Bright realizations

Chapter one: First Light
by Reiyuka

He had seen the gracefully crafted cup teeter on the edge of the table for the biggest part of the day and had almost judged it to be a very lucky cup, until it fell and shattered about ten minutes before the end of the poor girls' session. With meticulous care he wrote the girls name into his notebook, adding a note that he would have to look at how much that particular precious piece of china had cost. It was a good thing that Yanagawa was a regular of Haruhi's. It would just be added to her monthly bill. While business was important, he disliked breaking the illusion for simple matters as settling a debt. After all, it was important that the customers had at least the illusion that they were cared for by the hosts.

He sighed a little, adding a footnote about talking to Suzushima-san for another one of those cups; girls seemed to like the soft cherry blossom pattern on the tea cup. He looked up and noticed how Haruhi was carefully helping Yanagawa gather the pieces, making a soft comment that brought a happy smile on the girls face. She truly was a natural, that girl. It had not taken long for Haruhi to make profits equal to the twins' and even the King – which made it all that more difficult to keep adding things to her debt. Admittedly, the twins' profit was not per person so in a way that was a bit unfair, unless you reasoned that the incestuous brotherly love was sold as a package, anyway. It didn't matter to the Shadow King of the host club – even if he didn't understand the appeal, the twins sold wonderfully, and that was all that mattered.

Kyouya hadn't noticed he'd been staring until Haruhi looked up and donned a warm smile. He smiled gently in return before averting his gaze back to his notes. This had been happening too much lately. He'd be thinking about something and spacing off while doing so, usually when he was accidentally looking in Haruhi's direction. This did not bode well. He'd made up some ham and eggs story about checking up on her, so that she wouldn't think he was staring at her for any other reason. Simply considering that was ridiculous enough.

He turned away uncomfortably, walking to the table where he had placed his laptop and sitting down beside it. He opened the registry about their tea cups and sighed a little as he scrolled through it.

Today was the last day before the summer holidays. The Host Club would take one week off separately before going on a joined vacation, much like the year before. Invitations had been mailed earlier that day to the regular customers, urging them to come join the Host Club in their summertime frolicking.

The biggest feature was the fact that Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai would also be present. It was a lucky coincidence that the cousins had their summer break at the same time as the rest of them. Haninozuka had been able to get today off already and was cheerfully entertaining the group of girls who were awaiting their private time with either the twins, the King or Haruhi. They hadn't yet bothered to look for new hosts, and Kyouya was not exactly sure if they would. It was up to his best friend, however. Also, if worst came to worst and they would need something new to attract customers, he could always entertain some of the ladies himself.

Usually he took on the case of caring for the precious princesses who were early. It pleased him that he could settle most of the business part of the Host Club in actual host time. Unconsciously, his eyes wandered over to Haruhi. It bothered him sometimes that he couldn't participate in some of the conversations. There they would be, his family, talking and joking and laughing and being their annoying selves. And he'd be busy with balancing checks and designing a new photo book layout. Where had his personal life run off to?

Ah well. Two hours of this to go, and then he'd have a week of Kyouya time.

It bugged him already.

"You shouldn't eat so much sweets, Hani-senpai. You're a college student now!" Honey giggled cheerfully in reply before shoving a big piece of custard cream pie into his mouth. "Sweets are good for any age, Haru-chan!" The slender brunette smiled in reply and sat down across from him with a sigh. He smiled understandingly – entertaining girls was fun and all that, but after a while it was almost as tiring as a day of actual hard work.

"Cake?" he offered. She smiled sweetly and Hunny, like most of the Host club member, felt the urge to hug her for being such a cutie. Haruhi, like Takashi, was one of those rare people who he didn't mind sharing sweets with. She shook her head no, though, and he pouted. "Come now, Haru-chan, it'll make you feel more cheerful."

She nodded softly, giving in for his sake as he well knew, and allowed him to force-feed her a small piece of his cake. "What's the matter, Haru-chan?" Honey truly felt worried; Haruhi was such a closed-off person that it was a rarity for her to show any emotion, let alone showing how down she was.

"Ah, it's nothing, really." She ran her hand through her short brown hair in what seemed like annoyance – annoyance aimed at herself. "I just hate it when Kyouya-senpai is checking up on me." Hunny tilted his head in confusion and asked in his normal cutesy manner, "Checking up on you?" The girl nodded in reply, taking a sip from a cup of tea that one of her admirers had placed in front of her. "Yeah, you know, when he's assessing your skills. It's like he watches your every move." She shuddered a little and then continued, "He's been doing that a lot lately. It makes me so nervous, knowing that he's watching me. I almost had a heart attack when Yanagawa-san dropped that cup of tea."

Haninozuka's eyes widened slightly as he shoved another piece of cake in his mouth. "I see."

- In a dark room, a single light bulb on the wall flickered on. –

Authors' notes: G'day all! Yay, finally a new story by me. I'll be adding the next chapter in two days, probably. I hope you'll like it.
I've grown fonder and fonder of the Kyouya/Haruhi pairing due to reading fanfics. It's been a while since I've watched the series, so forgive me if I make horrible mistakes. In any case, I love love constructive criticism and squeals of excitement. :D Let me know what you think!