"Kyoya-senpai?"
I jumped a solid two feet in the air. The voice has startled me out of a reverie about my kiss with Haruhi. Or rather Haruhi kissing me. Or Haruhi kissing me without my permission. And about how I didn't pull away because I didn't want to disturb her sleep. She was probably thinking of Tamaki anyway. In her unconscious of course.
The bitter tone of the thought startled me and so the voice was a welcome distraction from feelings I'd rather not dwell on.
But lo and behold who the speaker was.
"Yes Haruhi?" I replied in my coolest voice. "What can I do for you?"
"Have you been avoiding me?"
The bluntness of her question caught me off guard and the completely true answer of yes bubbled to my lips and almost came out before I realized the consequences of such an answer and stopped myself. The little peasant always found a way to unsettle him. "No. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it seems like ever since the… incident … at your estate, you've been avoiding me and talking to me as little as possible. I hope I didn't cause you that much trouble and I'm really grateful for your help…"
She kept talking and I thanked my lucky stars that she had no idea why I'd been avoiding her. I'd already considered the growing possibility that perhaps I had enjoyed her kiss and that it would definitely be advantageous to stay away from her for a while until I filed away the memory like I did everything else that upset the balance of my world.
If she knew all hell would break loose. That much I was sure of. And somehow, in some insane little way, Tamaki would hear about it and get involved and completely lose it.
So if I had to I would get Haruhi shipped to Peru to keep this under wraps. My own desperation frightened me.
"So," Haruhi said, as if sensing my mind had wandered. "The kiss."
It was as if a car crash had happened in my brain. "What kiss?"
"You know, The Kiss. By Klimt. Tamaki hung a huge print in the club room. What do you think of it?"
Maybe I should drop out of Ouran and move to Peru myself.
"I've always found it a bit too frivolous." I said curtly.
"Oh." She fell silent.
Just then, the Host Club's king decided to grace us with his presence. "Haruhi, Kyoya," he greeted in his usual flamboyant manner. "Were you discussing my beautiful new addition to the Host Club? I bet you were!"
I made a face to myself, similar to -_-.
"We were but I'm sure it's not the conversation you were imagining Tamaki," I said coolly.
I felt Haruhi looking at me. I ignored her, suddenly irritated. "Excuse me," I said politely, standing and quickly leaving before I was called back.
I avoided them both for the rest of the day.
…At least until after school.
"Kyoya I demand to know why Haruhi is upset!" Tamaki said, in such a way that made me want to hit him and laugh at the same time.
"How should I know," I murmured. "She's not my responsibility."
Tamaki's mouth made a perfect O. I heard him suck in a breath to continue ranting and in that moment I would have done anything to stop him from ranting on. I didn't need this right now!
So I leaned forward and kissed his open mouth.