I hope you guys had a good New Year :) Here's the new chapter, plus, you probably don't want to know this but I need to complain to someone. It snowed for hours straight in my city (Birmingham, UK) and my school was the only, THE ONLY, school to be open. I am incredibly annoyed ;_; I wasted an entire day of my life doing almost nothing because there were only eight people left in my class. ARGH!
'Haruhi, everyone is looking for you, we're you sick again?'
She didn't need to turn around to match the voice to a body.
'No, I'm fine. I'm just going to bed because I'm tired.'
'Oh really?' and hand went over her forehead and she was pushed back into the person's chest.
'You're temperature's gone through the roof, still think you're ok,' a voice whispered in her ear. The coolness of his hand was incredibly comforting.
'M'fine,' she muttered before she closed her eyes.
---
Kyouya started slightly as the girl crumpled onto him but picked her up quite easily and carried her with her head facing over his shoulder, she didn't weigh as much as she should for a fifteen-year-old girl. Kyouya wondered if she was eating properly, if the Host Club was putting her under stress. Then he banished the thoughts. He was no way, in any form, personally attached to this commoner so he shouldn't worry. Or so he says.
Then why, thought Kyouya, did I kiss her?
Haruhi nuzzled into his neck and sighed deeply making him ever more aware of her closeness. She mumbled something incoherent, he could have sworn he heard his name but he knew it was the fever talking. He carried her easily into her bedroom and laid her on the bed, her breath was coming in small gasps, her eyes flickering uneasily beneath her eyelids. He could hear footsteps coming up the hallway so took the time to brush some stray hair from her forehead.
Can't have her looking untidy, right? That's why I had the urge to do that, Kyouya straightened up to see the twins gasping in the doorway.
'You found her! Is she alright,' they stumbled over to the bed, the other hosts weren't far behind.
'No,' Kyouya informed them bluntly, 'she's running a fever around 39.5 degrees Celsius. I'm guessing the bump on her head will just add to the headache, her illness is probably caused because the immune system weakens when body temperature is low. She was also sick again which indicates flu, nausea and vomiting is an uncommon, but real, symptom.'
'Will she be ok?' Tamaki whispered, for a change.
'How long until she's better,' Hikaru asked concerned, leaning on his brother's shoulder.
'I don't want Haru-chan to died,' Huni started to tear up.
'She'll be fine, I'll get a doctor to visit and, depending on how good her immune system is, she should be better in a few days,'
'So hopefully she'll be better before Christmas?' Huni perked up a bit. Kyouya nodded, already sending an alert message to their local private doctor. Haruhi mumbled some more in her sleep, shuddered and coughed. Mori and Huni opted to watch her until the doctor arrived. Kyouya went to protest then hesitated,
'That's fine. Call me if there are any problems,' he retired to his room, listening for any sudden noises about the tap of his keyboard.
The doctor appeared around fifteen minutes later, Kyouya remained in his room most of the time, trying not to look too interested, Mori had flashed him a very quick and out of character smirk when their eyes met in the hallway while Kyouya was carrying Haruhi to her room. Kyouya very quickly realised that his senior thought he liked Haruhi.
Preposterous, Otori's are a pure breed, commoners are not. No matter how smart, blunt, strangely extraordinarily, an anomaly... what was I thinking again?
Kyouya stared at the blank document page of the computer screen, wondering how he had sat there for around two hours and had done nothing. He heard Haruhi cough and roll over in the next room, at least the impact to her head didn't cause any problems, according to the doctor it was, indeed, the flu. The rest of the chalet was relatively quiet, the twins plus the blonde idiot were downstairs in the large living area yelling and laughing. The noise was thankfully muffled through the many walls. He could also hear Huni talking to Usa-chan. Mori was most likely reading in his room.
'Kyouya walked calmly out of his room and into Haruhi's the door had been left open after the doctor left, letting a draft in without opening the windows.
'Hi,' Mori muttered from behind his book, looking over the top at Kyouya. He was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, still keeping watch over Haruhi.
'I just came to check her temperature,' Kyouya muttered, surprised by Mori's appearance.
'Sure,' it was obvious he didn't believe that, and after his short conversation with Haruhi earlier he wasn't too sure if Kyouya's hidden feelings went unreturned.
Haruhi had been lying awake for about fifteen minutes, frowning. Mori was still reading. He knew she was awake but there was no need to bother her.
'Mori-senpai?' Haruhi muttered.
'Mm?' he looked up, an indifferent expression in his face.
'You know when you were carrying me down the slope? Thanks for that by the way,' Mori just nodded. Haruhi sat up slightly and rubbed the back of her head gingerly, 'did Kyouya-senpai really...?' the blush on her face told him what she didn't say.
'Yeah,' he looked back to his book, laughing in his head at her cluelessness.
'Why?' Haruhi was looking at him with round confused eyes slightly glazed from illness.
'Why do you think?' he didn't look up again, fearing her expression would make his usual face crack and a grin to stretch across his face. Haruhi mumbled something incoherent about it being impossible for Kyouya to think anything of her and fell back on the pillow, it was unlikely she would remember this conversation when she got better. Mori kept laughing in his head, being in the host club was, indeed, entertaining.
'Would you like me to watch her so you can get some rest?' Kyouya asked, checking Haruhi temperature (or an excuse to touch her face), 'her temperature is still too high for my liking,' he murmured, more to himself than to Mori, he turned around to look at his senior but realised Mori had already swiftly left the room. Kyouya pinched his nose in annoyance at nothing he could place but sat down in the chair Mori had recently vacated. He sat in silence for over half an hour before Haruhi stirred, or more she sat up in bed gasping for breath while her eyes remained closed.
'Haruhi, wake up,' Kyouya stood up and placed a hand on her back for support, 'breathe.'
Haruhi's eyelids fluttered open then widened as she panicked. She flickered her eyes to Kyouya and nearly stopped breathing altogether from shock at his closeness. After a few more panicked moments she started to breathe normally, Kyouya handed her a glass of water which she spluttered on before she could get some down her throat.
'Sorry,' she managed to say without gasping; she rubbed her eyes and tried to focus them.
'Why?'
'I'm more trouble than I'm worth. How much is my debt now?' Haruhi turned drowsily to him. The here-we-go-again look on her sleepy face annoyed him for some reason.
'It isn't your fault you're ill, why would I add anything to your debt? Besides-,' Kyouya was going to say, you're more than worth the trouble but Haruhi stopped him sharply. Obviously she wasn't in the best of moods, no prizes for guessing why.
'Since when did it matter if it was my fault or not?' Haruhi snapped then coughed painfully.
'I-,' Kyouya couldn't help but be surprised by Haruhi's change in attitude; she was usually relatively mild and rarely got passed 'mildly peeved'.
'And why did you kiss me?' Haruhi's face was already red from the fever so it was impossible to tell if she was embarrassed by her abrupt question. She didn't move her gaze from Kyouya's eyes; he opened his mouth to give his usual smartass reply,
'On a whim,' he said weakly. Not a smart answer.
'Oh,' Haruhi's eyes widened further for a moment then narrowed to almost slits. If she was sane and healthy when he said that she wouldn't accept it; Kyouya Otori did not do things 'on a whim' but all Haruhi could think about was the fact that he had done it without any feeling. She was being so uncooperative kissing her was all he could do to make her listen. It meant nothing to him.
And it meant nothing to me, Haruhi reminded herself, but I can't believe I thought for even one moment he actually felt anything for anybody. Especially me.
'I'm going to go to sleep,' Haruhi said, as if Kyouya had never said anything but then she added, 'just on a whim,' mimicking his voice badly with her rough throat. She wrapped the duvet around herself and turned her head away from her least favourite person at that moment in time. She scrunched her eyes tight, making her headache worse, triggering nausea again. Haruhi sat up, not looking at Kyouya, who had sat back in the chair, his eyes closed with his forehead resting on his hand. She slipped out of the bed, ignoring Kyouya asking her where she was going, and went into the en-suite a vomited yet again.
'Would you like some more water, Haruhi?' Kyouya leant in the doorway, pretending not to be concerned.
'I don't want your help if you don't want to give it for any other reason than a whim,' Haruhi shot over her shoulder before gagging over the toilet once more. She stifled a sob or frustration and pain as she slumped away from the toilet, but not fast enough to stop Kyouya from hearing it. He picked her up and carried her to her bed. She didn't object, her eyes closed and she was breathing deeply to try and ease her thudding headache. She was already fast asleep with her temperature rocketing by the time Kyouya had laid her down.
He stood awkwardly for a moment then kissed her briefly on the forehead.
That,' he told the sleeping girl, 'was not just a whim.'
I have been away on a school trip or I would have updated sooner . I have a feeling not much happened in this chapter but Haruhi will be awake for more of the next one so hopefully...
Next chapter: Kyouya stays behind the next day to look after Haruhi and their argument may or may not be solved... I haven't chosen ^^;