Title: Invisible
Written by: WraithR249 & Yue Guang Kuroneko
Pairing: KyouyaxHaruhi
Rating: K (for now)
Warning: Slight OOCness!

Invisible
By WraithR249
(and co-written by Yue Guang Kuroneko)

--

Haruhi walked towards her after school activity, dragging her feet heavily and sighing deeply. She was exhausted from such a busy day at school. She ran multiple errands for her teachers, was severely harassed by Tamaki when she showed up in the cafeteria with her humble bento, and not to mention that she didn't get much sleep the previous night because she was up late studying. Well, at least she did pretty well on her exams, so she planned to reward herself by sleeping the moment she returned home.

"Haruuu-chan!"

Haruhi was surprised by the petite senior jumping into her arms as she opened the door of the third music room.

"Picnic, picnic! A picnic, outside!" Hunny exclaimed with a large smile on his face.

Indeed, it did seem like the Host Club was preparing for a picnic outside. They were dressed in…well, she supposed that it was what wealthy people wore for casual clothing.

Haruhi shrugged as Hunny asked her whether she was happy about it or not. At least today would be more pleasant than usual; the weather outside was perfect for a picnic. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad day to stay with the host club a little while longer.

There would be plenty of food, after all.

"Welcome," greeted the Host Club.

Haruhi attempted to finish off one last piece of ootoro before their clients arrived.

"Woww-cuh," she tried to say with her mouth full.

The rest of the Host Club turned to face the offending party, who had already turned around to sneak another piece of ootoro off the tray. The girls giggled at her cute behavior.

"Welcome," Haruhi faced everyone and forced a wide smile onto her face. She had wanted to eat her fill before the customers showed up, but she wasn't able to finish.

And it was so delicious, she sighed inwardly.

"Time to get to work," She overheard the twins snicker at her.

"Haruhi-kun… what do you do you think of Kyouya-kun…?"

The question snapped Haruhi out of her daydreaming.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

The girls sitting with Haruhi gave a short glance at each other quickly, and then seemed to telepathically agree upon something.

Haruhi was a girl, but she could've sworn that girls did not have telepathic powers.

How in the world do they do that?

"Well…you are in the Host Club with him…and you are both boys, so there are things that he probably tells you that he wouldn't tell girls, right?"

Haruhi made a mental face at the irony. If there were things that he wouldn't tell girls, then she definitely wouldn't know about them.

"If you like him, why don't you designate him instead of me?" Haruhi asked curiously.

The girls looked hurt, and Haruhi immediately reprimanded herself that she should have asked in a different way. She had forgotten that these girls were sensitive… well, at least, more sensitive than she was anyway.

"Haruhi-kun, we like you best! But…"

The girls looked at each other again. Haruhi suspected that they were up to something, but she would never be able to tell what. All she could call to mind is that she had noticed these three girls together somewhere else, so she deduced that they must be very close friends.

"…but we are trying to help our friend. We know how much she likes Kyouya-kun."

Upon hearing that, Haruhi felt a strange sensation almost take over her, but she fought it off and noticed that the girls were looking at something past her.

Willing herself to focus, she turned around and scanned the environment. What could they be looking—oh, there.

Haruhi's attention was caught by a shy looking girl who was fiddling restlessly with her hands, who was sitting under the soft gaze of an intelligent, sophisticated-looking host.

Turning back around to face the girls, Haruhi took a deep breath. "Is that your friend…?"

All of the girls nodded.

Haruhi tapped her chin thoughtfully. "What does she see in him anyway…?"

"Well, Kyouya-kun is very intelligent and clever…" One of the girls offered with a bright smile.

"He's very artistic too," sighed another.

"It's that slow, rare smile that he gives that makes him so attractive," The third one agreed.

Haruhi nodded her head in understanding, but truthfully she knew that Kyouya was different than the image that he cast when he was entertaining customers. She figured he would do anything for a profit anyway and it seemed to work magnificently.

"But…" spoke up one of the girls hesitantly.

"What is it?" Haruhi asked her encouragingly, ignoring the little warning voice at the back of her head.

"Well…she says that Kyouya-kun is really very kind and compassionate towards her."

Haruhi shook her head inwardly. The Shadow King. Perhaps one of the last words to describe him would be compassiona—wait…

The last time I had this feeling, she recalled thoughtfully, was when I wondered why he was concerned for me, and when he was trying to have a conversation with me.

She shook her head to clear her mind of any thoughts of him, but her rebellious memory decided to flash his face; the same warm, gentle face that gave her that small, genuine smile, even as she was forced to read Tamaki's palm.

Get out of my head, she sent him a message psychically with an angry glare.

Haruhi sipped some of her water, forcing herself to push him into the deepest and darkest corners of her mind where he belonged. He's caring and compassionate, her brain whispered. Isn't that just what you wanted?

Choking on her water, Haruhi immediately started coughing and gagging.

"Haruhi-kun!"

The three girls looked at each other alarmed, unsure of what they should do.

Haruhi felt like her lungs were on fire, and they gasped for air heavily—but nothing came.

Suddenly, she felt a warm hand patting her back, and then rubbing large circles.

"Haruhi. Breathe."

Oh, senpai, she thought to herself sadly. Why do you keep trying to help me? You aren't helping me to forget about you…

Haruhi took a few deep breaths. She turned around to face him so that she could thank him properly.

"Eh?"

It was the only thing that she could utter when she came face to face with Morinozuka Takashi.

"Are you alright?"

"…Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Mori-senpai." Haruhi bowed her head.

"Oh, yes, yes! Thank you so very much for saving my daughter!" Tamaki cried. "My precious, precious daughter! Don't you ever, ever scare me like that again!"

Haruhi's head began to throb as Tamaki cradled her, swinging her back and forth while the customers watched, laughing and giggling off the shock of Haruhi choking.

"Milord is a pervert!" The twins sang.

The chaotic events following Haruhi's near-death experience camouflaged the talk between two mature men in the Host Club, shadowed by the trees that loomed over them.

"Instead of alerting me, why didn't you just help her yourself?"

Kyouya shrugged and answered, "It would generate more profit for you to be the hero of this incident. I am not known for being caring and compassionate within the Host Club as much as its other members."

Morinozuka Takashi stared blankly at Ootori Kyouya for a long period of time, as if he was trying to convey his thoughts to him. However, he walked away wordlessly, but Kyouya felt the well-known authority of his taciturnity.

"There is more to your story than you say, Ootori Kyouya." Morinozuka stated clearly with his powerful gaze.

And Ootori Kyouya sensed a bit of truth behind those unspoken words.

--

Authors' Notes:

-WraithR269: Wow, it looks like most people like the science part…. Except for like one person who has a name that is something like YUE GUANG KURONEKKID or something. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed Haruhi's failed attempt to sort out her feelings for O.K. (Ootori Kyouya XP) Things could get complicated here…0:)

-Yue Guang Kuroneko: Don't listen to the science freak who just spoke/typed above me. I liked the science part…what I didn't like was that I didn't understand it, so editing it was a pain in the kaboozle. But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

-"bento" is a lunchbox that usually consists of rice and other small dishes packed inside.