It was early when Haruhi woke the next morning. Looking at the clock she saw it was only 5:30 and she didn't have to get up for another hour but she was wide awake. She got up and walked over to the bathroom mirror. She had meant to give the necklace back last night, even with Kyoya saying it was a gift. She couldn't accept it especially after the charms. It was all to much and she didn't understand why he was being so nice to her anyway. She'd expect this from the twins and Tamaki. Even Honey but not the Shadow king.
She rolled her eyes at herself, "I'm overthinking this whole thing. Kyoya said it was for my birthday from the host club it's not that big of a deal"
"He said the charms were for your birthday, not the necklace. That was just a gift" The nagging voice in her head came back.
Shaking off the voice she quickly got ready for school, ate breakfast and went out to start the walk. Yes, she was early, but she figured she'd just do some school work in the music room until it was time.
When she got to the music room she sat on one of the couches and started to study, however she was more tired than she had realized from her walk and she fell asleep on top of her notebook.
She awoke to her phones vibrations a couple of hours later and jumped up, looking at the time she realized she had already missed two of her classes. She hurried to gather up her stuff when she remembered what woke her up. She looked down at her phone and saw it was Hikaru.
"Hello?" she asnwered
"Where are you? Why didn't you tell us you weren't coming today!?" Hikaru and Kaoru exclaimed together.
Haruhi sighed, "Because I'm here at school"
"Nuh uh, We're in your classes remember? We would know if you were here" Kaoru replied, sounding as if she insulted his intelegence.
"I came early and was studying in the music room. I accidently fell asleep. I'll be in next block."
After that, Haruhi hurried out of the music room and to class. After explaining to her teachers what had happened, she got her work she had missed and paid extra close attention to the rest of her classes.
She spent the rest of the day spending all of her energy forcing her self to pay attention to the world around her and not lose her self in thoughts.
By the time host club came around she was exhausted from focusing so much. The twins seemed to know something was up because they hadn't been up to their usual antics that day. For the most part they were quiet. At least, quiet for the twins.
Host Club was uneventful, unless you count that Kyoya seemed to be avoiding her more so than usual. They never really talked in Host club, especially after the first time they went to the mall, but this was ridiculous. Haruhi didn't know how she was going to figure out her thoughts if he wouldn't even look at her.
The whole night after the party, and the whole day in school, he had been trying to figure out what had come over him. Finally, he realized there was only two solutions to his problem. Solution one, he could ask Haruhi to dinner or something and spend time with her and see if she could shine some light on what was happening to him or solution two, avoid the girl and wait until whatever had come over him had passed.
He chose solution two. An Ootori never asked for help and was not suppose to admit to not knowing something. Seeing as he already had done that once with Haruhi, he would not do so again. Starting today, he was would not look or speak to Haruhi more than absolutly necessary and hope that whatever was causing him to act so recklessly would pass.
At Host Club he quickly set himself up at the far end of the room, away from where Haruhi usually took her clients. He knew none of the other hosts would really notice him avoiding Haruhi. Only she would, and knowing her, she wouldn't say anything about it. Throughout the whole event, Kyoya acted his cool charater role well. He talked with the girls who came up to him. He worked on his laptop setting up future events and adding items to their web store. Even being busy as he was, the hour dragged on slowly and he couldn't figure out why.
Finally it was over and time to clean up. He closed up his laptop and asked Honey and Mori to clean up and lock up, since he had urgent business to attend to. They agreed, though a little bewildered, Kyoya usually told Haruhi to do it as part of working off her debt.
He got outside and told his driver to take him home. Once there he collapsed into bed, drained from the focus it had taken to keep his mind and eyes of the female host. He immediately fell asleep, still dressed in his school clothes, and dreamed of Haruhi.
Haruhi had been as surprised by Kyoya not asking her to clean up as Mori and Honey, and stayed to help anyways. When they were done Honey asked "Haru-Chan, do you want us to take you home?"
Haruhi surprised them by saying "If it's not to much trouble, senpai's, that would be nice."
"It's no trouble at all, right Takashi?" Honey said happily grinning up at his cousin.
"Ah" Mori replied, ruffling Haruhi's hair while he nodded.
They walked out to their limo and climbed in. Once they were all settled, Honey asked looking worried "Haru, why do you seem so tired? The twins said you missed two of your classes because you fell asleep in the library but you still look exhausted. Did something happen?"
Haruhi shook her head "No, I don't know why I'm so tired. I've just been thinking a lot lately and I guess that has been making me not sleep as well as I should. No need to worry, I'll be alright"
Honey stared at her, still looking worried, "What have you been thinking about so hard?"
Again, Haruhi just shook her head "Nothing that important Honey, don't worry about me I promise I'll get rest tonight."
Honey stared a little longer before nodding and grinning wide, "I know what will cheer you up, Haru. Let's all eat cake together when we get to your house!"
Haruhi couldn't help it, she started laughing at her senpai. He changed his moods so easily and he was so easily pleased. She couldn't find it in her to tell him no so she just nodded her head. "Sure, Honey senpai, if it's alright with Mori senpai, you can both stay. I'll make some dinner and then we will have cake. But no cake before" She said sternly.
Honey pouted at her, "But Haru..."
"No buts. If you're eating at my house, you'll eat dinner before dessert" She ordered, trying not to laugh again at his pouts.
Honey sighed but said "Alright, Haru. Dinner first but can you make it quick please." He gave her the puppy dog eyes with this.
Haruhi grinned and nodded before looking at Mori, "Is this alright with you, senpai?"
"Ah" he agreed, smiling at her.
With that settled, Haruhi's mind raced ahead to what they had in the house that she could fix for the three of them. Finally settling on an Italian dish she had been making lately, Spaghetti. It was easy and fast to make. It was also fairly cheap to buy the ingredients for so her and her dad had been having it often. In all the time she had been talking to Honey and Mori, she hadn't thought of Kyoya and his strange behaviour once and it was a blessing to have peace of mind for once.
Dinner was rather uneventful. Mori and Honey had both ate a lot of the spaghetti. Honey had even told her it was worth waiting on the cakes for, though Haruhi was sure he was just being polite. Once they had finished the cakes for the dessert, Mori and Honey got up to leave so Haruhi could finish her chores and get her homework done.
"Thank you for having us, Haru, It was a lot of fun, right Takashi?"
"Ah, Thank you, Haruhi" Takashi agreed.
Honey gave her one of his famous tackle hugs as Haruhi laughed at him and gently extracted her self from him.
Mori reached over to ruffle her hair affectionatly, with a smile.
"Good Night Mori senpai" She said with a smile as he took his hand back.
"Good night" Mori replied, turning to go to the car.
"Good night, Haru chan. See you tomorrow" Honey called over his shoulder as he ran after his cousin.
Haruhi smiled at the pair, before turning to go in and clean up. After she got everything cleaned up, she set to doing her homework and then finally she went to get ready for bed. She caught sight of the necklace in the mirror, which reminded her why Honey had felt the need to cheer her up and her mind tried to start up again with it's theories and thoughts on her senpai's intentions but she quickly stopped them in her tracks. She needed to get sleep tonight. With that resolve she climbed into bed and fell asleep, only to dream of the shadow king.
The next morning Kyoya woke up and decided that he could not continue to ignore his thoughts. The fact that he had exhausted himself to the point that he had falling asleep right after host club was ridiculous. He decided that ignoring her was not a solution after all and decided that he would have to try solution one. The question was, however, how to go about it. He couldn't very well to ask her to go to dinner with him in front of the host club. Half of the members would kill him while the other half would threaten to kill him, not a happy prospect.
After a few minutes thought, he decided he would just do it the same way he did the mall trip. He would ask Haruhi if he could talk to her about her debt, that way the rest of the hosts wouldn't think anything of it and then he would ask her to dinner with him. It was rather simple, when he thought about it. The only question was, would she say yes. He couldn't understand why he was actually nervous about that but he was.
That day passed by fast for Haruhi. She had actually gotten sleep the night before, even with the strange dreams she had. When it was time for Host Club she was exhausted again though. She had spent most of the day trying not to think about the dreams she had had the night before that involved Kyoya and a bunch of other things.
During Host club, the girls that had designated her asked her a strange question. "Have you ever been in love."
Haruhi immediately answered "No, I don't have time for it right now" then seeing the girls faces said, "But I'm sure if the right person were to come along, time wouldn't be an issue" That seemed to make them happy and when Haruhi thought about it, she realized it was true. She aslo realized however, that as long as she had to pretend to be a boy, there was little chance of the right person to come along.
The rest of the time went by same as normal. She stayed and helped Tamaki and the twins clean up, Mori and Honey had had to go to the dojo to teach their classes.
When they were done Haruhi surprised the twins by asking "Would it be to much trouble for you to give me a ride home?"
Their eyes widened in surprise but they quickly enveloped her in a hug saying "Of course we'll take you home! We'll give you a make over and everything! Oh this will be so much fun!"
While in the background Tamaki was yelling "Don't let those Devil Twins take you home! Daddy will take you home my darling daughter!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes, wishing that Honey and Mori had been there to ask instead but all of this commotion was interupted when Kyoya said, "Actually, Haruhi, I need you to stay after to discuss your debt."
Haruhi raised an eyebrow at Kyoya, they had just discussed her debt before the party. What more could there be to discuss? The Twins remembered this as well and reminded Kyoya.
"Kyoya, you already talked to her about it just two nights ago!" Kaoru whined
"Yeah, come on Kyoya, how much do you really have to talk about? If it's that important to you, we'll just pay her debt off. Any of us can afford it."
"No, no, it's fine. I'm fine with working it off." Haruhi quickly interjected. Knowing it was almost paid off, she didn't want to put herself into debt with anyone else.
Kyoya seemed to not hear what all had been said and answered the initial question they had asked,"Well, I asked her a question the night of the party and she said she'd think about it. I need to bring it up again."
Tamaki said a quick good bye to everyone, seeing the glare mother was getting in his eye.
The twins were a little more stubborn however, "We'll wait for Haruhi then to give her a ride home" Hikaru said, staring Kyoya bravely in the eye.
"There's no need for that. If she needs a ride, I will give her one. I've been meaning to catch up with Ranka san anyway"
The twins knew they were beat but that didn't stop them from glaring at their senpai as they hugged Haruhi, making her promise to let them give her a makeover soon.
Which she did promise, reluctantly, so they wouldn't argue anymore with Kyoya. She couldn't remember what question he was talking about, which was bad seeing as she was supposed to have been thinking about it.
When the twins left, a little more cheerful at getting Haruhi to be a willing participant in their makeover, Kyoya motioned for Haruhi to sit on one of the couches close to him.
She sat and stared expectantly at Kyoya who was at a loss as to where to start. Finally Haruhi said, "Kyoya senpai, I'm sorry but I don't remember what question you were talking about"
That snapped Kyoya out of his thoughts, "Hmm? Question?" He asked, a little confused.
"You told the twins I was supposed to have been thinking about a question you asked about my debt but I don't remember what it was."
"Oh, that, I was talking about when I asked if you were going to stay with the host club after your debt was paid, but I didn't really expect you to have an answer yet. I figured I'd at least give you a week for that." He replied, offhandidly.
Haruhi did remember him asking her that, now that he mentioned it. She knew she would stay with the Host Club but she didn't want to give him that answer already. For some reason she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she enjoyed being here even if she was forced to in the beginning.
"If that's not the real reason why you asked me to stay, then what is?" She asked, curious. Yesterday Kyoya had went out of his way to avoid her now today he had asked her to stay after to discuss something and had yet to really say anything. His mood swings were beginning to give her whiplash.
He had decided just to ask, not beat around the bush so here it went "Haruhi, would you to dinner with me, tomorrow night? I know it's short notice and I appologize if it's an inconvience but it's the only night this week that I don't already have prior plans."
Haruhi was shocked, was Kyoya asking her to dinner to discuss her debt, or was he asking her on a date? Maybe it was just a friend thing. He didn't have many and she knew it was hard for him to show his friends they were important to him. Maybe that was it.
"Um, Senpai, why do you want me to go to dinner?" Haruhi asked, hesitantly. Kyoya didn't usually tell his reasoning.
"What do you mean, why?" Kyoya asked, confused at how asking her to dinner was confusing.
"Is it to discuss my debt, or is it just a friend dinner or what?" She tried again, knowing not to put the word date in there.
"A little of both I suppose. I just thought it would be nice to get to know each other a little more, one on one. If that's alright with you, that is." Kyoya replied, slowly not really sure why he wanted to go to dinner with her himself, just knowing it might help ease his mind a little.
She stared into her senpai's eyes for a few seconds, trying to decide if he had a hidden agenda. She didn't see anything senister in his eyes however, so she decided to agree. Smiling brightly at him, she answered "Sure, Kyoya senpai. It would be nice to get to know you a little better as well."
Kyoya had to admit to himself, he was a little surprised she had agreed but glad. He smiled at her, not his host smile but a rare true smile that hardly anyone saw, "Thank you, Haruhi. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell the hosts for the moment. I don't think they'd like us going out alone, very much."
Haruhi was still getting over the surprise of the smile she had seen on Kyoya's face, it seemed so...happy and so unlike the Kyoya she knew. She knew she wanted to see it again. She quickly snapped herself out of those thoughts however and nodded slowly, "I suppose you're right. The twins weren't very happy when they found out we were at the mall alone and Tamkai almost had a heart attack so... I guess I will see you tomorrow, Kyoya Senpai."
Kyoya raised an eyebrow at her this time, and smirked, "Don't you want a ride home, Haruhi?"
Haruhi blushed then, surprised how this talk had seemed to make her not tired anymore, she had forgotten her earlier exhaustion completly but couldn't admit that so she just nodded, "If it's not to much trouble"
"No trouble at all, I'll just add it to your debt" Kyoya replied.
Haruhi's eyes widened in protest before she saw him wink at her and add "I'm just kidding Haruhi, let's go"
That is where the story ended years ago when I first started it. The next chapter will have the dinner and we will finally begin to see how Haruhi and Kyoya went from awkward 'what am I feeling' to how they were in If I had only known. (For those who haven't read that, it's a completed story on my profile that this is the prequel too. I would love to hear all of your thoughts on it :) ) Chapter 5 will be up hopefully this week sometime. I will do my best.