Disclaimer: Ouran High School Host Club doesn't belong to me.

When There's Nothing to Gain

The halls were silent as he stepped through the doorway, pulling the door shut behind him. A soft voice was continuously replaying in his head, interrupting his own confused thoughts.

"You won't do it, Kyoya-sempai." She had answered so matter-of-factly that he had been momentarily taken aback. Surely it couldn't be that easy for her to read him… "I know, because it wouldn't do you any good. You wouldn't gain anything from it."

He turned and began walking down the hall, his sandals hitting the floor with a small slap. "Nothing to be gain from it, huh?" A slight smile came to his lips. "An interesting thought… in it's own way."

A month later, despite his own assurances that it was a matter of the past, her words continued to perplex him. And yet, the girl in question — one Haruhi Fujioka — seemed unperturbed by what had happened. She acted no differently towards him, even when Tamaki would shoot furtive glances at them over the top of the couch whenever they spoke.

After a while, that particular behavior of Tamaki's stopped, but Haruhi's unexplained hold on Kyoya's thoughts did not. These thoughts eventually evolved from musings concerning the incident at the beach house to more… trivial matters. He hadn't noticed this digression until he caught himself watching her, or rather, watching the way her eyes seemed to light up whenever something perked her interest. Or how the light created a halo as it reflected off of her shiny, chestnut hair. Or how, even now in the crowded music room, he could pick out her voice from dozens of oth–

He scowled as she let out a hearty laugh. Why did she have to be so distracting? With a terse sigh, he adjusted his glasses and turned his focus back to the host club expenses displayed on the laptop before him. The other day, Tamaki had decided he wanted to hold a circus (completely with every possible expense imaginable) and if they wanted to have any funds left for whatever his friend's next extravagant plan would be, he needed to get their account sorted out. Of course, that was a difficult task when a petite, brunette bundle of distracting qualities was only a few yards away.

After calculating exactly how much that circus had cost, he found his attention wandering away once more… and where else should his eyes decide to land but on Haruhi. Hunny-sempai had just bounded up to her, holding a cake that looked much too heavy for a boy of his size.

"Haru-chan! I brought you guys some cake!" the tiny third-year exclaimed, plopping it on the table in front of her. "It's strawberry!" Her eyes were wide with surprise as she stared at the humongous cake. The girls that she had been speaking to were also entranced by the dessert.

"Uh… Honey-sempai. I really don't think we need this much…"

The loli-type giggled. "If you want, I could eat half."

"H-half?"

Honey nodded, reaching for the large knife beside the cake, but found that Mori had already taken it. "Make sure you cut me an extra big piece, okay Takashi?" he piped before something — or someone — else caught his attention. "Kyo-chan, would you like some cake too?"

Kyoya adjusted his glasses to hide his embarrassment. He knew that glint in Honey-sempai's eyes; he'd been caught staring, and not at the cake, but at the young woman beside it. "No thank you." Honey frowned.

"Are you suuure?"

"Really, I'm fine, sempai." His reassuring smile seemed to fool the boy, and Honey turned back to the cake with anticipation gleaming in his eyes. Meanwhile, Kyoya returned to the more pressing matter at hand. "Haruhi, come here for a moment."

Confusion filled her bright, innocent, captivating eyes — Kyoya cursed his thoughts — but she excused herself from her customers nevertheless and came over. "Yeah, Kyoya-sempai?"

He held up a stack of envelopes. "Can you run these down to the office? I'm afraid I forgot to drop them off earlier today." In truth, they didn't need to be delivered until tomorrow, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Anything to get her out of this room…

"Sure," she shrugged, taking the envelopes before glancing over her shoulder. "But… What about my-?"

"Don't worry about them. I'll just explain that you had to run an errand."

"Alright." Haruhi smiled, and Kyoya had to force himself not to give her another menial task that would keep her closer. So what if the Host Club ran out of money?

No, work comes first, he told himself as he watched her walk towards the door."Thank you, Haruhi."

"No problem," she called back. The door shut behind her. He could finally focus.

Standing up, he walked over to the table where Haruhi's customers were no doubt wondering what had happened to their host. "I offer my sincerest apologies, ladies, but Haruhi will be unable to entertain you for the rest of the day." He put on his best smile. "However, feel free to turn your attention to any other host. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to have your company." They looked disappointed, but scattered to find another host to occupy their time.

With a pleased smirk on his lips, he went back to his seat and sat down, casually brushing the touch pad on his laptop to get rid of the screensaver. Even with Honey running around with a cake held high over his head and the excited chatter of the girls in the background, everything was blissfully silent in Kyoya's mind. He relaxed and the sound of typing soon accompanied the symphony of chaos in the Host Club, but Kyoya's thoughts were only on his work. If they cut back on spending for costumes and brought in a few more customers, then more money could be spe—

"Kyoya~! Where has my darling little Haruhi gone?"

His jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed, and a moment later, Tamaki ran screaming from the room.

Sadly, people would begin to notice if Kyoya sent Haruhi from the third music room everyday, thereby forcing him to deal with her presence more often than not. To make matters worse, jealous thoughts began to pop up whenever Tamaki would fawn over his "daughter" or one of the twins got a little too close to Haruhi. When this began to happen, Kyoya seriously contemplated dropping the rest of Haruhi's debt just to get her the hell out of there, but the logical part of his brain — Or what's left of it, he thought dryly — refrained him from doing so. She brought in a lot of business, and he wasn't about to give that up just because his teenage hormones were causing problems.

But that didn't stop him from wanting to strangle the twins as they approached a frustrated Haruhi.

"Haruhi~!" the twins sang as they leisurely walked up to the table where she was bent over a math workbook. "Come play a game with us!"

The girl sighed and, without looking up, pointed to the twin on the left. "You're Hikaru." The one she wasn't pointing to rolled his eyes.

"Don't be silly. We already know you can win that game."

Hikaru nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we wanted to know if you wanted to play hide-and-go-seek with us." Behind him, Honey was running around, blindfolded and counting, while Mori casually prevented him from running head-long into whatever lay in his path.

"I can't," Haruhi answered, to Kyoya's immense satisfaction. "I've gotta finish this math homework."

"Aw, come on…" the twins whined in unison. "One game wouldn't hurt. Come play!"

"No."

Realizing there would be no convincing her, Kaoru's shoulders slumped with a sigh. "Your loss." With that, he turned around, but his twin did not follow.

"Do you need any help?" Hikaru inquired, the perfect picture of nonchalance, though Kyoya was sure that wasn't the case. "I'm pretty good at math…"

On the other side of the room, while resisting the urge to turn around and watch the exchange or, better yet, stop it all together, Kyoya scowled before he could catch himself. She was obviously considering the offer, otherwise she wouldn't be waiting so long to repl—

"Sure."

Damn it. Now he couldn't resist — Kyoya turned around to see both Hikaru and Haruhi smiling as he took the seat next to her. She motioned to a problem.

"Okay, first you have to graph the equation and—"

"Kyo-chan!" Eyes widening slightly, Kyoya shifted his attention to the small boy standing a few feet away. Mori steered his cousin a bit closer before Hunny lifted his blindfold and beamed. "Do you wanna come play with us?" he asked cutely.

With a polite smile, Kyoya said, "I'd rather not, Hunny-sempai."

"Okey dokey!"

Once Hunny had skipped off with Mori in tow, Kyoya heard Haruhi sigh with exasperation. Glancing over, he saw her staring at a very amused twin. "Hikaru, give me back my pencil."

"Why?" he asked innocently.

Narrowing her eyes, she tersely replied, "Because I need to do my homework. Now, give it back." In response, Hikaru twirled the pencil between his fingers, a grin on his lips.

"You'll have to take it."

With a growl, Haruhi reached out to grab it from him, but Hikaru simply held it above his head and out of her reach. His smile grew wider as she became more flustered. "Hikaru! Give it back!" Meanwhile, Kyoya was glaring at the two younger students — Haruhi was practically on top Hikaru in an effort to get her pencil back. Then, with a yelp and a crash, the chair tipped backwards and sent them both to the ground. Pencil forgotten, Haruhi looked at Hikaru with worry in her eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah…" Hikaru said with a contradictory groan. "You?"

"I'm fine. You kind of broke the fall—"

"Haruhi! Are you hurt?" Tamaki appeared out of nowhere and pulled her off of Hikaru. "Oh no! Your arm is bruised!"

Haruhi sighed as Hikaru lifted himself into a sitting position. "I'm fine, sempai. Hikaru's the one who—"

"You!" Tamaki shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the boy still on the floor. "How dare you endanger my daughter like that? You- you unscrupulous twin!"

"Hey, I didn't mean to—" Hikaru stopped abruptly when Haruhi put herself in between her two friends and offered a hand to him. He took it gratefully, but winced when she pulled on his arm. Frowning, she squatted down beside him and poked his shoulder. "Ow! Why'd you do that?"

"Come on," she said, helping him up. "You must've landed on your shoulder. I'll walk with you to the infirmary." Hikaru didn't argue and they started walking towards the door, ignoring Tamaki's cries of protest in the background. They passed Kyoya, but he simply adjusted his glasses as if he took no notice at all.

Kyoya was the only one left in the room when Haruhi came back half an hour later. As he typed away on his laptop, she spoke up. "Hey, Kyoya-sempai?"

"Yes, Haruhi?"

"Do you know what happened to my homework?" He stopped typing and turned around to see her right in front of him. When had she gotten so close…?

Looking away from her big, brown eyes, he grabbed the workbook that was sitting beside his laptop and handed it to her, trying to appear as casual as possible. "Someone came by to clean so I had to move it." She took it with a smile.

"Thanks."

Without thinking, he stood up and shut his laptop with a small click. "It's getting late. Do you need a ride home?"

"No, that's all right. I can just walk."

"It won't be any trouble," he insisted, trying not to get too distracted by how adorable she looked at that very moment to think of a plausible excuse. "Besides, I'm sure your father would be more at ease if he knew his daughter didn't have to walk home alone in the dark." That should work… he thought. When she smiled slightly, he fought a smile of his own.

"I guess you're right."

The day had ended, the customers had gone home, and Kyoya was still at what had been deemed his table with his laptop on the wooden surface and his pen scratching away in his notebook.

"Haruhi, are you sure you don't want a ride?" The voice belonged to one of the twins — Kyoya wasn't sure which, but if he'd been a betting man, he would've put his money on Hikaru.

"I'm sure. I want to stop by the library before I go home."

"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow then." Kyoya smiled with mild satisfaction at the disappointment in Hikaru's voice.

"See you, Kyoya-sempai," one of the twins — probably Kaoru — called, to which he responded to by lifting a hand in recognition. He heard the door close behind him. After a moment, he also her the sound of a tea cup on a saucer. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Haruhi picking up some of the cups that were left on the table.

"You know you don't have to do that."

"It's a habit."

He watched her add a few more tea cups to her pile. "You should go home," he suggested half-heartedly. To his surprise, she set down the dishes and came over. When she stopped in front of him, he simply quirked an eyebrow in question.

"That goes for you too, Kyoya-sempai," she said, reaching over and closing his laptop. He stood, adjusting his glasses as he studied her. She simply waited.

"…How did you know I wasn't working on anything?"

With a shrug and a slight curve to her lips, she answered. "You weren't typing anything when I was talking to Hikaru and Kaoru." He smirked.

"That's very perceptive of you…" Then he paused, thinking something over. When he began again, he was hesitant. "Haruhi, do you mind if I ask you a question."

She gazed up at him with confused amusement. "Sure, I guess."

He gestured behind her and asked, "Is that your book on the table?" Her brow furrowed as she looked at the indicated area.

"…There's nothing ther—" There was silence, then a look of shock appeared on her delicate features.

Kyoya had kissed her.

"Kyoya… Kyoya-sempai…"

Feeling someone nudging his shoulder, he stirred from his slumber to be met with the sight of Haruhi peering at him. Lifting his head from his arms, he stifled a yawn as he looked around the room. Haruhi was there, along with the twins, but everyone else had gone home. "How long was I asleep?"

"About half an hour."

One of the twins added, "You dozed off and we thought it'd be better to just let you sleep."

"We're getting ready to leave now though."

Kyoya adjusted his glasses and stood up, closing his laptop. "Thank you. The others left?"

"Yeah, a few minutes ago."

"You can go on. I'll close up when I leave." Kyoya began to gather his things as the other occupants of the room headed for the door.

"See you, Kyoya-sempai," the twins chimed. He waved without looking at them. If he had, he would've seen Haruhi smile at him as she closed the door behind her.

"Kyoya-sempai!" After planning for the Ouran Festival all day, he was tired, and frankly, just wanted to go home and crash on the couch. Only because it was her did he stop and turn around.

"Yes, Haruhi?" She came to a halt in front of him and took a moment to catch her breath before handing him a textbook.

"You forgot this."

"Thank you."

For a moment, he almost lost the cool exterior he had trained himself to keep. It was difficult when her smile was so warm and inviting. "See you tomorrow then." She turned and began going back the way she came. Kyoya stared at the book in his hand briefly and looked up again.

"Haruhi."

She paused and spun back around, looking at him curiously. "What is it?" she prompted when he didn't say anything.

Finally, he pushed his glasses up and said, "Don't forget that we're meeting half an hour before club activities tomorrow to discuss the Ouran Festival." She chuckled, smiling once more.

"I know. See you then." With that, she left.

In the car on the way home, Kyoya tried to analyze what had just happened. Why had he called her back? Was he really about to say something about his… feelings? What if she felt the same way? Would that be such a bad thing?

Letting a frustrated huff escape his lips, he let his head fall back against the headrest with a thud. Of course it would be a bad thing…

First, Tamaki would find out — if anyone would notice the bliss hidden behind his usual, cool façade, it would be Tamaki. He would surely be distraught to loose his "beloved daughter," but Kyoya knew there was more to that relationship than his friend cared to admit. And once Tamaki knew, it wouldn't be much longer until the rest of the Host Club found out. He didn't think Hunny-sempai and Mori-sempai would mind too much, but the twins… Their attachment to Haruhi was obvious — he doubted there was anyone else they felt as close to besides each other. Yes, first Tamaki, then the twins… and then everything would begin to crumble. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed the club too much to risk destroying it. How else would he prove himself? …No, he definitely couldn't risk it.

He sighed. How one girl could cause so much trouble was beyond him. He couldn't even figure out what it was about her that drove half the guys in the club mad.

Maybe it's her beautiful eyes or her smile, a little voice in his head said. Or her intelligence, her kindness, her frankness. Kyoya smiled. He definitely appreciated that last one. She's also hopelessly naïve, which just makes her absolutely adorable in an innocent kind of way— With resignation, he forced his thoughts away. He had to put an end to this. No good was going to come out of thinking like that.

As naïve as she was, Haruhi had been right about one thing — there was nothing to gain from a relationship with her. If there'd been no consequences, he might've considered it. After all, there would've been nothing gained and nothing lost: an equal trade. But if it would cost him everything he'd worked so hard to accomplish, it wasn't a price he was willing to pay.

A/N - I absolutely love the idea of Kyoya and Haruhi as a couple : ) I've been working on this for a while and finally just sat down and finished it. I've read through it, but if you guys see any typos or ways that this could be improved, a little note in a review would be awesome. Also, it was... interesting writing a slightly love-sick Kyoya (and I'm not really sure if I pulled it off), so any thoughts on his characterization would be appreciated as well. Thanks for reading and, as always, reviews totally make my day : )

-Twilight-Songstress