a/n: This takes place, I'd say, in Tamaki's/Kyouya's last spring at Ouran. When everyone's just a bit more aware and mature (yes, including Haruhi!). Enjoy!

This one is Kyou/Haru, and I don't recommend it to those who can't see their Tono hurt. (That normally would be me, but I felt that Tono Torture, to put it lightly, was called for.) TamaHaru lovers, you will get your chapter next!

He's blushing. From the tips of his toes to the roots of his hair.

She waits patiently, faintly noticing the water droplets pattering against the windows. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"I-I-I-I-I"

"Hm?"

She just stands there, oblivious for one last, sweet second.

"Haruhi…" for once his voice is awkward in finding its words. "I love you."

The emotion in those three words is so raw that it stings her to hear them.

All she can do at first is blink. Finally, her delayed reaction hits – she goes deathly white.

Sure, she loves him, too.

The same way she loves her father.

After all, that's what Tamaki has always claimed to be. A father. And he's so much like her father – bumbling and kind and warm and loving and -

Her stomach lurches. She doesn't want to do this to him; doesn't want to hurt him. After all, the greatest irony is that she loves him, just not in that way.

She turns and hurries away. Her footsteps echo behind her in the empty hallway. He's left speechless, with only the raindrops to accompany him.

If only she could love him.

If only. She tries, but she knows she won't be able to make herself.

Haruhi leans her head against the window, letting her forehead touch the cool pane. The rain continues to drum. It doesn't care.

She feels guilty. This is her wake up call to the world – she keeps telling herself she should have seen it sooner, should've built her walls even higher.

Because, she didn't ever want to see Tamaki hurt.

He raises an eyebrow as she looks out the window, examining the weather with just a hint of worry.

When he asks her if she'd like a ride home, she doesn't know why she's so willing. It's probably the rain. It makes her sick just to listen to it. And, more than anything, she wants to get out of Ouran. Away from Tamaki. Now.

Her gut tells her it's suspicious – it's Kyouya, after all, and he's smiling. Her mind tells her that it's not a good idea– Kyouya will probably make her pay him back for gas, with one-hundred-percent interest. Her heart tells her that she shouldn't go - unless, of course, she wants to fall in love.

She resists.

"No, thank you."

He insists.

"At least let me give you my umbrella."

She compromises. After all, it seemed that an umbrella would cost less than gas. She can simply borrow it and make her way home, without getting completely drenched. She might really get sick, then, and that would be no good.

He holds it before her. She reaches out, but he pulls it away at the last second.

"There's a fee."

Haruhi slits her eyes. I knew it.

"I get to walk you home."

Her heart takes over and she grudgingly accepts. It runs repeatedly through her mind how odd this entire situation is.

The walk home is quiet. She's chilled by the cold rain, she's self-conscious, and she's wondering why she agreed to this. She should've just gotten soaked. It would be better than relying on him. There's something fishy about this, she just knows it.

She watches him through the corners of her eyes. He looks amused. Haruhi genuinely didn't expect him to enjoy going home the commoner way, and being chivalrous…

She steals another glance at Kyouya.

She realizes: he's nothing like her father. He's nothing like Tamaki. And that there's something attractive about it.

He's the worst of them all, and yet, in that moment, she knows she should've listened to her rational side, and not brought her damned heart into it.

She doesn't want someone to take care of. She doesn't want someone like her father, although she loves him very much. At the same time, she doesn't want someone who's going to take care of her.

He's never offered her much. But he cares, somewhere deep. And that works just fine.

a/n: I hope it's mostly in character – just a quiet little oneshot about how Haruhi might realize she loves Kyouya. Using a different sort of logic to get there.