A Momento Of Love

(Z is for Zillion)

Just an odd thought on an odd day...

Enjoy (:

.

.

.

.

Haruhi.

Love.

I love...Haruhi?

Kyoya blushed furiously in spite of himself. What am I thinking?

It was another typical late-night weekday where Kyoya stays up to take care of unfinished business. Some customer requests, item orders, and club funds that needed some dealing with.

Always with a cup of black coffee beside him, Kyoya was sitting by his desk and finishing up the online orders from the host club's auction website when he came across something intriguing.

An order had been placed was on one of Haruhi's items.

It was a handkerchief, one that Mori had picked up when she dropped it in a rush to escape from Tamaki's crazy father game the other day. It was plain really, and beside from a few intricate black designs on the side of the white cloth, there wasn't much to it. If one were to pick it up off the streets, there'd be nothing to link it to Haruhi either, so Kyoya couldn't possibly fathom as to why anyone would want to place a bid on it.

Digging the handkerchief out from the online auctions box, Kyoya took another look at it. Just another piece of fabric, he thought, placing it under his desktop light for examination. There was a slight coffee stain on the top right hand corner and a small black thread that was coming loose from the edge designs. Just what about this handkerchief could possibly make someone bid for it for $5,000?

Kyoya was confused. He decided to look up who the bidding customer was, and lean forward to prop his chin up with his left hand, the hand with the handkerchief.

The contact with his face startled him, and he was shocked at how the fabric felt. Impossible, he thought, feeling the fabric more closely with his fingers again. How did I not catch this before?

The material that the handkerchief was made of was astonishing; Kyoya had never felt anything like it. How could Haruhi have acquired this, he thought, Can't be some typical family heirloom. It seemed to be a combination of velvet, satin, and organic cotton, if that was even possible. What was this texture?

More and more, Kyoya was intrigued by this mysterious cloth. He brought it up to his face again, and this time, he caught it.

Haruhi's scent.

It was hidden within the handkerchief and Kyoya had mixed feelings about being able to determine that it was her scent right away. Logically, of course it would be hers; it was her handkerchief after all. But Kyoya knew it wasn't that simple. At least, logic wasn't what helped him determine Haruhi's scent.

He recognized it, the pure, untainted aroma that belonged to Haruhi alone. She didn't use perfume, so it was nothing like those womanly fragrances the rich host club customers gave off. It was more like coffee diluted with water, to the point where it there was almost no taste at all. That kind of light and pure scent was what distinguished Haruhi from all the rest. Kyoya could always tell when it was Haruhi who rushed past him during club hours, bustling around to get more tea or sweets for the customers. Despite everything that went on around him, he always had a feel of where Haruhi was, and a whiff of her lingering aroma as she hurries past his table confirms his suspicions each time.

Getting back to his task at hand, Kyoya managed to track down the IP number of the customer that bidded on Haruhi's item.

Tamaki...I should've known.

Kyoya rolled his eyes and sighed. Of course Tamaki would be the one who placed such a high bid. He probably wanted to buy it just to return it to her, in order to receive a simple smile or word of thanks.

It irked Kyoya in a weird way though. Somehow, he felt that he didn't want Haruhi to smile at Tamaki, to thank him in that quiet but straightforward way of hers. To Haruhi, returning this handkerchief might just mean a simple word of thanks, but Tamaki would surely make a fuss about how "cute" and "adorable" Haruhi was while thanking him, and treasure the memory forever.

No, Kyoya thought, and the solemnness of his own inner voice surprised him. He didn't want Tamaki to have any more treasurable moments with Haruhi, no matter how selfish that sounded. He wanted to keep those moments all to himself.

When Haruhi smiles, he wanted to be the one receiving those kind and warm glances. When Haruhi cries, he wanted to be the one who could lend her a shoulder to cry on. When Haruhi falls in love, he wanted to be her special someone.

Kyoya Ohtori was in love with Haruhi Fujioka.

Kyoya sighed and turned around to look out his window. It was getting dark, and the bright red sunset was long gone, replaced by a cloak of darkness and the few sparkles within the sky. What am I doing?

He knew; he knew from a long time ago that he harboured these secret feelings for Haruhi, but they'd never felt as strong as they did now. Maybe the thought of handing her over to Tamaki was too much? Great, now I somehow have the right to hand her over to someone?

Kyoya shook his head. Haruhi, Haruhi, Haruhi...What am I ever going to do to you?

He'd vowed long ago to never recognize his feelings for her. For Kyoya, just being around her was enough. He wanted to be her protector, like the shell of an egg or the pricks on a cactus, he wanted to protect her from the world. He just wanted her to be safe.

It was so corny that even the thought of her could send his heart pumping a zillion beats per second. But – he decided – he kind of liked it that way.

He kissed the handkerchief, and proceeded to put it in his pocket. Though he always told the club members to not bid or take anything that was put into the auction box, Kyoya was willing to make an exception, since Tamaki had already broken the rule. Technically.

On the website, Kyoya pulled up the handkerchief's bid page and placed another bid of his own, anonymously of course, before closing the bid, thus successfully selling it to himself.

Even though the handkerchief might be really important to Haruhi, he wouldn't return it as Tamaki would have, ; he didn't want to be classified in the same category as that airhead. Kyoya would treasure the handkerchief, and keep it a secret from everyone else.

His love for Haruhi too.

He didn't want to stir up more trouble by bringing this out in the open. Kaoru had already confessed to Haruhi, and was rejected as he'd foreseen. Hikaru was still too much of a coward to utter those three forbidden words. And Tamaki, annoyingly loud Tamaki, would probably never realize his true feelings for Haruhi until someone hinted him about it.

Kyoya was fine with this. Haruhi didn't have to know about his feelings for her. He guessed that Haruhi might even like Tamaki back, but that was alright. It would be impossible for her to end up with me anyways, Kyoya thought, shaking his head as he cleaned up his area and shut the lights. Their families were far too different, and his father would never approve of such a relationship, even if he did decide to pursue it. Keeping the handkerchief was as far as he would go for Haruhi.

Closing the door to the clubroom, Kyoya walked away, shoving his hands into his pockets as he held onto a momento of his first love.

He'd bought Haruhi's handkerchief for $13,145.20.

And that was his silent promise to her, forever and always.

.

.

.

.

Hey guys, this is Rehn (:

Yeah! I went back to Z xD

I thought it was pretty hard to end this, but one of my chinese friends gave me inspiration. The numbers that were the value of Kyoya's bid is supposed to mean something in chinese. Something about eternal love or what not? Sad that I can't speak the language myself, so if any reader is chinese and understands this, a review telling me that I wrote it right would be nice ;_;

Hope you guys liked it, not much action, just poor Kyoya thinking to himself...Reviews would be nice (: