Chapter Six

It was Wednesday, which meant Haruhi had her lighter class schedule. She nearly always arrived at Kyoya's apartment relatively early in the afternoon, taking advantage of his absence to take care of any mid-week chores that had come up. When Kyoya arrived at 7:13, the last load of laundry would be in the dryer, and she would be serving up dinner for them. After, they would settle into their tasks for the evening-homework for her, and homework, business, or information-gathering for him. Kyoya rarely scheduled dinner meetings or late-night international phone calls for Wednesdays.

At 7:13, he stepped into an empty apartment. No rumble of dryer, no simmering of stove. No Haruhi. A glance in the bathroom showed his towel from that morning's shower still on the floor where he'd dropped it, proof positive that she had not been to the apartment since she'd left it that morning.

He shrugged and pulled out his phone to order from a nice local sushi restaurant. They didn't technically deliver, but convincing them to make an exception for him had never been a problem. Haruhi would have been outraged to discover how much additional he paid for the convenience, but he liked the restaurant's food and promptness.

While he waited, he checked the notifications on his phone. He shot off a few quick emails, scheduled a meeting with one of his father's assistants to ensure his father's upcoming board meeting went smoothly, hummed at a stock he'd just purchased that was doing particularly well, and saw no text messages.

By 8:30, his sushi and patience had been consumed. Jaw clenched, he speed-dialed, and as the call was picked up, he injected a warm smile into his voice with surgical precision.

"Ranka-san, hello. I'm sorry to bother you at work. …Yes, she was offered internships at both law firms. Final grades haven't been posted just yet, but even with her lackluster political science course, she remains in the top 4% of her class." Kyoya paused while Ranka gushed over his little girl's accomplishments, with a bit of pouting that the news was coming from Kyoya and not the girl herself thrown in for good measure. Kyoya glanced at his watch.

"I fully agree, of course. Now, I know your next show begins in a few minutes and you'll want to freshen up your makeup before you go onstage, so I don't want to keep you. However, did Haruhi mention to you any plans for this evening? It's unlike her to miss work without informing me."

Never mind that he'd never given her a hard and fast schedule. In fact, she usually didn't come over more than three or four times a week. That had always been fine-he didn't mind her coming and going at her convenience as long as the work got done. But it had never before been at his inconvenience!

"Ah, thank you. I'm sure the outfit you picked for her is very cute. Thank you for letting me know. Good night, Ranka-san."

Some classmates had invited her out to celebrate the end of exams. Haruhi was at a party. He was pleased she had the opportunity to let loose with her peers, instead of spending the evening at home with him.

He should put the phone away and get in a few more hours of work. He was already dialing Tachibana. After a short conversation and ten minutes to change clothes, he stalked out to join his driver in the car.

The student hosting the soiree lived a good distance away from the city center, in a nice suburban neighborhood with identical large yards, identical large homes, and too many cul-de-sacs. It reeked of "new money" upper middle class. Tachibana pulled up in front of the house just as a delivery boy stepped out of his own vehicle with a large stack of pizzas. Kyoya paid him and sent him on his way before knocking. A pretty young woman Kyoya didn't care to know opened the door.

"Please excuse my intrusion. My name is Kyoya Ootori. I was told I could find Haruhi Fujioka here? I've brought these to apologize for the trouble." He lifted the pizzas with a grin.

The girl looked over her shoulder. "Hori? Somebody's here-he's got food!" Facing Kyoya again, she shrugged. "I dunno where he went to, but I don't see why you shouldn't come in." She relieved him of his cheesy burden and disappeared farther into the house.

As he slid his feet into a pair of the slippers in the basket by the door, Kyoya took the opportunity to glance around. The entry opened into a large living room full of comfortable-looking Western furniture and the type of paintings had been chosen to match the room rather than for their artistic value. No one sat on the overstuffed couches, though, so he followed a hall toward the back of the house.

The sound of music and laughter led him to an expansive porch, enclosed with glass on three sides for protection against foul weather. Tucked between potted palms were small groupings of chairs and sofas, and at one end a large table allowed for amost-outdoor dining.

It was by no means a wild party. The guests in attendance hardly broke a dozen, scattered about in pairs and threes with bottles of beer. Talk generally centered around the recent exams and plans for the upcoming long break. Two rather more boisterous people debated heatedly the implications of a recent decision by the high court.

Haruhi stood at the far end, apparently torn between trying to participate in the conversation the two people she stood with were engaging in, and trying to disappear into the palm behind her. She looked miserable. Kyoya's smile flashed from friendly to smirk and back again. He slid smoothly beside her before she'd even realized he was present, slipping an arm around to rest on her side.

She started. "Kyoya-se-"

"Good evening," he said over her surprise to her companions. "I'm Kyoya Ootori. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Haruhi's companions hurried to make their own introductions and then looked to her for explanation. This guy wasn't in any of their classes, and if he were a student of any program at their school, they surely would have heard his name around, as he made a fine impression with his exceptional looks and understated but clearly expensive clothing.

Haruhi fumbled to find a way to describe their relationship. Kyoya was her employer? Friend with benefits? Lover? "Um. Ootori-san in my-"

"Very good friend," he interjected. She recognized his host smile, which she always found a little irritating in its artifice, but that wouldn't have been worrisome if not for the note of carefully reined-in anger she detected in the vein pulsing visibly in his temple. She had no idea what would have upset him, but the fact that he was here uninvited-had hunted her down even though she hadn't thought to mention the get-together to him-didn't bode well for her.

Still, in her brief silence, he had already charmed her classmates and was making easy conversation, sharing anecdotes of their high school days. She noted wryly that he didn't mention either her cross-dressing or the debt that had initially forced their companionship. More and more of the party's attendants drifted over, drawn by the laughter and captivated by his charm.

"…So, if you ever need a large favor from her, just promise her some fancy tuna, and she'll be putty in your hands." He winked in a way that had a few people glancing again at Haruhi, wondering just how good of friends they were.

"Oh yeah," the girl who had opened the door for Kyoya laughed. "She's definitely food-driven. She said she wasn't coming before, and then today Hori was listing all the snacks and things people were bringing, and suddenly she changed her mind."

Kyoya looked at her thoughtfully, cocking his head. "Is that so?" How could he get his glasses to glint even in a place he'd never been before, with such low lighting? Did he really analyze how to do that the instant he walked into any room?

"She is still right here, you know, guys," Haruhi reminded them all. The crowd broke up, still chuckling, into smaller groups again. Haruhi moved to pull away from Kyoya's grasp, but he just fit her more snugly into his side.

"What are you doing here, senpai?" she finally had a chance to ask.

"Why, I merely wanted to see you enjoying your vibrant social life."

She rolled her eyes. "I'd hardly call it 'vibrant.'"

"Hmm." He began ushering her toward the exit. She only had enough time to wave at her host before she was swept down the hall to collect their shoes and jackets. She didn't point out that it was rather rude of her to leave so abruptly. If Kyoya Ootori behaved rudely, he did it knowingly and didn't give a damn.

She held her silence until the car door closed behind them. Though Tachibana often kept the screen between him and his passengers down for any additional orders Kyoya might have for him, it was already sliding silently up. So it wasn't just her who had noticed Kyoya's foul mood.

"Seriously, though, senpai, what's up? I can tell something's bothering you?"

"Just wondering where you frolicked off to instead of showing up at work," he said mildly. "I seem to recall that parties were one of those experiences you wanted when we set up our arrangement." Not that he had taken her to any, yet. He had simply been focused on the other experiences she had asked for.

She frowned. "I hardly 'frolicked off' anywhere. And it's not like we had any specific plans for tonight. You've never held me to a particular work schedule before, so I don't see what the big deal is."

He didn't either, which was exactly the problem. He retained his stony silence, and Haruhi hurried to fill it.

"We had our last classes before the break today, so I figured I'd just swing by tomorrow to take care of things." Why was she trying to explain herself? She hadn't done anything wrong.

Kyoya was accustomed to knowing what to say and what to do to achieve his goals. The thing was, he wasn't even certain what his goal was right now, just that had never missed a Wednesday night without letting him know beforehand. He huffed.

"Ah," Haruhi said. She didn't say "I get it now. You were just unhappy I wasn't spending the evening with you," because it would have just embarrassed him more. Now that she thought about it, he very rarely engaged in socializing just for fun-there was always business, or at the very least networking, involved. She wondered if he was a little jealous of her freedom in that regard. She squeezed his hand. "Just text me next time, okay? I didn't really want to rehash all of my exams with them anyway, but it was rude to leave out of the blue like that. I didn't even get to have any pizza."

She felt him relax as he laughed. "I'll order you another when we get home."