Hi, back from skiing and exams etc. So am free for the next week to write :D I have finally finished one fic now I only have two to go, unless I start more which I really want to do but don't have time. *shakes fist angrily at clock*

Please review if you have time :) I mean, story alerts are great and really uplifting but I like reviews the best ^^

I made this chapter abnormally long for me as well :3

PS: Did anybody notice the drop in a certain honorific in our dear Haru's speech? Hm? Maybe?

'After you,' Kyouya bowed to Haruhi mockingly, she half scoffed, half laughed. Kyouya lifted his head and gave her a quick smirk then the chauffeur opened the front door for them and they both stepped into the warmth.

To find a serious Tamaki, foot tapping and arms folded.

'What time do you call this?' he snapped.

Haruhi and Kyouya exchanged a look and a snigger.

'We're not children Tamaki-,' Kyouya sighed, a mixture between true and feigned annoyance.

'And I thought Kyouya was supposed to be the mom,' Haruhi raised an eyebrow, which changed to apologetic look when Kyouya shot her a glare.

'I don't care!' Tamaki wailed, stern look gone, he grasped Haruhi's shoulders and shook her, 'it's past dark and you weren't here when we got back and daddy got worried because I thought the big bad Kyouya had kidnapped you and made you his eternal slave to live a life of torment in some dark cave in the centre of the mountain!' Tamaki inhaled as much are as he could and got ready to continue the rant when Haruhi put a hand over his mouth.

'We were ice skating,' she stated.

'Huh? No slavery?' Tamaki blinked.

'Nope, and it was fun, then after we were hungry so got some lunch,' expensive lunch which Kyouya refused to let me pay for... I will regret that, 'and I bought some souvenirs for my dad,' Haruhi showed him her small bag and smiled at him.

Tamaki's heart went all buttery at her smile, then he realised something, 'you spent all day with mommy?! What about father daughter time? Huh? It's not fair.'

Haruhi rolled her eyes and walked past the over-hysterical host king.

'You missed dinner,' Kaoru informed them when they entered the living room. Hikaru just sent death glares of jealousy in Kyouya's direction. Huni and Mori nodded a greeting, Huni gave Haruhi a sly look, he would be talking with her later - it looked like at last she and Kyouya had done something together without outside help and Huni wanted to know about it.

Kyouya shrugged indifferently at Kaoru's information, 'I'll get the chef's to make something.'

'They went home,' Huni told them, looking rather sadly at what must have been his last cake.

'That's fine. I'll just get cleaned up then make something,' she turned around to face Kyouya, 'is that ok with you, Kyouya?'

The room was silent for a moment apart from Tamaki making some weird choking noise; somehow in his brain he had gone from a dropped honorific to eloping and moving to Canada together.

Whatever, it's Tamaki.

'I guess we have no choice,' Kyouya sighed. Actually, he could quite easily call the chefs back but this was an opportunity that would be stupid to pass up on. Haruhi left to get ready and Kyouya felt a strange chill at the back of his head.

He turned to see two hosts glaring at him, two blank stares and one slightly disturbing smile.

'What? Not host hospitality today?' Kyouya asked but smirked at them, a nerve in Hikaru's head snapped.

'This is so not fair!' he exploded, 'why does Haruhi like you? Why are you being nice? I don't get it! And she's making you food. It should be me and Kaoru, we're her friends and classmates, what are you to her, huh?'

'Calm down Hikaru!' Kaoru pulled Hikaru's shirt, the older twin just plopped down onto the sofa and sulked. Haruhi's head poked around the side of the door.

'Is everything ok? I heard yelling,'

'We're fine,' the hosts chimed innocently, Haruhi narrowed her eyes suspiciously then shrugged her shoulders and left to prepare dinner. Kyouya decided to follow her considering it would a) annoy certain people further and b) the atmosphere was getting stifling.

When he closed the door behind him he heard something small smash against the wood.

'Oops,' Hikaru said loudly, 'my hand slipped.'

'How childish,' Kyouya muttered with another smirk before catching up with Haruhi, 'what do you plan on making.'

'I'm not sure, do you have any preferences.

'Not really, I like spice but I eat anything really,'

'Well there is sashimi with wasabi or Sukiyaki (type of stew) with sichimi (seven spices) or maybe a foreign dish,' Haruhi's eyes glazed over as she thought about different foods, Kyouya wondered how such a gluttonous girl remained so thin.

'Whatever is simplest for you, and warm preferably,'

Haruhi laughed, 'yeah, my cheeks are still slightly numb,'

She looks cute with rosy cheeks Kyouya thought absently before mentally hitting himself.

'Are you going to wait with the others while I make dinner?'

'I was planning on helping; it seemed unfair to not split the work fairly,'

Haruhi raised an eyebrow but thought I would be best not to point out everything that was wrong with that sentence, 'do you know how to cook?'

Kyouya hesitated, 'no...'

'The we should keep it simple, Sukiyaki is simple and warm, I'll show you what to do then I'll make a cake to share with everyone or something...' she trailed off into thought again muttering random words every now and then.

She stopped when she saw the kitchen, her eyes grew wide for a moment before she shook her head, 'I shouldn't have expected anything less but seriously, what is the point of a kitchen the size of two tennis courts?'

Kyouya just laughed quietly in response, Haruhi sighed exaggeratedly and shook her head again before rummaging through the fridges for ingredients. Kyouya stood by the sidelines for the first time he was unsure what to do with himself.

She dumped all of the ingredients on the worktop and separated them so there was a pile of vegetables, she found a chopping board and knife, and then pointed at them whilst facing Kyouya.

'Chop,' she instructed, slightly pleased to be the one in control for once.

Whilst Kyouya tentatively grasped the knife and sliced up a cabbage while Haruhi buttered a pan and placed it over the hob.

She stood next to Kyouya and sliced beef thinly so it was ready when the pan was hot enough. She worked quickly to make sauce, adding extra spice to it. When she was done she threw the thin slices of meat onto the pan, the melted butter spat angrily. Haruhi yelped and moved quickly away from the pan.

'Damnit, bastard pan,' she glowered and rubbed her cheek, Kyouya left what he was doing and moved her hand gently away from her face.

'Let me see,' he inspected the angry red mark on her cheek while she stared at him, her eyes watering involuntarily.

'It's fine,' she insisted even though she was pouting. She moved to turn away but he stopped her and kissed her softly and swiftly on the cheek over her burn. Haruhi froze, staring straight into Kyouya's eyes.

'Does it still hurt?' he asked quietly. Haruhi shook her head, making no attempt to move. The feeling she had felt earlier at the ice rink filled her, her brain turned to mush and her skin felt warm. She blinked and managed to give him a warm smile before jumping.

'Crap! The meat's going to burn,' she rushed to tend to the food, Kyouya silently collected the vegetables.

Both were trying to work out what the feelings were. They knew subconsciously but were either afraid or didn't believe it.

Haruhi placed Kyouya in charge of the main meal while Haruhi started to prepare the cake. She was busy thinking, or trying to think whilst carrying a large bag of flour to the counter. Then, even though she had managed to stay upright the whole time she was ice skating, she tripped over flat ground.

...Just as Kyouya turned around to tell her head had finished cooking.

There was silence as Kyouya removed his flour covered glasses. Haruhi gawped, her eye twitched in fear. Then she giggled, there were two clean circles of skin around his eyes, the rest was pure white with white powder.

'I'm sor-,' she got him square in the side of the head with an egg. It cracked and the contents dribbled down her neck, Haruhi shuddered at the cold sliminess, 'maybe I'm not sorry,' she grabbed the nearest object, grinning evil when she saw the label.

She spayed whipped cream in her opponents face, this time his eyes weren't spared and she stumbled blindly then wiped of the offending cream, leant over and smeared it over Haruhi's face, pinning her to the nearby wall so she couldn't do anything.

Haruhi pecked him on the cheek then relaxed, letting Kyouya's grasp on her wrists hold her up, 'now we're even,' she stated, licking the whipped cream from her lips with a small smile, Kyouya looked at her with shocked eyes for a moment before smiling back at her.

'Wait,' Haruhi smirked, 'not yet,' she leant forward again and kissed his quickly on the lips, 'now we're even.'

'Why...?'

''I dunno,' Haruhi shrugged although the red tips of her ears showed she wasn't indifferent, 'maybe it was just a whim, or maybe I wanted to.'

'OHMYGOD MOMMY IS A PERVERT!' they heard a scream from the doorway.

'What makes you think that, Tamaki?' Kyouya sighed in irritation.

'Uh, I'm pinned to the wall...' Haruhi pointed out, Kyouya quickly released her. Haruhi stepped forward to calm the hysterical Tamaki, who was still gaping at them, 'look-,' she started.

'What's Kyouya-senpai done to Haruhi?' Hikaru and Kaoru appeared on the scene, shortly followed by Huni and Mori.

'Nothing,' Haruhi insisted, 'I was going to make a cake but dropped an egg and we slipped on it and kinda... landed in an awkward position, that's all. You can't say anything Tamaki considering the amount of times you've molested me,' she shot him a meaningful glare. Tamaki seemed to shrink into the floor.

'Now if you'll excuse us we are going to go eat,' Kyouya grabbed the two plates of food and the two of them hurried past the other before they could ask why Kyouya's hair was white and Haruhi had cat whiskers on her cheeks made from cream.

After they left Huni looked at the door they went through, 'huh, I could've sworn Kyo-chan had black hair before,'

The twins merely shrugged and the hosts all walked away, not noticing the food splattered kitchen that the maid entered a few minutes later and nearly fainted.

~.~.~.~

After the quiet meal, which both people found oddly comforting considering the noise that usually accompanied them at the table, Haruhi's eye began to feel heavy and her throat started to take on its raw feeling again.

'Thank you for today Kyouya, I really did enjoy myself,' Haruhi smiled.

'You're welcome, Haruhi, I've noticed you've dropped the 'senpai' in you speech,'

Haruhi blinked in surprise, not even realising it herself, 'I apologise Kyouya-senpai.'

'No it's ok, we are friends after all aren't we?' Kyouya stared straight into her eyes. Haruhi had a strange feeling he was staring into her soul. She was surprised he saw her as that, she saw him as a friend but ... did friends kiss each other? Haruhi imagined kissing one of the twins and shuddered in her mind, ugh, no way. Then she imagined kissing Kyouya again and felt warmth in her cheeks.

'Yes,' Haruhi said quickly with a smile, 'I'm really tired so I'll do the washing up then go to bed.'

'Of course,' Kyouya wondered why she had suddenly done an impression of a ripe tomato, 'we don't want you to get ill again.'

Haruhi gathered the plates and exited the room, Kyouya watched after her, mildly amused by her flustered composure.

She did exactly as she said she would and pushed her bedroom door open and nearly fell back out of it when she met the slightly disturbingly cute gaze of Huni's eyes.

'Ah... Hi Huni-senpai, what are you doing in my room?'

'I'm sorry I scared you Haru-chan,' he looked like he was about to cry, 'I came looking for you and I thought you might be sleeping so I knocked the door but you didn't answer so I came inside and-,'

'Ok, ok, it's fine Huni-senpai, what did you want to find me for?' Haruhi asked, she tried to keep smiling to cover up how tired she was, she just wanted to sleep and think about things, so many things, her head was getting dizzy already.

'I just wanted to ask you how your day went, I missed you Haru-chan,' they ended up with Huni sitting in a chair and Haruhi on the edge of the bed, 'you went on a date with Kyo-chan right?'

'Huh?' Haruhi's ear tips started to burn again, 'no he just took me ice skating... at least I don't think it was, we're just friends anyway.'

'So you don't like Kyo-chan?'

'I do...'

'Lots and lots?' Huni peered up at her face, giggling at the blush that was getting strong and stronger with each question, 'or just as a friend.'

'Lots but as a friend,' Haruhi answered, not sound too sure herself, 'but do friends...'

'Do friends what?'

'I'm pretty sure they don't but then why kiss me?' Haruhi seemed to be more talking to herself now.

Kyo-chan!!! Already, hehe cheeky boy,

'And why did I kiss him?'

'You did what?' Huni gasped with basketball sized eyes.

'It was only to get even,' Haruhi retorted meekly. Huni laughed.

'Silly Haru-chan,' Huni continued to laugh, Haruhi huffed slighting unconsciously pouting as she usually did.

'First Mori-senpai tells me Kyouya likes me and now you're telling me I like him,' Haruhi looked so confused it was almost too cute for Huni to bear, 'but that would mean we like each other, you're the one being silly.'

'What's so silly about that?' Huni stood up and tilted him head to one side.

'But I'm me,' Haruhi insisted.

'Exactly,'

'And he's, well, him,'

'Would you like him any other way?' Huni threw that one more question at her before slipping soundlessly through the door.