Of course this had to happen at the one time I crave sweets.

I sit on the couch between Haruna and Kimiko, watching the Ootori troops pass by with arms full of boxes behind Haruhi and Ruri. It's quite a spectacle, the entire room watching. I flatten a hand over my stomach with a wince, covering that up by sipping the tea in my hand. My eyes follow the line of officers until they find Kyoya, standing by the door writing in his notebook with a little smile on his face.

My pocket buzzes as he looks up and I look away. Around me Momoka and Ruri lament the lost of sweets while Ruri sympathizes with Honey-senpai. Haruhi and Haruna both seem unaffected, eating the sandwiches and talking about their grades. I twinge again, thinking of my own grades and how they've been suffering. I had received a notice just this morning.

My pocket buzzes again. I ignore it.

"Natsumi, what do you think about all of this?" Ruri asks. I smile, trying to relax. "I am a bit sad to see them go, but, well. Maybe a lack of sweets for a few days will not only help Honey-senpai's cavity but also my figure."

They giggle, just as I intended. There are assurances on how I look perfect, which I know I do. After a few minutes, I stand and excuse myself from the party. I don't much watch where I'm going, choosing instead to pull out my phone and glance at the messages from my mother, asking why my grades have dropped. An unusually prompt response, perhaps she's trying to prove to me that she's not as absent as I insist. I type back a curt response that I'm 'working on it', and slip my phone back into my pocket as I near the windows. I left my bag here, and I open it up to pull out the reading assignment for Literature and perch myself there, fingers deftly finding my bookmark and opening it up right where I left off.

I'm able to get through a few pages before my phone buzzes again. This time it's Aunt Yuzuha, asking if I had finished calculating the budget for the fall fashion show in Rome. I set down the book and reply, telling her that I had only gotten halfway through it last night and she can expect it on her desk tomorrow. What I don't tell her is that it'll take up the better part of my night and I might have to stay up in order to finish my calculus work as well.

Not like I'll get much sleep tonight anyway. I shift in my seat as my back cramps again and I sigh. I look across the room to see Honey-senpai courting a few guests, likely for sweets. He looks to succeed for a moment, really pulling out the cute. But then the girls run, leaving him dejected. I snort.

"Natsumi?" Kyoya approaches, eyes fixed on his notebook. I watch him, wary. He has a business look in his eyes, pondering something. He doesn't look up as he continues his request, only asking my name in order to gain my attention. "I think we should release the new photobooks that include pictures from the beach excursion next week, right before summer break. I've asked your cousins to edit them, but they haven't responded to my inquires on whether or not they've completed their work, which means, of course, that they haven't and we need to start layouts now if we're going to have them ready in time. Do you think you could-"

"No."

He pauses, unsettled by both my dismissal and interruption. He looks up, peers at me through his glasses. I shift to slide down to the floor, crossing my arms over my stomach, tilting my chin up. I wait for him to demand a reason I so curtly refused him, without even knowing what he was about to ask. We stare at each other for just a few moments. And then we become aware that eyes are watching us. I glance around the room to see Hosts and guests alike glancing at us, whispering. And so I straighten and smile. "I'm busy."

I gather my things before he can react and leave him standing there, watching me go until the music room doors close behind me. I try not to think about how genuinely surprised he looked as I take quick brisk steps down the stairs towards the library. I instead try to focus on the reading and how I'm going to answer the questions. If I'm to have any hope of getting sleep tonight and raising my grades, I need to spend less time at the Host Club and more time studying.


I heard the whispers the next day. I staunchly ignored them. Tamaki tried talking to me when I first arrived- I ignored him too. Kyoya didn't say anything, but I could feel him watching me. I turned in my completed work with a weary bow and returned to my desk. I struggled to stay awake, pinching the skin on my wrist and biting the inside of my cheek.

When lunch rolled around, I stayed in the classroom as everyone filtered out, chatting and laughing. I ignored Kyoya Ootori's looks as I pulled out the reading assignment due tomorrow and began to read. At the end of the day, I left for home, not even stopping by the music room. I need some sleep.


Music is all I hear. I lay curled in a tight ball on my floor, pillow below my head and blankets wrapped loosely around me. On my nightstand above me is my cd player which plays comfortingly the long, soothing vibrations of a cello. I wiggle in my cocoon to readjust, wrinkling my nose at the spasms in my stomach. My lungs fill with air and then rapidly deflated as I yawn and open my eyes. Groggily I sit up and look at the LED clock on the cd player.

I've been asleep five hours.

I slowly stand up, staring at the floor for a few moments to stretch. My shirt flys up my back as I do so. I'm dressed for maximum comfort thanks to this trying time, my biggest loosest shirt that never properly covers me up and shortest flowy shorts. I could get more sleep, but right now food would be best. And I do still have some work to do for tomorrow. So I go to the door and open it- just as Kyoya raises his fist to knock.

We stand there, surprised. Then he looks away, a slight blush tinging his cheeks, and I slam the door close. Another moment passes, just for processing. Then my hand goes up to my head to check- yes. I definitely have terrible bedhead. I place my head against the door and groan. I run my fingers through my hair to make it somewhat presentable. Then I fidget with the shirt to try and make myself a bit more decent before giving up and dashing to the closet to grab the first sweater I could find to throw over it. Only then did I reopen the door.

He was still standing there, the hand that had been raised in his pocket now. The other clutched a box. He kept his eyes firmly on mine this time as he offered the box to me. "The twins told me about your current condition. I thought this might help."

I take the box, my eyebrows cinching together as I tried to think of what he meant. The twins told him… Oh god. My eyes widen and I exclaim, "They know my cycle?!"

This just keeps getting better and better. First Kyoya shows up out of nowhere to my bedroom door and sees me half naked and messy, then he tells me that he knows I'm menstruating because my freakin' cousins told him I am. I can only imagine how this happen. Oh, please tell me this didn't happen at the club-

"Haruhi says that she hopes this package helps."

Yep. The entire Host Club knows that I'm on my period.


We sit across from each other, silent and awkward. Between us is the opened package from Haruhi which contains a few (sugar-free) chocolate bars, a couple packets of painkillers, and some homemade tea bags. The last item was touching; the idea that the minute Haruhi heard that I was in pain she went out of her way to make me something to help… I must return the favor. Truly return the favor, not just have something made for her, but to do it myself.

I glance up at Kyoya, who is staring at me. He seems to be waiting for something. I'm not sure what he wants from me. An apology? An explanation? For what? My behavior over the past few days? Shouldn't my period be more than enough of an explanation for him? I consider how long I've been with the Host Club. More than a month, so perhaps not.

"Why are you here?"

I look up at him, eyebrows raised. He freezes up, caught off guard. I rub at my eyes, so irritably tired. He watches, obviously analyzing my every move to try and understand my motivation and how to respond in the best way possible. Which only serves to irritate me. He pushes his glasses up his nose, the glare cleverly concealing his eyes, "To give you the package-"

"Bullshit." He freezes again, again caught in a situation he doesn't know how to handle with his carefully honed skills of manipulation. I lean back in my chair, crossing both my legs and arms, cooly looking over my opponent in this game of chess. "If the care package was the only reason, you wouldn't be here. That, or you wouldn't be here alone, the entire club would be present. No, you want to speak to me, alone, and to do so you've come to my home in the early hours of the evening and asked my cousins to leave us be- which, miraculously, they're doing, so you've must've had some convincing reason."

I raise my chin. "So, please, tell me the true reason or reasons that the Shadow King is knocking on my bedroom door."

He looks me over from head to toe and back again, his gaze cold and calculating even though I wore the same skimpy shorts and oversized sweater from before. Then he adopts a pose similar to mine. "I want to know why you so curtly refused me yesterday."

"My grades are falling." I reply. "What else?"

He doesn't react, which tells me he already knew that. "You didn't come in today."

"To catch up on my sleep, which you witnessed my post-nap appearance, so you already know what I've been doing all afternoon." I narrow my eyes. "What other reason?"

He sits there for a long moment, his glasses hiding his eyes. Finally, he sighs. "I was- am worried about you. The twins told me that you're working on budgets for the family business, your grades are falling, and you're still at the club every day. You even delivered some quality prints to me the day before yesterday and Kaoru told me that you had demanded they meet a weekend deadline for those edits I asked for yesterday. And yet, the bags under your eyes have been getting worse and you drink so much coffee. You've started to seem listless in class, and I've noticed the pinch marks on your wrist."

He's noticed so much. And questioned the twins for a lot of information. My posture softens, my arms falling to rest on my lap. I push my head back against the chair, sighing. There's a question of why he's so particularly interested in me- but I think I already know the answer to that. I lift a hand to rub at my eyes, and then move it to my shoulder to dig my fingers into the stress knot there.

"If you need to leave the club-"

"No." I look back at him, smiling. "I've already talked to our teachers. And my Aunt. The next few weeks are work free, and I've got plenty of extra credit ahead of me. But I couldn't leave the club. I'd miss spending so much time with all of you."

He's still hiding. I've noticed about him that he likes to hide his eyes behind a glasses glare whenever he doesn't want people to know what he's thinking. A useful trick. I'm left at a total loss of what he's feeling. So we sit here, everything out on the table. I've admitted that I could never leave the club. He's admitted that he worries about me. So where is this going to go from here? I can feel my teeth digging into my cheek and I open my mouth, "Well actually-"

"You've still got a lot of homework to do and you should really be getting to it!" I turn to see Aunt Yuzuha standing behind me, Hikaru behind her with a strange look in his eyes. Kyoya stands, his hands going into his pockets as he nodds. "I should be going then."

He pauses as he rounds the couch, not looking at me as he says, "I'll see you tomorrow, Natsumi."

I watch him leave, my heart clenched in my chest, not even listening as Aunt Yuzuha starts talking about how kind it was for Kyoya to come by and bring me the care package but how I shouldn't get distracted right now, just staring at Hikaru who still wouldn't look at me. Kaoru appears in the door, staring at his brother with a worried look on his face and I frown. What is going on.


"I think he's getting scared." Kaoru says to me later, as we sit on my bed with our books open before us. On the floor lies Hikaru, fast asleep. I watch Kaoru carefully as he sighs and rubs the back of his neck. He looks at me, "You were the first person to really understand us, you know? Mmm, no. It's not that you understand us- you're a part of us."

I nod as Kaoru stops and glances at Hikaru. I remember when I first met them. Before that, I had been alone. There was no one who seemed to really get me. But when I met them, it was like finding something that had been missing. That only grew stronger when we realized that our own parents had trouble separating us. I still had some autonomy from them. I was a girl, after all, and a year above them. But at the same time, it was the three of us against everything- everyone else.

"He's scared that if either of us, or even him, let anyone else in that we'll lose each other?" I ask, voice soft. Kaoru shrugs, pencil twirling in his fingers. "I'm not sure. But ever since we met Haruhi something has changed. And your new closeness with Kyoya-senpai doesn't help either."

He sighs and turns back to his sums. "I don't know how to help him through this, Natsumi."

I lean against him, shaking my head. "I don't think we can, Kaoru. He's just gotta figure out it out."

I stare at Hikaru's head, feeling that same anxiousness that I know Kaoru also feels. Unlike the two of them, I never had trouble opening up to other people. Maybe that was because I was a year ahead of them- I didn't have one of them in my class. I was forced to open up faster. I sigh and fall back. This is a good thing. We're just growing up. "I'm not going to baby him through this crisis either though."

Kaoru looks between the two of us. Then he sighs and falls back too. We lay in silence, staring at the ceiling. Hikaru's snoring reassures us that he is still asleep. Then Kaoru nudges me. "So what were you going to say to Kyoya before Hikaru sicced Mom on you?"

I make a face and shove him hard enough so he falls off my bed. Truthfully, I have no idea what I was going to say. To distract him, I counter, "You can ask me about Kyoya when you figure out what you're going to do about the fact that both you and Hikaru have feelings for Haruhi."

Startled, Kaoru scrambles off my floor to stare at me. I just raise my eyebrows at him and he slumps forward to groan into my comforter. Grinning, I pat him on the head. I love my cousins.