Chapter Three
Questioned Acceptance
"You're disturbed by something and you just don't want to admit it to yourself, aren't you?"
The mattress barely made a sound as he twisted over and lay on his side, tucking an arm beneath his head and staring directly at the distant wall where he could see the silvery illumination of the moon cast over his walls. With his back to the wall of windows that allowed the translucent illumination into his room, Kyouya didn't need to look to know the current stage of the moon. The degree of light confirmed that it was only a quarter full but it was still strong enough to dimly alight his bedroom.
But the moonlight wasn't what kept him awake.
Over and over Ootori could hear Haruhi's insight repeat in his mind, seizing up all of the gears within his brain to allow the inquiry to echo off the deepest parts of his thoughts. The poor rich teenager couldn't even think about the original plan that made her his host that afternoon to begin with.
Haruhi's blunt, cleverness haunted him and he hated it.
"I have already been seen through once." He muttered bitterly, "She has no right to repeat it."
No matter how many times Kyouya thought it over, however often he re-played his actions and even twisted them so that he behaved more subtly, he had to admit that those words hit home on the roots to which his game was grounded by.
Kyouya cared for the commoner, and he had no idea how to get rid of it.
Upon the take-over of his father's corporation, Kyouya knew he had completed the game he had been playing with his father since birth and threw the prize right back into the man's face. It was obvious that Tamaki's accepting Haruhi into the club and making all of its members collaborate with her and entwine with her world was the cause of the small affection. Ootori knew he was bewitched by the commoner but at the same time, Tamaki and the others were pulled under at the same time, each cluster of emotions purer than his by far.
The night of the final day of the Ouran festival was supposed to be the night he allowed Tamaki to have his commoner all to himself; he wouldn't interfere with whatever could have formed between them. However, at the same time he knew Suoh deserved punishment for what he had dragged all of them into due to his stupidity. He had to inflict something on the blond, but what?
Watching him and Fujioka provided the answer. Although there were no advancements in their relationship, Kyouya knew it was only a matter of time before one of them would confirm that they loved the other. Hikaru was no longer a concern to him, he was still lost in the world created by his brother and himself, it would take an eternity to break the elder twin from such a bond. Takashi and Hunny were out of the question since neither of them revealed much concern for anyone other than themselves and their family ties. Tamaki was the only one and he was the one who needed a good strike to the face.
Suoh, Tamaki still had a debt to pay to the Host Club, Kyouya most of all, for taking his singular tie to a selfless piece of his heart.
For giving up Haruhi, when his father had promised him an eminent betrothal to the precious commoner.
"I don't need make-up!" Haruhi exclaimed, holding up her hands as she backed up against the mirror, holding up her hands to fend off the advancing brothers.
The devious grins on their faces made them all the more disturbing and she wanted even more to keep them away.
"Ah!" they whined together, "Haruhi, you're boring today."
"Sorry for being boring." She muttered, slumping a bit.
"Hikaru, Kaoru. Your services are no longer required. There are customers waiting for you back in the music room." Kyouya said, approaching them.
"Man, Kyouya-senpai. You know how to rob us of our fun more than Haruhi does." Hikaru muttered, sulkingly, Kaoru mirroring the expression.
It was a disappointment that they couldn't play with their toy, she was sure. Unfortunately, Haruhi was considerably bothered by the fact she now called herself their toy at this point. But she ignored it once the brothers had disappeared out of the room, Kyouya left observing the necktie looped over the back of an unused chair.
"Um, Kyouya-senpai—"
"You managed to accomplish some studying yesterday, correct?" he interrupted, his glasses flashing as he looked up from the tie and right at her.
"A little." She confirmed, "My dad came home early and forcefully took me clothes shopping."
He seemed to be avoiding her attempt to apologize for what she had said yesterday, even though she didn't know exactly what it was that bothered him so much that afternoon. Today he seemed to have reverted back to normal, Tamaki having talked to him until the blond wondered away looking a little more cheerful than he had since yesterday.
"Haruhi, I told Tamaki you did not have to continue to wear the girls' uniform. However, since you claim to not be aware of genders, I do not see much of a reason for you to care what you wear." He approached her and plucked at one of the pale yellow sleeves of the girls' uniform she had pulled on moments ago. "I would prefer it if you wore it. And I still think you need to re-think your "gender doesn't matter" ideals before you try to allow things to continue as they are."
That was an unexpected statement. Haruhi hadn't heard anything about her lack of concern for genders from Kyouya since they were on the school trip and he had her alone in his room with him. Kyouya hadn't really spoken of many personal things with her, ever. The closest she had to knowing anything of his life was the fact that he had a strict father and accomplished older brothers, as opposed to her full knowledge of Tamaki's upbringing with his mother and the family being against his father's affair and divorce.
"Senpai, I think we'll leave personal matters out of our discussions while I host you. I am already complying with your conditions and requests, so respect one of my own."
"I do not plan to deal into your life, Haruhi. I already know everything about it." He smirked.
"Hey, Takashi."
A muted noise from the Wild host confirmed to Hunny that he had gained his attention without fail again.
"You know, I think that Kyou-chan loves Haru-chan."
"Yeah."
"I wasn't sure for a while, but it looks like he's figured it out now. Why else would he want to have Haru-chan look so cute for him?" The honey blond brought his bunny closer to his chest in the crook of his arm, touching his lips with the tip of his finger and shutting his eyes in thought. Thought too careful for the constantly bright-eyed senior sitting before his stone-faced cousin. "Kyou-chan has a plan. But he won't tell us what it is. Do you know, Takashi?"
"No." Takashi shook his head once, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his thighs as he laced his fingers together to suspend between his bent knees.
"It's not fair," Hunny pouted. "I wanna know what Kyou-chan is up to."
With a slight smile, Takashi reached over and rest his large hand upon the top of his smaller cousin's head in an affectionate gesture. He knew that Hunny was concerned about what their most cunning member was up to, in a way the silent host was curious as well, but it only stemmed from the fact that his cousin held so much interest in what could have been occurring within their club.
Kyouya's time as a customer had four more days, Sunday being his last one when he would return to the club as a host once more. But whether or not he would place any changes into effect was entirely up to the smoothness of the Shadow King's planning.
Brushing his bangs out of his eyes, Tamaki seemed pleased with himself when he sat with the girls at his sofas, surrounded by admiration and affections that bordered some degree of love for him but he could never really return.
For their sake, he reasons with himself, there is not enough of my heart to be passed around my princesses!
"Tamaki-sama," one of the girls squeezed their hands together in their laps, "I've brought you some cookies that I've made. I've worked so hard on them, would you be able to eat them?"
The king reached over and tilted up her chin, "I would gladly partake of your baking if you will of it, princess."
The girls burst into a frenzy around him.
"Ah, Haruhi-kun, so cute!"
Suoh immediately looked up from his customers, eyes widening when he saw that she was in the girls' uniform again and sitting across from Kyouya at one of their small, rounded tables with only a vase of roses in between them. The small accompaniment of china and a pot were hardly reassuring to "Daddy" as he watched his "Daughter" spend more time with her "Mother" than himself. It was a rather precious sight to behold, watching him talk to her with the usual smile he held for the duties of the host club. It helped aid Suoh that the two were not becoming so connected that Kyouya would have emotion etched into his features.
"Tamaki-sama, Haruhi is so adorable! He looks like a girl, it's so cute!" his baker customer squealed, accompanied by agreeing sopranos that rose high enough to make Tamaki snap out of watching the two and focus on them again.
"It is a shame he will not wear the uniform more often, it suits him." He sighed, with a dramatic tinge in his voice that was followed by hand motions that caught his charges once more.
When he was certain they had stars in their eyes embraced by kings' crowns, he managed to leave the thought of Haruhi and Kyouya out of his mind and focus on his princesses. They were everything to him as long as he was around, but his precious daughter would never be far from his thoughts.
However, there was that one little tid-bit of information that he had to consider. His conversation with Ootori at his house was enough to say that he had something up his sleeve that neither he nor his other subjects would know about. Kyouya was plotting something but he couldn't cipher out what it was, no matter how often he thought about it. The third son was much more cunning than himself, even if he was a brilliant student on occasion as opposed to the constant shining of Ootori. But Suoh knew the Shadow King, he didn't know of his hold on his subjects, but he knew that Kyouya was a smart teenager and he could pull off anything to get what he wanted. Even friends could posses a little evil within their veins, Ootori, Kyouya never being an exception of that fact.
Whatever it was that could have been plotted for or against him, Tamaki couldn't dwell on it now, for it was only a little pin-prick that continually jabbed at the back of his mind while the rest of his head was swimming with charm and obsession over the women around him. He admired the beautiful and brought out the loveliness in the more unfortunate in the face, for it was the way he was, unlike his Vice President. A second in command who only complimented hollowly and gave no warmth to his guests once they were out of their chairs and disappearing from the third music room. No, Tamaki was the better host and he believed he knew it.
Narcissism is a terrible burden to bear.
"Tamaki-senpai seems to be handling things better than he did yesterday." Haruhi observed when she glanced in the king's direction to make sure he was behaving. "That's interesting."
"I assured Tamaki that you would make the decision of how to dress on your own. That seemed to settle his conscience for the moment." Kyouya commented, taking a careful drink of the commoner coffee before lowering the china slowly and resting it back in its saucer. "The reason is also because you are dressed like a girl, and that is something he's been wanting since he discovered your secret."
"Is that so?" She wondered and blank her eyes accompanied with a slightly baffled appearance.
"Yes. Each time you were to be exposed, however, Tamaki tried to cover it up due to the fact he did not want to share your gender with others. Even if they already knew you were a woman."
"So, he was being jealous of other people?"
"That is how I see it," He sighed, shrugging his shoulders once before folding his arms over the very edge of the table. "Haruhi, I will warn you right now. Tamaki has planned the next theme for the club to dress in. Hikaru and Kaoru will handle the fabric details, but we are to be measured and fitted tomorrow afternoon, meaning they will need to find a seamstress who can keep a secret, like I had to find a doctor on the day of the medical examinations."
"So, I will be in debt again, won't I?" Haruhi asked, her face falling.
"You will be required to submit a certain number of hours to thank them for their efforts." The absolute zero smile made Haruhi shiver and she found her fingers twisting one of the buttons of her dress cuffs nervously. Fidgeting was not a common thing with Haruhi, but Ootori was beginning to make her nervous with all the debts he managed to find and settle upon her head when he knew perfectly well she couldn't afford them.
"Why are you warning me?"
Fujioka pressed her hands on the table top and stared at Kyouya, waiting for some sign of emotion or thought flicker in his face. Anything to remind her that this was a human being sitting across from her and not a devil in disguise. The Shadow King was a devil, always, but she didn't expect him to always be as expressionless as he was now. He was just too cool for everything, even her and her hosting. It felt like he should have been the host and she the one to designate him just so the terms didn't feel so awkward the way they were now.
Kyouya knew everything there was to know about the club, Haruhi only knew what she had encountered so far.
What could she possibly have to offer Ootori, Kyouya that a rich girl who actually gave a damn about their feminism couldn't? There were no merits in being served by her, were there?
Stiffening a bit in her chair, her eyes widened a bit upon the twinkle of realization. But before she could say anything, Kyouya finally answered her. "Because I will only be your customer for three more days, in all accuracy…tomorrow you will be hosting Hikaru and Kaoru."
"Hikaru-kun, Kaoru-kun, why?"
Kyouya looked at his watch and a slow smile curved the corner of his mouth and into his malevolent smirk that befitted a stereotypical villain.
"It is a necessity in the game."
A/N:
Alright, now, as interesting as Kyouya makes everything sound, the next chapter is not going to be a very thrilling one. I've started it and I can say right now that the beloved Hitachiin brothers will not sound like themselves. I just wanted to try and alter the plot so that Kyouya wouldn't be hogging all of the chapters. He's coming back soon though and Haruhi has three more days to host him before the end of the week and we discover the final tactics of the Shadow King's game. Or will we?
