled, kissing her forehead. "Did you want me to lie?"

"You didn't have to say anything at all." she sighed.

"It's a small revenge for making me get up and go out today, when it's still obvious I wanted to do something else." he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her closer.

"Dream on, Kyouya." she said arrogantly, sticking her tongue out, and left quickly to get ready.

"Ah, this place looks familiar..." Kiiro could swear she had seen that office building before, the group had been wandering aimlessly for almost an hour now. "Tamaki, we're going in circles." she informed him.

"Yeah, Tono, we're lost thanks to you!" the Twins huffed.

"We're not lost, we're just getting familiar with the block." Tamaki stated optimistically, beaming.

"Wait, Kiiro-senpai, America is your home, you should know where we are." they joked, each placing an elbow on one of her shoulders.

"I lived in southern California, boys, nowhere near here..." she raised an eyebrow.

"Kir-chan, were you a surfer~?" Hani looked excited.

Mori listened intently.

"Never touched a surfboard in my life, Hani-senpai."

"Aren't we getting a little off topic?" Haruhi sweatdropped, voicing reason. "Where are we, anyway?"

While Tamaki and the Twins fought over what to do next Kiiro sighed and said to Kyouya, "Should we tell them that we could just use our phones to find out where we are?"

"No, let them figure it out." he chuckled.

"You're so evil." she laughed.

"Who said I was good?" he kissed her.

"W-waah!" Tamaki's jaw dropped. "What was that?!" he pointed to the pair accusingly.

"Yeah, Boss, apparently this has been going on for a while." the Twins shrugged.

"You didn't know, Tama-chan~?"

"It was kind of obvious, Tamaki-senpai..." Haruhi rubbed her head.

"Why wasn't I told about this?" he frowned, he staggered over to a wall, lacking a corner. "Mommy's keeping secrets from Daddy again." he pouted.

"Are you still going on about that?" Kyouya sighed, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Sorry, Tamaki." Kiiro smiled, feeling a little guilty.

They had ended up stopping in a cafe the fourth time they passed it.

"I have a feeling that we're going to be wandering around for a while." Haruhi sighed.

"I'm so sorry, Haruhi! Please forgive me!" Tamaki frantically apologized.

"We'll find our way back eventually, Tama-chan, don't worry!" Hani kept positive.

"We should just call a taxi." Hikaru suggested.

"Or ask for directions." Kaoru suggested.

"Or not let Tono lead..." they sighed.

"That's no fun! Men, don't you realize, this is a test of our courage!" Tamaki encouraged. "We will easily find our way home on our own!"

'Men and their pride...'

"We're not all that bad." Kyouya stated from next to Kiiro.

"Please, Kyouya, if anything you're worse than him." she teased. "And, also, do you read minds?" she asked seriously.

"There's no way in hell I'm worse than that." he gestured to Tamaki, he ignored her question.

"You say that but..." she smiled.

"And, even if I was, you still seem to enjoy putting up with me." he cocked his head.

Kiiro smirked, "Yeah, though I really don't have any idea why." she held his hand.

"I think I might have a clue as to why."

"Really? And what might that be?" she acted oblivious.

He just smiled.

Kiiro shook her head, but couldn't keep from smiling herself. She had to admit, she rather liked being in Boston so far. Since it was still the beginning of Summer, she was able to enjoy a bit of a vacation from school. And everything had been cleared up about her attending University halfway through the first semester back in Japan the next year. So, she honestly felt like she could enjoy the next year here.

The one thing that she really loved, was that she could finally stop worrying about her relationship with Kyouya. Everyone else in the club knew now, and they had all accepted it without negativity- of course Kiiro was oblivious to the fact that they had all had their suspicions long before. She didn't need to fret over upsetting any guests either. She felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders.

She could even hold his hand in public!

Which she was definitely going to do!

Once she got up the courage...

She was pulled out of her reverie by the all-too-familiar sound of the Twins arguing with Tamaki, "If you would have just let us lead the way, this wouldn't have happened!" they accused, dramatically pointing at their Idiot King.

"You don't know anything about Boston, you thought it was in the countryside!" King pointed back, just as dramatically if not more so.

"We know more than you!"

Kiiro and Kyouya's smiles fell, she looked up at him with a pleading expression, "Fine, we'll help." he caved and opened his phone.

Kiiro tried talking over them, "Tamaki, Hikaru, Kaoru...", they kept fighting, she frowned. "Boys!" she yelled.

They froze looking over at the girl with cautious expressions, "Y-yes, Kiiro?"

"We could just use our phones to tell us where we are." she gestured to Kyouya, who revealed his phone's screen which had a map of the area on it.

"We are currently in the Eastern Blue Cafe, there are a number of places we could go from here which would fit your idea of 'fun'. There's a zoo, an arcade, and quite a few commoner shops, malls and supermarkets." he offered.

"A zoo?" Tamaki smiled.

"An arcade?" the Twins smirked.

"It's been a while since we've been to a commoner's supermarket~!" Hani beamed.

"Yeah." Mori nodded.

Haruhi sighed, "Thank you for shutting them up."

"No problem, Haruhi." Kiiro smiled.

"You know, when you listed off all of the places we could go to..." Kiiro sighed. "I didn't think they would want to go to all of them..."

"It's your fault for wanting to help them." Kyouya accused and yawned.

"I only wanted them to stop fighting." she admitted as they walked down the hall to their apartments.

"But, now that we're alone..." he smiled sleepily and pulled her past her door and through his.

"I thought I told you to dream on." she smirked as he pulled her to his bedroom.

"Although you aren't resisting..." he chuckled and kissed her for a long moment before pulling away, "Tonight, however, I find myself far too tired to do anything more than sleep."

Kiiro's heartbeat calmed, "It has been a long day, hasn't it?"

He sat back on his bed, pulling her down to lie beside him, "I want a consolation prize." he turned to her, pressing his forehead to her's.

"What is it?"

"Sleep here."

She chuckled, "Well, compared to the actual prize...that's easy."

He grinned, "Hold on, I'll be right back." he got up and left the room.

"Wh-where are you going?" she sat up, she heard another door open. 'Is he going to my room?'

She went to get up, but, as quick as he had gone, he had come back again, "In this." he smirked and handed her something soft.

"Thi-this? This was just a prank gift from Margot... H-how did it get...?" her face was hot.

The soft material was, in fact, a small, almost completely transparent dress that came to just past her belly button and matching pink shorts that were little more than underwear. She silently cursed Margot and whoever had packed these in her bags.

"I saw them while I was helping you unpack." he smirked and raised an eyebrow.

Kiiro looked them over, "I-I guess I could... I mean, it's only for tonight right...?"

Her head was resting on Kyouya's arm and he had a hand resting on her back, their legs were tangled up together. They were face to face and he was still asleep. She was curled up with her hands against his chest. She smiled, 'This is actually very comfortable... But, what time is it...?' she tried to turn her head towards his alarm clock but Kyouya stirred. 'I don't want to wake him up...he looks too peaceful. And he's evil when he first wakes up.' she sweatdropped. 'But, I want to see what time it is...' she tried to turn away, but he moved her closer to him, running his free hand down her leg. Her face turned red, 'Even when he's asleep?' she raised an eyebrow. 'Is he smirking...?' In an instant he pulled her leg up on his hip and buried a hand in her hair, moving her lips to his.

"Kyouya?" she tried. "How long have you been awake?"

He chuckled, "A while."

"So you were just watching me sleep?" she tried wiggling out of his hold. "You're creepy." she laughed.

"You thought you were watching me sleep, so we're even." he reached over her and grabbed his glasses from the nightstand.

"Even. I didn't think that word was in your vocabulary." she propped herself up on one arm.

"I use it when it suits me." he smiled and looked over at her.

"W-what are you looking at?" she blushed as she remembered what she was wearing.

"You're always distracting me." he smirked.

She just looked away.

"No, I mean it." he kissed her again. "You're beautiful, Kiiro."

She kissed him back.

"But, you know..." he ran his hands up her back, pulling off her top. "You look better without this on."

She pushed him over and got on top of him, "Stop it." she blushed. "You always get to be the one on top, but, this time, I want to win."

"And who says I would let you win?" he growled.

"Me." she unbuttoned his shirt and licked his torso.

"H-hey, that's-!" his eyes widened.

"So, are you going to let me win this time?" she chuckled.

He sighed and ran a finger down her jawline, "This time." he went to pull her closer but she had already hopped off of the bed.

"Got you." she laughed. "Now, Kyouya, we're not planning on going anywhere with anyone today, but, just in case, you should probably get ready. Wouldn't want anyone to see you like that, huh?" she stuck her tongue out.

"Kiiro..." he began, but, he let her leave with a pleased expression on her face.

"Ne, what's this?" Kiiro questioned as she helped Kyouya unpack one of his last boxes. She had pulled out a familiar little black journal.

"It's nothing interesting." he took it from her and placed it in one of his drawers.

"That's that notebook from Ouran, isn't it?" Kiiro smiled. "What do you put in it, anyway?"

"Nothing interesting." he repeated, smirking.

'But, that doesn't tell me anything.' she raised an eyebrow at another one of his famously vague responses.

"Put it out of your mind, Kiiro." he read her thoughts, tapping her chin as he advised her.

She sighed, "I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise." she crossed her fingers.

Kiiro sat in her living room, drawing. She was spaced out, so spaced out in fact, that she hadn't heard the Twins when they came through the door.

"Hey, Kiiro-senpai, we wer-!" they noticed they hadn't gotten her attention yet. "Hey, Kiiro-senpai." they tried again.

Nothing.

They shared a look, then looked back to her, "She really is gone." they waved their hands in front of her.

"Kiiro-senpai!" they yelled in unison, one at each ear.

She jumped and spun around to face them, "What the hell, boys? When the hell did you get here?"

"A few seconds ago." Hikaru explained, leaning on her right shoulder.

"Yeah, but you were totally spaced out." Kaoru added, leaning on her left shoulder.

"What were you thinking about?" they grinned.

"It's not like that." her eyebrow twitched. "Actually, I was thinking..."

"What?" they prompted.

"That notebook."

"What notebook?" they continued to prompt.

"The one that Kyouya used to carry around at Ouran."

"So he kept that?" Hikaru looked to Kaoru, shrugging.

"But, what about it?" Kaoru looked to Hikaru, shrugging.

"It's just..." she began. "...do you ever wonder...what's in it?"

Kaoru waved it off, "No, knowing Kyouya-senpai, it's probably just accounts of our old clients."

"But what if it's..." Kiiro trailed off.

"A killing note?" Hikaru suggested, looking scared.

"Oh, come on, that's-" Kaoru was cut off.

"Exactly!" Kiiro joined in. "Like in that manga!"

"That's a little over the top, even for Kyouya-senpai." Kaoru sweatdropped.

"Yeah." Kiiro calmed down.

"Maybe you're right." Hikaru agreed.

"But, what if, right?" Hikaru and Kiiro's eyes widened.

"You two are acting crazy."

"That's it, we have to find out what's in it!" Hikaru announced.

"I'm not, you two have fun." Kaoru left.

"But, Kaoru!" Hikaru tried.

"That's odd..." Kiiro observed.

"What?"

"It's just, don't get me wrong, but, don't you two do everything together?"

"Yeah, but, now that we're growing up, we've decided that's it's okay to be separated more often. There are a lot of differences we have after all." Hikaru smiled.

Kiiro grinned, "That was so mature of you, Hikaru!" she praised, ruffling his hair like a child despite the fact that he was a good bit taller than her.

"So, this is our plan?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Kiiro raised an eyebrow.

"I just...thought it would be...more elaborate."

"It's plenty elaborate. We don't need it to be too complicated."

"But, it is Kyouya-senpai."

"Please, Kyouya may be Kyouya, but, if he's unsuspecting, he's just as easy to fool as anyone else."

Hikaru grinned, "And you know this from experience?"

"Now is not the time or place, little Hikaru." she patted his head. "Now, get going."

He sighed, "Fine." and stepped through to the hallway.

Kiiro heard him knock on Kyouya's door, "Kyouya-senpai, Kyouya-senpai!"

"I'm coming... What?" she heard Kyouya ask.

"It's Tono. He's gone into some horrible kind of depression in the courtyard! You have to come see it! He won't budge at all!"

"That's normal, let the idiot be."

"No, you have to see, this one is bad!" Hikaru insisted. "We may need you to help pull him out!"

"Fine, fine, I'm coming."

She heard the footsteps disappear.

'Okay.' she made her way into Kyouya's living room. 'Now, all I have to do is remember which drawer it was.' she smiled and, on the third drawer, found the notebook. 'Practically out in the open.'

She opened it, but, the only thing written in it was on the first page, 'Got you.' it read.

"What? No way..."

"Kiiro?" she heard Kyouya enter the room. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know."

"K-kyouya? But, you were-!" she stuttered turning and hiding the fake notebook behind her back.

"Oh, please, Hikaru was an unexpected surprise, but I figured it out halfway down the hall." he smirked. "I was obviously prepared for your raiding of my things, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that you didn't even bother to wait a day to strike. I thought I had taught you better."

"What ever do you mean?" she laughed nervously.

"You broke a promise to me, Kiiro." he pushed her up against the dresser and took the fake notebook from behind her back. "That's not very nice." he chuckled.

Kiiro sighed, "Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" she tried, batting her eyelashes in her attempt to appear innocent.

"I could be...persuaded." he leaned down until they were face to face. "But, we both know the odds of that happening."

"I could try." she smirked. "Once you tell me what's in that damned notebook." she raised an eyebrow.

"That will never happen."

The door opened again, "Kyouya-senpai! You're not supposed to-!" Hikaru ran in. "Oh, Kiiro-senpai, I probably should have warned you that he didn't buy it, right?" he grinned.

"Right." she took the opportunity to wriggle away from Kyouya. "Abort mission."

"Roger!"

They left Kyouya's room and vowed to try again another day.

She sighed when she heard the door that connected their rooms open, she had been expecting him.

"Hello, Kyouya." she greeted from her bedroom door.

"You know, I was wondering what I was going to do to punish you and then I remembered something..." he leaned on the wall.

"What?" she met him halfway across the room.

He pushed her back against the wall and leaned down so they were face to face. With a smirk he whispered into her ear, "You're ticklish, aren't you?"

"N-no!" she tried to move but his hands met her sides and she doubled over laughing, trying to push him away.

He kept her against the wall, smiling.

"St-stop it, Kyouya!" she said between laughs.

"What's wrong? You just said you weren't ticklish, right?" he teased as she tried to keep his hands away.

"P-please, Kyouya!"

He sighed and paused, "Why should I? You broke a promise to me."

"B-because, even if it was a small one, I'm sorry." she tried and she kissed him.

When he pulled away he said, "I had already forgiven you, but..." his hands made their ways to her stomach.

"Ah!" she kept his hands away. "Wait, that isn't fair!" she smiled.

"Not fair? Why not?" he kissed her neck and laughed.

"Because I can't get you back." she kept pushing his hands away.

"Hm?" was all he said.

"Wait..." Kiiro held his hands up. "You're not ticklish, are you, Kyouya?"

"What?" he smiled.

She tested her theory, gently tickling his sides.

Without a sound he pushed her hands away...and fell to the floor.

"You are!" Kiiro bent over him laughing.

"You ever tell anyone, anyone at all, and I will kill you, Kiiro." he smirked.

"Sure." she laid down next to him. "I promise I won't tell." she chuckled.

"And?" he prompted, rolling her over onto her back and hovering over her, holding her hands.

"And what?" she asked innocently.

He glared at her.

"Oh, about the notebook?" she blinked. "Oh, no, Kyouya, you're going to have to keep on your toes with that. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but, satisfaction brought it back."

"Fine." he sighed.

There was a pause.

"Kiiro?"

"Yes, Kyouya?"

"I love you."

"I-I love you too, Kyouya." she blushed.

They kissed.