Tamaki attempted to wake Kyoya up early Sunday morning.

"KYOOOOOYAAA!" the blond cried as he shook Kyoya. I slept at six-thirty in the morning...what does he want now? I don't care if he let me have Haruhi. I'll kill him. He glared at Tamaki. "You're going on a date with Haruhi tonight?" Tamaki continued. Does he have any brain cells? "You must tell me ALL about it tomorrow!" Nope, not a single one.

The events that followed, unfortunately, are not to be disclosed due to a contract signed shortly after. It is referred to as the "Awakening of the True Demon Lord" by the few who heard about it before Kyoya eventually handled whoever leaked the information. What can be said, however, is that the victim fully recovered. For the most part. Quite an interesting Sunday, I suppose.

At last the time came for him to pick Haruhi up.

Kyoya paced outside the apartment complex Haruhi stayed in that Sunday, trying desperately to calm his uncalled-for nerves. Not good. Not good. While it's okay to admit that I'm not that confident when it comes to romance, I can't let myself get so nervous over such things as a simple date. Thank god I'm a few minutes early. To reassure himself, he mentally reviewed his plans for the date.

Finally, when it was exactly six o'clock, he went up the stairs and stood before the front door of her apartment. Taking a deep breath and double-checking that his clothes were still neat (for a wrinkle on his pants or dress shirt would be nothing short of disastrous), he knocked and waited. Ranka opened the door, looking positively elated to see him standing there.

"KYOYA! How nice to see you! And it's six o'clock on the dot, too. How punctual you are!" Kyoya had actually been more than punctual, but under no circumstances was he going to reveal what he had been doing before finally making his presence known. "Come in, come in! Haruhi is almost ready...you'll just have to wait a few more minutes."

"Thank you," Kyoya replied cordially.

"So, where are you taking Haruhi?" Ranka asked excitedly after Kyoya took off his sports jacket and settled down on the couch, which he had become quite familiar after the events of the past few days.

"Roppongi Fukuzushi." Kyoya kept his words to a minimum, instead continuing to focus on his plans for the date. He stared at his black Italian leather dress shoes.

A dreamy look came over the transvestite. "Ah, I heard that place is quite classy. How WONDERFUL! But it's only six. Are you planning to take her somewhere else before having dinner?"

"Yes."

"Where?" Ranka seemed rather disheartened by Kyoya's curt replies.

"I'd rather it be a surprise." Ranka looked even more distraught. Sensing danger, Kyoya quickly added, "I'm sure you'd hear about it from one of us later."

This, thankfully, seemed to appease Ranka. "I trust you, Kyoya. There better not be any funny business." Kyoya shook his head and smiled in assurance.

"I promise."

Footsteps approached from Haruhi's bedroom. "Ah, here she is, my darling daughter." Kyoya looked up with sudden interest. Earlier that morning, he had sent her one of Fuyumi's dresses (along with some accessories that he quickly bought at a boutique yesterday) after assuring Haruhi over the phone that it would not be overly extravagant (that would not be to either of their tastes), and he was curious to see how it looked on Haruhi.

Kyoya froze. Haruhi looked positively radiant, her natural beauty accentuated with some light but expertly-applied makeup (done by Ranka, no doubt). The simple but elegant cream-colored silk dress, with its sweetheart neckline and frilly skirt that ended right above the knees, brought out her soft, pale skin and her chocolate-brown hair and eyes. A black leather jacket and matching crossbody bag accessorized her outfit. She looks exceptional.

Desperate to ground his thoughts once more, he worked out an estimate of how much her dress and accessories cost. Let's start off with around ¥100,000, as it is Hitachiin. Add another ¥70,000 for being custom-made and not part of a collection. The design has Kaoru's unique flair, so another ¥20,000 for the rarity of the designer. The alterations that had to be made to the dress so that it better fit Haruhi cost almost ¥80,000. The jacket and bag cost another ¥80,000. That brought the grand total to approximately ¥350,000. He wondered if Haruhi knew how expensive the outfit she was currently wearing was.

He had not realized that he had been staring at her the entire time until Ranka loudly excused himself and brought him out of his thoughts. Kyoya stopped thinking of money and internally scoffed, knowing that the transvestite was listening from the kitchen. Based on the twitching of her eyes, it appeared that she knew as well. He cleared his throat. "Haruhi, you look even more breathtaking than usual." She blushed and beamed tremulously. Adorable. He was not sure, but he thought he heard Ranka attempt to stifle a not-so inconspicuous squeal. He's just as bad as Tamaki when it comes to stalking others.

"You think so?"

"Mm-hmm." He pulled her into a quick kiss, and she turned a deeper shade of scarlet. I did not think that was possible. If she blushed any harder, steam would pour out of her ears.

"You know, you also look rather nice. Your onyx eyes are really pretty, and black and lavender complement them perfectly."

That...was not what he had expected. The natural host could be surprisingly charming when she needed to be. He made a little choking sound.

"Is that so? I was going to wear the customary white dress shirt with my black jacket and pants, but Fuyumi insisted on a lavender dress shirt. I see that it was the right choice in the end." She untangled herself from him and sweatdropped as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Why bother trying to boost your already inflated ego?" she mumbled, mostly to herself.

He smirked. "Yes, why bother?"

"That was a rhetorical question!" She glared at him before bursting into a fit of laughter. "Smartass." This was followed by more laughter.

Success. Kyoya smiled warmly as he heard her laugh, though he would rather die than confess that he had missed the sound dearly the past two days. "It runs in the family, I dare say. Are you ready to go?" Kyoya asked as he grabbed his sports jacket.

"Yes," she replied, still laughing. She put on a pair of black wedge sandals (gifted to her last week by the twins, along with an array of clothing and accessories...something about them wanting to fix their doll's fashion sense, if he recalled correctly) before opening the front door and stepping outside. Kyoya followed her to the black Mercedes waiting outside. The shoes look rather nice. Different from what she usually wears, but nice.

Kyoya checked his watch after they got into the car and was alarmed to find that nearly half an hour had passed. "Great. Turns out that picking you up was much more time consuming than I expected. We'll have to hurry so that we won't be late for dinner afterwards." With thinly veiled irritation, he then added, "I have no idea why the writer decided that this chapter was a good idea."

"I'm sure the writer will get a move on with the story sometime soon," she assured him.

"The writer better remember who I am," Kyoya said, flashing an innocent-looking smile. Haruhi sweatdropped and muttered something about his smile being the exact smile a seven-year-old would give when they open their Christmas presents.

"You're rather scary, you know?" she finally told him.

Kyoya chuckled. "Do I terrify you?"

She shook her head and reached for his hand, which had been lying between them. "Not really. At first you did terrify me, but once I got to know you better after a while, you no longer did."

"Good."

Haruhi smiled. "Anyone would say the same once they got to know you."

"Is that so?" he asked, intrigued.

"Yes. You may act intimidating, but you are a nice guy and actually seem quite sad at times, as if life has drained you. Sometimes I wonder if you realize how lonely you really are. But, being the ambitious and determined person that you are, it doesn't seem like you are willing to give up. At least not anymore."

I don't know what to say to that. Kyoya stared into her brown doe eyes, which were looking at him expectantly. Finally, after a few minutes, he found his tongue again. "That's an interesting analysis," he replied carefully.

Just then, the car slowed to a stop, temporarily ending their conversation. "We are here, Master Kyoya."

Haruhi glimpsed outside to see where he had taken her, and seemed momentarily speechless.

He thought that it was worth bringing her here just to see her reaction. "What do you think?"