Chapter Eight: Of Doppelgangers and Unsure Feelings

Sometimes Kyouya hated the arrival of mail. Yes, he admitted the twenty-something letters from Fuyumi per arrival was annoying on occasions, but he would never change it for a moment.

He loved his sister compared to the irritating Hitachiin twin lords, Hikaru and Kaoru, that had written a letter to him, announcing that they were making a visit to the villa on the way to see their connecting good friend Tamaki.

He groaned, his face hiding into his palm as his other arm rested on his lap with the letter in hand, "What a mess of a night we will have. Those twins will run me ragged. Plus I don't even want to know what Haruhi's reaction will be."

Haruhi let out a relaxed sigh as she took a sip of her wine, smiling softly as she stared up at the early evening sky. "Ah...this feels nice. Been awhile since I've been able to sit back so calmly like this," she said, "Perhaps I may not turn into bed early and enjoy this for awhile."

"Sleep is good on the body and mind, however."

She turned her head to the new voice, her lips forming a small smile, "Hello Kyouya. Wanting to take in a breath of the fresh air as well?"

He shrugged his shoulders, taking his place in the seat beside her, "You can say that."

Haruhi just nodded, turning back towards the sky. She had to admit, since the incident between them at the ball a few weeks ago, she was...relaxing around the dark lord. She wasn't letting down her guard – of course, she had her treasure to protect and her bet to consider – but still, at least she didn't feel the urge to want to kill him every few minutes.

"Haruhi, are you good at acting?"

"Acting? Well, that depends. Are you talking in the sense of a thief or the sense of what I had to do at the ball?"

Kyouya chuckled, "Ball preferred. Within the next few days, we will have a couple of guests staying here overnight. The sons of King Hitachiin in the Eastern Kingdom, to be exact, Lords Hikaru and Kaoru."

The thief glared and jutted out her bottom lip in annoyance, "More blasted royals? Sheesh...and let me guess? I have to act like the perfect and innocent little servant girl, right?"

The silence and smirk accompanied with moonlight-sparkled glasses gave her the answer and she sighed, "Geez, such a pain. Best practice my best kissing-ass smile."

"Hey Kyouya!"

"We're here!"

Hunny and Mori were the first to greet their overnight guests. "Hello Hikaru, Kaoru! It's been a long time!" the excited blonde yelled, hugging each of the redheaded twins and, in turn, almost bringing them down to the ground with the difference in their heights.

The twin on the left, Hikaru, smiled, "It has been awhile, hasn't it Hunny, Mori?"

Kaoru, to the right of his brother, nodded in agreement, "Yeah, but now where's Kyouya? Don't tell us that he's holing himself up in there and being a horrible guest!"

"Keep your trousers on. I'm right here, you loudmouth annoyances."

Pushing up his glasses with a sigh, Kyouya continued with a smirk, "I only received your letter last night. I hardly had time to set up a room for you."

The twins only shrugged their shoulders, "Isn't our fault that mail is so slow."

Haruhi, peering out from the doorway behind Kyouya, stared at the twins with some wonder. These two didn't seem to act like the other royals she had come into contact with, such as the dozen she had met at the ball. They acted more like children than lords, and she could easily see how Kyouya could become annoyed with such antics after a long while.

She felt their eyes land upon her and she jumped a bit behind the dark lord, ruffling the edges of the apron she forced herself to wear while she was cleaning. "Hey, Kyouya, who's the beautiful woman behind you?" Hikaru asked, walking towards Haruhi and examining her up close, his brother following suit.

"What's your name, little gem?" Kaoru asked, his hand lifting her chin to stare into her brown eyes. Fighting back the urge to slap his hands and scream at the royals to leave her alone, Haruhi placed on her best innocent face and spoke, "M-my name is Haruhi, my lords. I'm a servant of Lord Kyouya, and for the evening I'll be serving you as well. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Kaoru, Lord Hikaru."

Hikaru and Kaoru grinned in cat-like fashion towards each other, not gone unnoticed by all of their onlookers, and pulled away from Haruhi, seemingly satisfied with their inspection of her.

"Okay. Well, then you can start by bringing our things to our room," Kaoru said.

"Then you can get us lunch. We're hungry!" Hikaru finished.

Haruhi bowed, again biting her tongue, "Yes, my lords."

As Haruhi began to bring in the twins' items into the villa, Hunny and Mori helping along the way, and the twins following Haruhi closely, Kyouya watched the scene intensely, a hint of mixed emotion smoldering behind his frames.

"I hope this room is to your liking, my lords. Lord Kyouya and I spent quite a few hours into the late night setting this up for you," Haruhi said, inwardly gagging on the sickeningly sweet voice she was forced to use around the twins, "I'll be going downstairs to retrieve your meals. I believe Mori is making a pork stew. I'll have it here in a few moments."

She gave the twins the best curtsy she could muster (luckily she had practice from the ball to fall back on), and then turned to leave the guest room, her hand on the door ready to close it behind her.

"Don't forget to bring us something to drink!" Kaoru commanded

"And fresh bread!" Hikaru added.

"Yes, my lords," Haruhi said, leaving with the door closing behind her. She growled, glad to be out of sight and earshot, "This is going to be the death of me. Damn you Kyouya..."

From the other side of the door, listening closely for Haruhi's footsteps to become distant, the twins grinned to one another.

"Don't you think that she is quite a beauty?"

"Yes, she is...and very innocent."

"You've always liked the innocent girls, Hikaru. Sometimes I'm jealous – they are easily attracted to you."

"Ah, but the true beauties are always attracted to you Kaoru!"

Hikaru's eyes flashed with a bit of fire, "Perhaps we should...convince her to come with us. By tonight, I'm sure we'll have her."

Kaoru's eyes shared the same fire, "Be sure to share with me."

After lunch was served and eaten, Haruhi had hoped to get some peace from the loudmouth annoyances, that Kyouya had deemed them, but instead she found herself being constantly followed by them.

As she did the laundry for the day, she could feel Kaoru's eyes shifting over her back, especially when she stretched to place something over the line to dry.

When she was tending to the garden, she knew Hikaru was sitting not too far away, watching her every move with a smirk stretched across his lips.

When she went into the kitchen to start cooking the evening meal, knowing she had to start early in order to adjust for the extra food, the twins situated themselves at the table in the adjourning dining hall, making sure to be in perfect sight of her at all times.

Their behaviors didn't go unnoticed by Kyouya, whom watched them as they followed Haruhi throughout the villa. He kept his cool, trying to hide his knowledge behind books and light conversation with Hunny and Mori, however he couldn't help the strange feelings that bubbled up inside of him as he watched the scenes before him.

Jealousy? No, he wouldn't accept that. Possessiveness? That could be it...after all, the young thief was his servant. He accepted that feeling...and the increasing irritation. Yes, that was it.

The evening went on. The meal was served, much to the delight of everyone (Haruhi had to admit, she was grateful for Mori's lessons in cooking), Hunny and Mori retired shortly afterward, with a for-reasons-unknown disgruntled Kyouya holing himself up in his study not long after that. The twins spent time that evening in the garden, conversing under the stars, which left Haruhi alone for a little while in order to clean up the kitchen.

"This is seriously getting annoying. I really want to kill Kyouya. The next time I see him, I'm taking a--"

"Do you like talking to yourself, little gem?"

The voice startled Haruhi, causing her to drop the mop she held in her hands, "Oh, Lord Hikaru! Sorry, was there something you needed?"

He smirked at her, eyes playfully lit, and the brunette softly swallowed – she didn't like the cat-like look he was giving her. She didn't like how he was slowly approaching, stepping over the fallen mop handle in order to get closer to her.

"W-what are you doing? If there is something you need, you could always tell me instead of--"

"What I need is you," Hikaru stated bluntly, seductively, "You are quite a delightful woman, Haruhi. I can't seem to resist the temptation to be around you anymore."

His lips neared her shaky ones, "So allow me to show you the passion you've instilled in me within this short time."

Haruhi's eyes widened as his lips connected fiercely with hers, his hands gripping hers and his body motioning hers against a counter in order to cut off all attempts of her fighting. Shock rack up and down her spine as she muffled moans of protest against him, becoming louder when his tongue began to swirl over her lips. She felt fire starting to consume her, telling her to give in to it, and Haruhi felt her lids growing heavy despite her protests.

After all, she knew this feeling already, when Kyouya...suddenly her eyes popped open as the memories of his kisses flashed across her mind. She knew in that instant that the fire that was consuming her was a fire of ill-wishes, of dark intent in order to near the treasure she seeked to protect. This wasn't the same as she felt with the dark lord; even with his anger that guided him she could tell that his intention was never to truly harm her.

Her struggles became fiercer, her moans turning into muffled screams as she began to push herself off the counter. Hikaru persisted, pressing harder to keep her still. At least, until he felt the sharp sting of a slap across his face.

He looked up to see the angry coal eyes of Kyouya, his arm wrapped tightly around the breathless and shocked Haruhi. "What do you think you're doing to my servant, Hikaru? I believe it's quite obvious that she doesn't want to be touched in such a matter," he said lowly.

Hikaru growled, "How dare you hit me. You have no right!"

"I have every right to do so. Now both you and Kaoru will leave Haruhi alone and will leave at sunrise," the dark lord replied, turning around and pulling the brunette along with him, "It's disgusting, taking advantage of an innocent woman like that."

Haruhi was silent as she laid in her bed, never even bothering to change out of her clothes and into her nightdress. She stared at the ceiling, wide awake and full of thoughts.

Thoughts of hatred. Thoughts that cursed. Thoughts of wonder. Thoughts that tingled.

She placed two fingers to her lips; she could still feel the burn of Hikaru's lips upon hers. Her brows knitted as she frowned; his intentions were far from innocent. He endangered her treasure, and she was sure that without Kyouya's interference, he was sure to have taken it from her with sheer force.

It was very disgusting indeed.

"Can't sleep, Haruhi?"

Her eyes turned towards Kyouya's bed, brown meeting onyx. She didn't say a word; the answer to the question was pretty obvious. He frowned slightly, noticing the position of her fingers upon her lips and how her eyes diverted back to the ceiling after a few moments of connection. He folded back the blankets, slipping on his slippers as he stood up and walked towards her bedside.

"Haruhi."

She turned towards him again, surprised, and began to sit up as he knelt down to meet her at her level. Their eyes connected again for a moment, then Haruhi turned her head, looking down at her hands placed gently in her lap.

She felt disgusting. Not long ago, she was the genius thief, outsmarting everyone that came her way and tricked the most vile of men to their dooms. Now that she was captured by the dark lord Kyouya, she found herself in one awkward and compromising position after another. She felt herself failing in protecting her dearest treasure, and could hear the curses erupting from deep down in her soul.

Tonight proved again how useless she was becoming. A kiss is meant to be shared with those she loved; the ones she loved are currently lying in their endless sleep and there was no way she would ever fall for anyone like Hikaru and Kyouya. She wouldn't permit it.

She growled inwardly, her hands balling into fists; why must the fire burn so beautifully, so wonderfully, if she wasn't in love?

"Haruhi. Look at me."

She refused to acknowledge him, even when his hands enveloped hers.

"Look at me."

She couldn't. She gritted her teeth, her fists clenching under his hands. She cursed herself, cursed him, cursed the twin royals, cursed everything that brought her to have the life she was having.

Kyouya began to move Haruhi's face in order to force her to look at him, "Please. Look at me."

Her eyes darted to look at him, never expecting to hear the great Lord Kyouya Ohtori to plead in such a way. She licked her lips softly, feeling how swollen they were and then growled.

"I hate this. I hate how in such a short time that everything that I've tried to do is slowly becoming unraveled. And now," she said lowly, "this passion, this consuming fire...it seems like I can't get away from it. I was only supposed to feel it with the one I love, and yet..."

Kyouya couldn't respond. Haruhi continued, "I curse you with a thousand deaths. But at the same time, I curse myself the same."

She chuckled darkly, the subject changing, "His kisses were the ones that nightmares are made of. I fear I may never be able to sleep again."

"Haruhi, don't let jackasses like him affect you. Despite his interference, in addition to my own, what you treasure the most is still protected. A kiss is a kiss; easily shared and accidentally given," he told her, leaning his forehead against hers, "However, a woman's innocence isn't so easily taken. Especially from you. It's a reason I admire you so."

A small, sad smile crept over Haruhi's face, "Thank you. However, I still fear the nightmares."

She looked away from him at that moment, but within an instant she was pulled back by the soft feeling of his lips upon hers. The hand that once caressed her cheek threaded its way into her hair, and his eyes were closed to her reaction.

Her lids grew heavy, and realization hit her quickly. The fire that was burning her this time was full of good intentions; she could tell he was wanting to give her reassurance in his words, to chase away the creeping nightmares. This kiss was similar to his redemption at the ball, the sweet motion that gave her thoughts she could never forget.

She shut her eyes at last, her arms wrapping around his neck as she returned the affection, her instincts kicking in again. Carefully, he pressed harder, his arms gently motioning her down onto the bed as he leaned over her. She didn't fight him, her fingers loosely gripping at the collar of his nightshirt as her face flushed with heat.

Finally out of breath, he parted from her, his forehead still to hers as their eyes stayed connected. They both panted heavily, Haruhi's arms still wrapped around his neck and keeping him still.

"Will that suffice, Haruhi? Will you be able to sleep without nightmares now?"

"Perhaps...I've never felt a fire like that before. A delightful fire..."

Smirking, Kyouya stood up, "Good night Haruhi. Pleasant dreams."

Pulling the sheet over her head, she turned to face the wall and listened for Kyouya to enter his bed again. Her eyes closed to the world and she sighed despite herself. It was a delightful fire, but why did she feel it so if they weren't lovers? It was very confusing.

She shrugged the thoughts away for the moment as she began to drift off; she'll worry about it come morning.

It's a bit rushed, but at last, Chapter 8 is done! Enjoy!