A.N. Well, I'm finally back, if you wanna know why it took so long, see the end A.N., but whatever. School starts in three weeks, but don't count on an update before then. It may happen, if I get lucky, but don't count on it, I have a lot of summer assignments that I need to finish.

Learning

Chapter 6

Too much wine?

The fire crackled merrily on the other side of the library, golden glow shining peacefully upon the book balanced on her knees. From his position at the slightly ajar door to the villa's private library, Kyouya could just barely see the way her dark eyes squinted slightly at the small print of her novel. The new, baby blue flannel pajamas his sister had insisted on purchasing for the girl hung loosely over her toned legs, which were folded comfortably Indian-style under her in the leather armchair she had claimed.

He leaned against the doorframe as he watched her read, her bottom lip held delicately between her teeth as her eyes pored over the words, taking them in with interest and excitement. A smile graced his lips as he compared this new, quite Haruhi to the playful, teasing one of that afternoon. The girl was such a melting pot of character, an enigma of a person that could effortlessly compare to, and far surpass, the complexities of Suoh Tamaki in all his dramatic glory.

She was amazing.

And he was falling for her.

Steeling his resolve, he slowly pushed the door open and stepped into the library to see her glance up at his intrusion. "May I join you?"

She smiled "Of course, by all means, it's your library after all." With a quick word of thanks he made his way to the armchair across from her and made himself comfortable, smiling at her before opening his novel.

'- The extreme outer end of the spiral arm –' hang on…what? Okay, this was just a little ridiculous; that was the third time he'd read that line, and absorbed nothing before it. How long have I been sitting here? Oh great, fifteen minutes. And I keep rereading the same page. Ootori, what is wrong with you?

You really wanna know?

Yes. Tell me.

You can smell her.

What?

Seriously. Close your eyes and breath in, you can't miss it.

Heavenly

Yes, that's what Tamaki thought too.

You speak to Tamaki too?

Well…okay, no, but I know how he'd react, and I'd bet my life on him thinking that the first time he really noticed her scent.

Do you even have a life?

Yah know what, Mr. Smarty-Pants-Nose-Stuck-In-A-Book-He's-Not-Even-Reading, I'm your brain, and I'm having an intelligent conversation with you, how normal do you think that is? So if I were you, I'd be a little less worried about the details of my existence and more worried about the number of drugs they'll put you on when your family finds out. Now finish your book.

I can't believe my own mind just called me a smarty-pants… "Good book?"

Haruhi must have seen the bemused look on his face, for her voice held a tilt of laughter as it wafted over him. Seeing the softness of her eyes, he allowed a small smile to grace his lips "Fascinating, " So he hadn't a clue what was written in the last two paragraph, big whoop, "much more interesting then I imagined."

"Oh? May I ask what you're reading, Kyouya?" He nodded and lifted the heavy tome so she could see the title. "Ah, Octopus and Heinemann's Classic works of Asimov. Which one are you on? I finished I, Robot a few weeks ago, though I must say that the Foundation Trilogy is by far my favorite" She knows the archaic American Literature of Isaac Asimov? Good God!But his calm façade showed hardly any of his internal surprise, just a smidgen of acknowledgement for her being so familiar with the work. "Second Foundation, I am almost finished with it. I'm afraid I've read everything of Azimov's but the Foundation series and I plan to have read them by the time school lets out."

She nodded, reclining her head on the armchair behind her, "Well, don't take my word for it, but you're about to finish the best of the series. I didn't find anything after that the same, almost not worth reading really. I won't give it away for you, but I wouldn't be surprised if you come away from the rest of the series greatly disappointed." The young man nodded as she smiled lazily at him. "So what are you reading Haruhi, you seemed very caught up in it when I arrived." She grinned sheepishly and held up her book for him to see.

"A romance novel? I wasn't aware you enjoyed romance." This was confusing; he knew everything about the girl, didn't he? "Well, I don't read it often, and it's not like I can read it at school, Tamaki would never let me be." Well, that explained how he'd missed romance novels on his multiple raids of her locker, absent mindedly nodding at his conclusion, he smiled to Haruhi so she wouldn't think he'd been ignoring her. "Of course. For as understanding as he can be, Suoh Tamaki gets easily carried away."

Setting aside her book and leaning back into a more comfortable position in her chair, looking at him. "I mean, does it really matter if I'm not 'girly'? I like how I am." Mirroring her position and crossing his legs, Kyouya pushed his glasses up on his nose before answering. "We all pretend to be someone we're not for the club, but it's when we forget who we really are that we've gone too far. And Suoh has no right to try and force you to be who you're not when it's not necessary."

"But it's necessary as long as you're making money off me being a boy?" She only grinned at his relaxed shrug and tilted her head, studying him in the firelight as he stared right back at her. "You're very talkative tonight." She tilted her head to study him from another angle. "I'd almost forgotten that you could show emotion." The ice prince shrugged again before retaliating. "And what of you, you usually don't read romance by firelight and then have insightful conversations about our king and his habits." This time Haruhi shrugged before answering. "Fuyumi kept refilling my wine glass at dinner, so I drank a little more than I probably should have. What's your excuse?"

"We're on vacation."

"Oh?" She grinned, "I didn't know that normal things like vacations mattered to you." He smirked at her grin. "Well, my dear, there are a lot of things you don't know about me." Haruhi nodded, picking her book back up from the table between them, "True, but to be honest I wouldn't mind finding some out." Kyouya snapped his head up at her words to find that her eyes had returned to her book and that a slight flush was fading from her cheeks.

It was then, as his gaze pierced her body and he worked to memorize every little detail for further speculation, that he noticed it, there, half tucked behind her ear was a deep red rose. Could it be? Was it the rose he, himself, had given her a mere day before? Had it really only been a day? She seemed like such a different person, so carefree and open.

Had Suoh ever seen her like this? Soft smile lingering on her lips, hair tucked delicately behind small ears, eyes pouring over romantic words as she delved deeper into the literary world? Was it the firelight that made her skin glow, radiating happiness and contentment throughout the room, or was it that he had never had the opportunity to see her this…alive?

Or was it, still, that she'd always had this glow, this vibrance, and that he'd just never looked close enough to see it?

Chocolate brown orbs met gray and he could feel her gasp at his proximity.

When had he gotten that close? How had he gotten so close? Why was he still getting closer?

C'mon Haruhi, move!

But she couldn't, not with his cool eyes boring into hers, freezing her with apprehension and want and need.

And he was still getting closer.

She could now very obviously feel his breath against her lips, every nerve on her body was tensed for him, begging for his touch.

She could see the smoldering flames behind his eyes, saw the intensity with which they burned, and she could feel as her entire body flushed deep crimson…Yup, even down there.

Heat pooled in her abdomen and she knew she could not wait, knew she had to have this, and as she leaned foreword into the warmth she could already feel through her pajamas, something changed.

If he had been any other boy, she was sure he would have flinched back. As he was, in fact, Ootori, Kyouya, and not any other boy, all she had seen was a momentary flash of surprise before his eyes flickered to her right ear. And he reached out, snatching the red blossom from her hair and leaning back on his hunches against the coffee table.

His gray orbs stared at the flower, taking in every detail the little bloom had to show him.

It wasn't his.

That leaf there, that wasn't on his rose…and there…it was missing that little white edge to it that he's picked specially to match the sweater she'd been wearing that day.

It wasn't his.

Gray orbs darkened to black as his eyes darted up to hers with a new emotion she couldn't identify, so new and foreign that it frightened her to see it on his normally serene features. "Where'd you get this?" it was hardly a question.

"Oh…so you didn't leave it…no, I didn't expect so…um…It was left…outside my door…I found it when I woke up this morning, I assumed one of you left it…I guess that rules you out." His expression was really starting to worry her now, as she inched slowly deeper into her chair, clutching her novel tightly to her chest as a mock shield. Hello! They had just had a moment, hadn't they? Wasn't he just about to kiss me? Well, all the collected heat had just successfully drained out through her toes and was just a puddle on the nice shag carpet.

Taking notice of her actions, Kyouya forced himself to calm down; he had no reason to be angry, especially not with her.

"I apologize, Haruhi, I overreacted."

Overreacted to what? It was just an effing flower!

Shut up.

"It's alright Kyouya, I understand." What did he overreact too? Kyouya couldn't have known that his brain was echoing Haruhi's thoughts. "I suspect Tamaki left it, only the writing on the card doesn't match his, he must have had someone else write it."

"Oh? There was a card? Well, perhaps I may help you solve the mystery. May I see the card?" Was it just her, or was his face a little more blank than usual, his voice a little more forced than usual? How was he ignoring what had just happened between them? Did he not feel it?

"Sure, I guess." And she pulled the card from the pages of her book where she'd been using it as a bookmark. "See, I assume Tamaki had it written 'cause he likes to call me his flower." Yes, but did she realize that Tamaki was a little more keen towards daisies than roses? Kyouya would find whoever had left it and figure out what their intentions were, then kindly tell them that Haruhi was much too sophisticated and prude for them and that they'd better find another girl to make theirs.

Sure, not tell them to buzz off from your girl, but tell them that she's not worth their time. You really know how to work it, kid.

No. I will be telling them that they are not worth her time.

Well, It doesn't really seem that way from this part of your conscience, it seems like someone may be in denial here. For the love of God, just take the girl and kiss her already, she seemed perfectly happy to kiss you a minute ago.

"Yes, but I do not believe roses are quite his style." Choosing to ignore his inner voice, Kyouya turned back to the mystery of who seemed to be trying to woo his Haruhi.

Yours?

Haruhi nodded, "True, I hadn't thought of that, he much prefers daisies, doesn't he?" Oh, so the girl did know.

Don't seem so surprised, Kyouya.

"It could be, perhaps, one of the others left it, though I don't recognize the writing." Of course none of the club had written the card, but perhaps one of the Hitachiin's had ordered the flower from a near bye shop. "No offence, Kyouya, but this is the Host Club, if one of the others had left someone flowers, I'd expect it'd be more than one rose."

"Probably, though I could expect Mori or Kaoru to do something on a small scale, if they felt it would mean more." Haruhi looked up from the card, which had made it's way into his free hand, into Kyouya's gray eyes. He was still looking down, focusing on the writing as if trying to remember if he had ever seen it before. Gosh, he was handsome. The way his hair fell into his eyes when it was mussed, the way his glasses kept slipping lower on her nose, and his soft, adorable lips, pressed smoothly together in a thin line as he continued staring at the card.

"You do things on a small scale too."

Startled by her voice, Kyouya looked up to find that while he was still against the coffee table, Haruhi seemed much closer than before. Had she leaned foreword? "I still have the rose you bought me yesterday, it's in a vase in my room. I would have put that one in my hair, I started to, but I didn't want to damage it or anything." She still had it? "I think once it starts to wilt I'll press it and have it encased in a frame so I can put it on my wall. My mother taught me to press flowers before she died, so I'm quite good at it." She wanted to press it and keep it? Using a skill her mother had taught her?

She slid off her chair and leaned further towards him. "I think I had a little more to drink than I thought, Kyouya; my brain feels all fuzzy." He 'hmm'd as he really could figure out how to make comprehensible words as he stared down into her shining brown eyes, completely forgetting the rose that slipped from his fingers as he reached down to meet her hand halfway.

"Kyouya?"

She must have seen that he was listening through his eyes because he was sure he hadn't even made a sound.

"Kyouya, I am going to kiss you."

YES!

A.N. Alrighty, I had planned this chapter to have a lot more in it and to go one until the next day, but I added more to this scene then I thought I would, and I think it came out very nicely considering I had to rewrite the whole thing cause I lost all my notes about a month ago.

Also, updates may be a little more sporadic than they already are, (I know awful, huh?) because my dad has put a timer on our Internet connection so I lose it about 10:15 on weeknights and 11:15 on weekends until 10:00 the next morning. Peachy. Unfortunately, most of my writing gets done in the middle of the night and I usually like to post during the night so that American readers can see it when they sign on in the morning, so now that I will have no Internet during the night, most post probably won't be up until about noon Pacific Coast Time, so 3:00 in the afternoon if you're on the East coast, and that may effect updates more than planned.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I really think it's my favorite so far, I have very high hopes for the rest of this fic, now that the relationship bit is coming in. Also, expect updates closer together than this one, I've just been having issues that I shouldn't bother you with, but will list anyways.

I spent my spring break fighting with all my friends, a whole two weeks after spring break I was still fighting with most of my friends, After that I had guy and friend with benefits issues, then I had a huge paper to write for my English class, then I had to figure out how I was gonna take all my finals and skip three days of school to baby sit my little brother for way too cheap, then I had summer assignments for history, which I still need to finish, and two novels to read for English, one of which is the Iliad by Homer who's works I find extremely dull. Not to mention all the dance practice and preparation I've had to go through for my friend's quincenera in two weeks, which I'm in. And had a huge fight with my abusive mother during which I outlined all the awful things she'd done to ruin my life in the last seven years and caused her to be about as removed as she can be from my life, which is pretty far considering she lives three thousand miles away.

Add into that that about the time I was doing all the fighting with my friends I lost all my notes for this chapter, plus The Club, and my notes for High school Musical and I've been a very unhappy person the last few months. My only refuge has been reading fanfics and as such, important things, like homework and my own stories and all, have taken the back burner while I try and stop wanting to shoot myself in the head to put myself out of my misery

But! All is a little better as I spent the day yesterday, when I finished this, driving my dads boat on a very choppy lake with the wind so loud in my ears I couldn't hear myself think and was afraid I was gonna topple the whole thing, and have such a bad sunburn I could make a tomato jealous, and that my birthday is in exactly a month from today, I'm in relatively high spirits so here ya go, please review!