Haruhi woke up the next morning, her head was still throbbing incessantly but she didn't feel as feverish. She opened her stinging eyes gingerly and fumbled for the clock that was on her bedside table, and an aspirin.

'Time, time,' she was mumbling to herself, her eyes still squinting and watering painfully.

'Ten past nine,' someone said helpfully. Haruhi looked up at the person and frowned.

'What're you doing here still?' she croaked, still annoyed form last night.

'Good morning to you too,' Kyouya sniffed, a steaming coffee mug cradled in his hands, 'everyone went out about an hour ago, I was not getting up that early. It's still too early but that damn maid...' he muttered the last bit more to himself than Haruhi.

'Well you can go back to sleep if you want, I'm going to have a shower,' Haruhi slipped out of bed, the night dress she had changed into at some point to previous evening was crumpled and as tired looking as the person wearing it, as she placed her to feet on the floor she stumbled and almost fell over, catching herself by grabbing the bathroom doorknob.

Kyouya heard the door close then lock with a snap, a few moments later he heard the rustle of fabric and the familiar sound of rushing water. Haruhi coughed a few times but apart from the shower everything was silent, the soft patter of water gently lulled Kyouya back into a light sleep, he had meant to leave the room but sleep had caught up on him too quickly.

Haruhi stood in the shower, almost asleep herself, her heavy-lidded eyes were half closed and she stared at the plug hole whilst warm water hit her neck and rand down her back. A hacking cough brought her back to reality and she quickly washed her hair and skin then slipped out into another dreamily soft towel. She was exhausted yet again for doing barely anything so shuffled out of the bathroom and fell onto the bed; wriggling into the covers she fell asleep once again, Kyouya still dozing nearby.

Around fifteen minutes later Kyouya woke up, the same maid as before almost literally flung the door open and stomped over to the bathroom to clean it.

If she's not careful she'll find herself jobless. Kyouya glared daggers at the open bathroom door before heaving himself out of the chair. His stomach growled quietly, he stretched at turned to Haruhi, it would be best if she had something to eat too.

Haruhi's head and bare shoulders were poking out of the covers; she was hugging a pillow and looked quite content and peaceful.

Bare shoulders?! Is she wearing anything? I thought she had learnt from that 'lesson' at the beach, Kyouya felt his face go red and was glad she was asleep so she couldn't see it.

'Haruhi,' he called once his face had cooled down, she muttered and half opened her eyes, 'you should get something to eat and,' he coughed, 'put on some clothes.'

Haruhi's eyes opened wider and she sat up. Kyouya averted his eyes, how could she be so unaware?

'I'm wearing a towel you moron,' she sighed then got up slowly to find some clothes, 'at least you're not a pervert as well as a rich bastard,' she muttered darkly.

And she thinks a towel is enough... Kyouya covered his yet again warm face with his hand and went downstairs to the dining room, Haruhi would meet him later.

'French toast, poached egg and extra strong coffee, if you may,' Kyouya gave the maid one of his host smiles; she merely nodded in almost awe and scurried away. Kyouya absently twirled his spoon while he waited, watching the light glint off the curved metal surface.

Haruhi slipped into the room, her hair was almost as messy as it had been the day he met her and her eyes were watery and dim but she could walk which was an improvement. She sat down opposite Kyouya and picked up a piece of dry toast, nibbling on it slowly.

'So,' she started between small chews, 'are you going to meet the others after you've had breakfast,' she fixed him with a steady gaze, obviously wondering why he was still here.

'No, I'll keep you company,'

'I don't want your company,'

'That's impolite,'

'Impolite my ass, I feel like crap, I'm not in the mood, I'm always angry when I'm sick because I feel so damn useless,' Haruhi almost slammed the innocent, half-chewed, piece of toast down and drank a glass of water that had already been placed by her plate. Her throat, much to her annoyance, felt like sandpaper no matter how much she drank. Kyouya blankly stared at her; at least he understood where her bad temper had appeared from. Plus, he felt the same when he was ill. (A/N: Yes *gasp* Otori's are human and get sick, XD although they don't always act very human...)

'I might go skiing later but I'm not sure I'm in the mood, I didn't get much sleep last night so I'm still tired,' it was true, he hadn't gotten to sleep until late, or you could call it early seeing as it was four in the morning.

'Why?' Haruhi asked.

That threw Kyouya off, he could hardly say –every time you coughed I thought you were going to wake up choking again so I got worried.

He pretended he didn't hear and started to eat his food, glad it had come as a distraction just moments ago.

'Geez, let me guess, you were worried about me,' Haruhi said sarcastically then pick up her toast and stared at it, as if contemplating whether her throat would like it if she ate any more. When Kyouya didn't say anything and kept staring at his plate, Haruhi looked up at Kyouya's lowered he and blinked in surprise, 'seriously? Why?'

'Haruhi, when I said whim, I'm not sure if I mean it,'

'Then what did you mean?' Haruhi was utterly confused, being as emotionally mute as she was.

'I... well... think about it, Haruhi, I know I have to,' the Kyouya stood up from the table and left the room, Haruhi was left at the table, frowning, her face felt flushed again.

Must be the fever coming back.

Haruhi herself stood up and went into the huge living area, she could see rows of books stacked neatly on mahogany bookcases but didn't feel like reading. Instead she curled up on one of the humongous sofas and snuggled into one of the Haruhi-sized cushions, there was already a fire blazing in a western style hearth that cast an orange glow onto Haruhi's pale skin. She didn't really fall asleep but thought about the recent conversations she had had with her senpai.

After about half an hour of mulling over Haruhi had come to a shocking conclusion

Kiss + Mori-senpai conversation + NOT on a whim + Kyouya looking embarrassed or maybe even SHY = Kyouya may have feelings for her.

Haruhi laughed quietly to herself - that was almost funny. Like a joke that is so bad you have to laugh at the failure of it. But she didn't have any other explanation, even if she didn't believe her new theory she should at least apologise for her rude behaviour.

Normal, reasonable Haruhi was starting to come to the surface as she rested, she went to grab an paracetamol then trudged slowly up the stair, raking her fingers through her painfully tangled hair. She tapped gently on Kyouya's door, leaning against the door frame slightly to rub her eyes. She was about to turn away when nobody replied then a hesitant 'come in' made her turn back.

She peered around the door, and then felt slightly relieved Kyouya was at his laptop so she hadn't woken him up from sleep. He barely glanced up from the screen as she entered, Haruhi didn't really blame him but it still annoyed her a bit at his 'oh-it's-only-you' expression.

'I'd like to apologise, it was wrong of me to be so rude to a friend earlier,'

'I assume that means you are feeling better?' Kyouya looked up from his laptop at her, meeting her gaze.

Haruhi wasn't sure whether to be annoyed he hadn't seemed to acknowledge her apology or touched he cared how she was feeling, 'yes, not great, but hopefully I'll be better later this evening or tomorrow,'

'Well, when you feel up to it there is something else we can do so you don't have to go outside in the weather. Just to make sure you don't get sick again,'

Haruhi muttered something about not being that weak and sickly but her interest was sparked, we? Who was 'we'? Everyone, including the hosts, or just her and Kyouya?

'What do you have planned?'

'You'll see soon enough, I've seen from your records that you don't get sick often or for long,'

More confused feelings - freaked out that he knew such things or happy he knew she wasn't some weak and needy commoner in need of help. Haruhi's head was starting to hurt again, how could Kyouya be two things at once?

'I'm going to go sleep some more,' Haruhi mumbled and walked away. Kyouya's eyebrows raised in amusement at the flicker of confusion the swept across Haruhi's face as she muttered to herself. When she had left the room and her footsteps had stopped as she clambered into bed, Kyouya's gaze went back to the computer screen.

Name: Haruhi Fujioka

Class: 1A – Honour Student

Relationship: Acquaintance, fellow host member (A/N: I think this part is badly explained. There is a long profile of Haruhi on Kyouya's computer. The relationship is her relationship with Kyouya. The profile is much longer that these first three lines but this is all Kyouya as looked at because it is the beginning)

Kyouya pressed back space a few times at that point and rewrote the sentence.

Relationship: Friend

Kyouya felt a flutter of happiness, it wasn't what he wanted but it was one step closer, it told him Haruhi actually saw him as someone, a friend. The only person that had called Kyouya a friend before was Tamaki and that idiot practically threw the word at everyone he knew.

'Mon Ami!' there were the words, Kyouya sighed and stood up, and he went down the hall and greeted everyone from the top of the staircase. They were all covered in snow and Huni had fallen asleep, slung gently over Mori's shoulder.

Tamaki was grinning, his teeth chattering at the same time, 'how is our daughter?'

'Fine, she's sleeping right now so be quiet,' Kyouya replied, Kaoru closed the door to stop the torrent of snowflakes from sweeping into the hall, 'I thought you'd be back later,' it was only half past two. (A/N: the hours probably don't add up right but yeah...)

'So did we,' Hikaru shrugged, 'but it's snowing so hard we couldn't see anything,'

Huni suddenly jumped off Mori's shoulder, 'I'm hungry! Cake! Cake!' he ran off towards the dining room and Mori followed, the twins both ran up the stairs, scattering snow everywhere as they pushed each other playfully. Kyouya's eye twitched as the cold snow hit him in the face. He walked down the stairs and into the living room, Tamaki followed.

'So, is Haruhi better now?' he asked, picking snow from his hair.

'Not completely but her fever has gone down and she can walk, I think she needs one more day of rest before she can go skiing again,'

'Will you stay and look after her again?'

'Naturally, I am the only one with any medical understanding,' Kyouya stated, sitting down and leaning on as cushion that strangely smelt like Haruhi, it was comforting. Tamaki stared at him long and hard.

'Do you like Haruhi,' Tamaki asked seriously.

'She is intelligent and kind, yes, she is a good friend, yes, I like her,' Kyouya absently flicked through a book, trying to ignore the stare he was receiving.

'How much?'

'How much do you like her?'

'Hey, no fair, I asked first!' Tamaki whined, his old self was still there, below the sudden seriousness, 'but she is my daughter, of course I like her. But as mommy I think you don't see her as a daughter.'

'Because she isn't my daughter, you can call her that if you wish but I am not her mother, I'm not even female so I don't know here you go the idea from, Baka,' Kyouya hit Tamaki on the head with his book, Tamaki laughed and batted it away.

'Who do you see Haruhi as then?'

'I...' Kyouya faltered. He saw Haruhi as many things but he was confused still, 'I don't know.'

'Senpai doesn't know something,' the twins had appeared behind them, 'that's new, and he didn't tell us how cute Haruhi looks when she's sleeping in that nightdress we packed for her. We had to take some pictures ourselves,'

'DON'T TAKE PICTURES OF MY INNOCENT DAUGHTER YOU SHADY TWINS!' oh yes, the capitals were back. Fun.

'I'm sure pervert Tono wants to see the pictures too,' the twins teased. Glad to be free from the interrogating, Kyouya slipped away unnoticed.

Good job they don't know I already have pictures of Haruhi sleeping, I'm starting to sound like a pervert myself. I mean, I pretended I was going to rape her to get a point across! Yet then Haruhi still called me a 'nice guy' after that, people never call me nice for who I really am, nobody can normally see who I really am behind the fake smiles, apart from her, One of the many things that makes her special.

But she doesn't know that. And nobody would consider the fact that I, the Shadow King, can love.

Edit: Uh... guys, I've had loads of story alerts from this chapter and all but absolutely no reviews, the more I get the earlier you will get another chapter. I'm flattered and all by the alerts BUT IT DOESN'T TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK D: pleeeease, if you like it enough to put in on an alert (thanks for that btw) then you MUST have something to say. Even if it's just yh... I liked the chapter or I think you could do/change *insert idea here* or EVEN just :) PLEASE?!

I have until thursday then I'm away to Venice so yh, the reviews will matter or there will be a long wait