Haruhi blinked as she entered the Host Club room and was met with a steaming jungle, scantily-clad males, and exotic animals. Uh, what the hell?

She resolutely turned her gaze away as it threatened to linger on Kyōya-senpai. It didn't stop her from catching his knowing smirk, but she could at least pretend to hold on to her dignity and impassiveness. It failed miserably, however, when her disdain for their extravagance made Kyōya-senpai remind her of her eight million yen debt. That smug look, that demanding tone of voice, the way his gaze dared her to say something, anything, so that he could manipulate and control her more… Even as the words he spoke and the memory of the vase smashing overwhelmed her, she couldn't stop the shiver of delight that ran through her slight form, because Haruhi had never in her life been under someone else's thumb the way she was under his, and for some insane reason that she had no clue how to fix or make disappear – because she couldn't even define it – instead of irritating her, the situation thoroughly enticed her and made her feel strangely warm and tingly. If she was blushing and anyone asked, she would blame it on the heat of the subtropical room.

Of course, then the Club started messing around, and Tamaki-senpai distracted her from her thoughts, which she was grateful for. Kyōya-senpai was watching her, she could feel it, and she needed the distraction before she became a gibbering wreck.

Once distracted, Haruhi was back to her normal unflappable self, inwardly rolling her eyes at the King's oblivious absurdity. Granted, with the exception of Kyōya-senpai, and Mori-senpai, they were all absurd, but Tamaki really took the cake, so to speak.

The rest of them were being ridiculous, and while she was instantly wary at the thought of a dance, well.. if she was going as a host, then it probably wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she could keep from needing to dance at all!

While she was at the newly-installed "bar" to get more drinks, Haruhi commented to herself about how much more intense and excited their guests were than she had seen them in the previous week of working as a host, and was responded to by Kyōya-senpai, making her force her body to behave, her mind to focus, and her to act as if nothing at all was different. Act like he was just any of the other people in the club, even though Kyōya-senpai was far, far different to anybody else.

She asked him casually if he was the mastermind behind the jungle theme, and his response just cinched her feelings and made her stomach clench softly. Kyōya-senpai was the power behind the throne, the "Shadow King", the one really in charge… of both the Club, and of Haruhi herself.

Crap. She was so, so, screwed.

Why the hell was she excited about this?

Kyōya smirked as Haruhi took the drinks to her designated table and her three current admirers. He had noticed every last reaction, and followed every last train of thought she had, with her oh-so-expressive face and body. Maybe it wouldn't be so expressive to others, but he'd decided she was his – whatever he decided he wanted her to be, but for now, "complication" would do – and thus took notice of her smallest tells. He had had an entire week to learn them, after all, and for a genius like him that was no difficulty at all.

Of course, she was a smooth and intelligent conversationalist, but he knew that she was not actually expecting to be going to the party. That would be changing. He watched as Kasugazaki approached the table to monopolise Haruhi's time, and let his eyes wander. Ah, Tamaki was distraught and jealous, although Kyōya – and probably even Tamaki himself – wasn't sure if it was because Kasugazaki's attentions had changed or because Haruhi's attentions were focused solely on Kasugazaki. Either was just as likely and he would interfere with any idiotic plans that the "King" might come up with, so it was not something he cared to further examine.

When the Club was talking about the situation, Haruhi coming to a vague understanding – vague because she had no idea whatsoever that it was her that was half the problem – Tamaki lost his cool and began demanding that Haruhi begin acting like a girl. That, for some reason besides the obvious – the obvious being that Haruhi would get into less trouble and that if she came out, so to speak, Kyōya would have one less hold on her, one less thing to manipulate her with – irritated him beyond belief. He pushed the feeling down, however, and instead focused on ways to prevent their idiot-king from ruining everything.

Being referred to as "Mother" of their little group was admittedly somewhat amusing, but still, he was not pleased with Tamaki's obsession with Kyōya's complication.

Oho! This was a prime opportunity, and Kyōya had half a dozen ideas simmering as soon as it was put forth that if Haruhi could dance at their party, and dance properly, then Tamaki would back off. If not, he would supposedly expose her true gender, but Kyōya would make sure that either way things went, that would not happen. After all, whilst Haruhi believed that she could not pay her debts off as fast if she was just their errand boy, Kyōya knew that not having to match up to the standards of a host – for instance, not needing to wear their expensive and extravagant costumes – would in fact get her debt paid off that much quicker. Besides, even if that wasn't the case, it would severely reduce the amount of control he had, and that was just unacceptable.

Kasugazaki-san was a fantastic teacher, and Haruhi was thankfully able to mostly focus on the lesson and not on the offer – or would it be demand – from Kyōya-senpai to meet up after club was over with, in order to teach her how to dance the waltz as a female. "Because Tamaki is a hypocrite," he said, and Haruhi couldn't deny that so far that completely seemed to be accurate. Tamaki-senpai would decide at some random point in the future that she had to be able to dance the waltz as a female, and that "future" could even be just a few days from now. Mori-senpai was the tallest of the group and far too tall to have as a partner, Honey-senpai was far too short and childish to take seriously, if she chose one of the twins that were also her classmates she would end up with both of them vying for her attention, and she didn't want Tamaki-senpai anywhere near her in such a casual manner!

Still.. her chest was tight and fluttery at the thought of spending unsupervised time with Kyōya-senpai, and being touched by him and dancing with him.

What was wrong with her, seriously?! No, Haruhi was not dense enough to be blind to the fact that she was highly, intensely attracted to Kyōya-senpai, but it was the kind of attraction that was just.. beyond screwed up!

She sighed and turned her attention back to Kasugazaki-san, inwardly rolling her eyes at the blatant, lying denials and the hopeless romantic situation. Then it came out that Kasugazaki-san and Suzushima-san were engaged, and of course, Tamaki came up with a plan to get them back together. Sigh. This was too much work, so she would just ignore it unless she had something to do.

Kyōya smiled softly, fondly, at the girl spinning gracefully in his arms. Haruhi was a rapid learner, and even though, only two days into the week, she was definitely an adequate dancer, he found that he wanted more excuses to have her in his arms like this. She was slight and small and delicate, and in a dress, she looked almost like a doll, beautiful and sweet and innocent. He wanted to devour that innocence. He wanted to make her his in every way possible, and while up until their first dance lesson yesterday, she had been nothing but a complication to increase his overt control over things, he wasn't displeased at the change of situation his mind was taking. Her attraction to him just made him yearn to control her more, and the logical next step was to make her his in a more intimate manner.

He had to take things more slowly than he would prefer, though, because otherwise he would drive her off, so he would make his move… Hmm. After the ball.

Dance lessons with Kyōya-senpai left Haruhi with an aching feeling in her chest when they were done, and had her flushed and barely able to function during them. She was amazed that she could even learn anything in such close proximity to him. Especially when he deigned to make conversation with her and she had ended up admitting a few very damning things – like that she wanted to do whatever it would take to get into his good books, and that she enjoyed his touch.

Still, she could waltz now, in both roles, and she left their last lesson to go home and relax, trying to calm her shaking nerves and keep her mind from focusing on how warm and large his hands were compared to hers, how his breath felt as it grazed her ear, how that fond look in his eyes almost broke her. She was nothing more than a kind of distraction to him, she suspected, but oh, how she wanted to be more than that!

Takashi Morinozuka smiled as he turned away from the scene in front of him. Ah… Kyōya-san and Fujioka-kun had definitely become closer but the balance of power was still skewed because nothing had been acknowledged yet. However, Kyōya-san's response to learning about Haruhi's weakness for fancy foods was enlightening – he snapped his pencil. That was not typical Kyōya behaviour. Kyōya was – outwardly anyway – cool, calm, and unflappable, but it seemed that the person who really ran the Club had a new weakness himself… and that weakness would just so happen to be one Fujioka Haruhi. He looked forward to their relationship developing, because the attraction was by no means one-sided, and he looked sidelong at the Twins, who observed the interaction with the utmost glee. Kyōya-san would be making his claim tangible by the end of the night with those two involved, for certain.

By the time he stopped thinking about it, it was time to "kidnap" Fujioka-kun, and he dutifully – and carefully – carried her to the changing area, keeping his smile to himself as Kyōya-san took over, controlling the situation and outlining the plan to her. Then Tamaki-san barged in and made a big fuss, and Kyōya-san just looked annoyed – he suspected it would be irritated but for one, the King had no idea of his own attraction, and for two, Fujioka-kun clearly wasn't interested in him. She kept shooting glances at Kyōya-san and blushing, just the tips of her ears, which was pretty endearing.

He would definitely help them get some time alone at the end of the party.

Kyōya was about to murder his best friend. If the oversensitive dumbass hadn't overreacted, the night would have ended perfectly normally, but no, the idiot-king just had to try and stop the kiss, which resulted in Kyōya's Haruhi losing her first kiss to someone else. Kyōya wasn't jealous, he was just completely infuriated. As soon as the dance was over, he made sure that Haruhi was watching – and that everybody else was occupied – and beckoned her to follow him, highly gratified when she did so immediately. He noticed both Mori and the Twins moving to distract Tamaki and smirked – oh so they were on his side; that was a pleasant surprise. Once they were out of the ballroom he grabbed Haruhi's hand and led her into the bowels of the school, finally going into a currently abandoned classroom and tugging her inside, closing the door and then pushing her up against it, demandingly but not very roughly.

He didn't want to break her, after all.

She stared up at him, wide-eyed, flustered, and blushing, and he growled into her ear, "You are mine, Fujioka Haruhi. That kiss should have been mine."

He felt her gasp, and looked down at her only to see her smiling hesitantly. "I'm yours, Kyōya-senpai… and, you know, it wasn't a real kiss, not to me. My first kiss has to be given…"

Then she leaned up and wound her arms around his neck, making him shiver with delight at her forwardness as she whispered, "And I'm giving it to Kyōya-senpai."

His mouth crashed over hers, devouring, demanding, dominating, and her reaction – shuddering, whimpering, and clinging – was exactly what he wanted and needed. His. Haruhi was his, body and soul. They might eventually get over their mutual obsession but until then, she was his alone and he owned her.

Haruhi whined softly as Kyōya-senpai pulled away from the kiss, her pupils blown with shock and pleasure, her body shivering with reaction, hot and tingling, her breath panting out softly. Kyōya-senpai wanted her to be his properly! Not just as a distraction, not just as a tease, but for real!

She knew this wasn't love. It was lust and attraction, it was dominance and submission, it was control and obedience. But she could hope, couldn't she, that it changed in the future?

Even if it didn't though, Haruhi was more than happy with how the night turned out, as Kyōya-senpai growled at her soft whine and claimed her mouth again. Oh yes. Very, very happy!