December 4

"Bye, Kaiyo-chan!" Honey-senpai bid me goodbye one last time, still waving as if he'd never see myself or anyone in my car again. I waved goodbye as I stepped in, still giggling about Honey-senpai's dramatic exit.

Though he made it seem like we were all leaving each other forever, in reality, the hosts were simply splitting up into two cars to drive home- Haruhi, Tamaki-senpai, Honey-senpai, and Mori-senpai in one car and Kyouya, myself, Hikaru, and Kaoru in another. There was no reason for us to take two cars other than the hosts' affinity for flashiness, because one car was more than spacious enough to hold all of us. By this time, though, I'd learned that practicality was the least of their concerns.

I sighed at the twins' unwillingness to get in the car; they were upset because they didn't get to be with Haruhi (and in saying 'they' were upset, Hikaru was mad and Kaoru was along for the ride). I reached out and grabbed them both by the back of their shirts, tugging them into the car.

"We don't have all day," I chided them lightly, "You'll see her again in a few hours." That earned an eye-roll from Hikaru as he turned to his brother, effectively ignoring me. I returned the eye-roll as I faced forward and let Hikaru be mad behind me. Kyouya-senpai slid into the car a moment after I turned around, adjusting his glasses as he did so. He shut the door purposefully, straightening his posture as he got comfortable in his seat next to mine.

"Drive on," He said, clearly addressing the driver. I turned to him and gave him a hard look, and he sighed and added,

"Please." I smiled, and I noticed the driver do the same as we pulled away from the beach house. Hikaru spoke up from behind us.

"Why'd you say please?" He asked, which actually made me stop. I narrowed my eyes in disbelief, stopping myself from turning around and going off on Hikaru. I remembered quickly that 'please and thank you' wasn't a phrase that everyone was brought up on. Kyouya smirked, seeing the look on my face.

"According to Miss Sahni, it's the polite thing to do," He replied, and I turned my look of disbelief onto him.

"It is the polite thing to do, and you know you didn't need me to tell you that." I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn't help the smile slipping onto my face as I saw the look in his eye. He had just been trying to spite me.

"Excuse me, since when did the infamous Shadow King care about manners?" Hikaru pressed. I turned around to speak, but Kyouya beat me to the punch once more

"Since Miss Sahni gave me a piece of her mind after school about it one day" He responded. Kaoru looked between the three of us with an amused look on his face and a raised eyebrow. He glanced at me for a little too long, and then I saw a mischievous look appear on his face. He tapped on his brother's shoulder as I turned around. I heard them whispering, a little too quietly, and then they fell silent after about ten minutes. Confused (because I wanted to know what they were up to), I looked behind me to see Hikaru and Kaoru asleep, heads resting against one another. I shook my head, smiling as I turned back around.

Kyouya, I noticed, had taken his black book out of nowhere, but wasn't writing in it. He was tapping his right thumb on the cover in a beat I couldn't place. His eyes were unusually placid, not holding their usual scrutinizing gaze. He looked deep in thought, but looked toward me as soon as I glanced a little too closely.

"Something you want to say, Miss Sahni?" He asked, glancing at me sideways from behind his glasses. I returned the look in the same way he did, looking out the side of my glasses as opposed to through them.

"Not at all. Although I don't believe the same could be said about you," I responded. Kyouya's eyes widened a fraction, and he sighed lightly as he took his glasses and shut his eyes. Suddenly, Kyouya looked more like... Himself? A high schooler? More vulnerable, maybe.

"I wanted to apologize on Tamaki's behalf. I know he's an idiot, but I also know that he doesn't always know when to stop. He was taking a lot of his pent-up fear out on you down on the beach yesterday." The sincerity in his tone made me smile, something I realized I'd been doing quite a lot of that morning.

"Thank you for the apology for him, but Tamaki-senpai already apologized. That's what we were talking about when I... Accidentally walked in on you and Haruhi. Sorry about that, by the way." I felt a whole lot of emotions suddenly make their way to the surface, but I shut them down in order to rationally hear what Kyouya was saying.

"He did?" Kyouya looked surprised. "Interesting. Either way, apology accepted. I didn't think you or anyone would walk in, so I didn't even think to lock the door." He didn't quite look me in the eye when he said that, but it didn't matter because my eyes were already averting themselves due to the unexpected pang in my chest. So it was like that- Haruhi and I didn't actually mention it when we were talking about it. We kind of just let it go without addressing it at all.

"Oh." Was all I could muster as a response. My gaze made its way to the window, and it stayed there, even though I could feel Kyouya staring at me.

*

Kaoru, now done pretending to be asleep, watched as Kaiyoka turned her gaze to the window, assessing everything she saw. Even from behind, Kaoru was able to tell that she was holding back. He laughed to himself, although it wasn't because anything was necessarily funny. Kyouya hadn't quite realized how what he said had come across, and Kaiyoka had taken his sentence for more than what he intended for it to mean. Kaoru was itching to open his mouth, but he waited patiently until Kaiyoka was actually asleep to speak up.

"Senpai, why would you say that?" He asked, earning the attention of Kyouya. He looked up from his book.

"What are you talking about, Kaoru?" Kyouya asked without turning around.

"You told Kaiyoka that you didn't want anyone walking in on you and Haruhi." Kaoru said. Kyouya shrugged.

"And?"

"She took it to mean that you were intending to be alone with Haruhi, and that you didn't think that you'd be interrupted. Think about how that sounds." Kaoru explained further, finally getting the second-year to turn around.

"That's not what I said. What I said is exactly what I meant," He said coolly. Kaoru shook his head, smiling.

"Yeah, but it means more to Kaiyoka than that. To put it in perspective, before Hikaru and I were friends with anyone else, Hikaru would always get super offended when other people asked us to join them in activities. He assumed they meant we weren't enough for each other. It's all about context, and she's taking it the wrong way, I think," Kaoru explained. Kyouya stayed silent, contemplating what Kaoru had said. He made a good point.

"Did you and Hikaru really mean what you said?" Kyouya asked, catching Kaoru off guard. He raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about, senpai?"

"A few weeks ago, when we were walking to the host club, you told me that you thought I liked Kaiyoka, and I believe your exact words were 'you know it's true'. Did you mean that?" Kaoru smiled.

"Of course we did. It's not often that anyone sees you on your softer side, Kyouya-senpai. I don't think you meant for it to happen, I just noticed the way you look at her, and the way you talk to her. Again, it was thanks to Hikaru- he used to look at Haruhi that way. I mean, he still does sometimes, but whatever." Kaoru said, throwing his sleeping brother an amused glance. Kyouya, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes in thought.

"What do you mean, 'you saw the way I look at her'? That has to be the most cliché thing I have ever heard." Kyouya stated frankly. Kaoru raised an eyebrow, cracking a grin.

"Of course it is. Cliché things are just that for a reason- they're kind of a step below stereotypes, but they happen pretty often when it comes to this stuff. We both speculated about it that day, but I didn't start to really notice it until the day Kaiyoka officially joined the host club. You smiled at her, senpai. You don't really smile at... Anyone. Not even Tamaki-senpai." Kaoru explained. Kyouya stared at Kaoru, trying to detect any sign of insincerity in his eyes. He couldn't find a trace.

"You've become a little too observant for my taste, Kaoru," Kyouya informed him, and Kaoru couldn't tell if his senior was joking or not.

"It's not hard to see if you pay attention. It honestly wouldn't be as obvious if you showed anything more than two emotions at any point in the day. Usually, you're either in host-mode or business-mode, and then you started talking to Kaiyoka. You don't have a 'mode' for that, but you sure do change." Kyouya straightened up, preparing to turn back around.

"We shouldn't even be having this discussion, Kaoru. I have other things to be worrying about, and she is not one of them," Kyouya stated, lying through his teeth. "I don't have feelings for her in any way, so your observation is for naught." He turned, facing the front of the car once more. Kaoru, feeling a sudden burst of mischief in his mind, reached over and pushed Kaiyoka gently to the right until she was leaning on Kyouya's shoulder. He watched bemusedly, holding in a laugh as he watched Kyouya crane his neck without moving his body to avoid shifting Kaiyoka. Kyouya gave Kaoru a look that said a lot of things, and Kaoru just shook his head.

"You know, you're allowed to have human feelings too, senpai." Kaoru said quietly, leaning back in the seat. Kyouya paused, looking at the redheaded first-year. For once, he was at a loss for words. He quite easily forgot how observant Kaoru was, how much more so than his brother. After all, he'd had a lot of practice doing the watching instead of the talking for years. Kyouya turned around without responding, earning an unseen smile from Kaoru. He'd gotten his point across.

*

I woke up on Kyouya's shoulder.

I specifically remembered leaning toward the window when I felt tired, but I quickly got up and straightened my glasses. I couldn't help the first thought that came into my head- he has a girlfriend, and her name is Haruhi. I knew they weren't actually dating, because she would have told me that much, but I just couldn't get that image out of my mind.

Finally getting out of my own head, I realized that my name was being called. Somewhat.

"Miss Sahni, we're here," Kyouya said from next to me. I nodded, and he got out of the car to let me out. I stepped out on the street, and I was surprised to see our driver walking with my bags up the steps to my apartment. The twins tumbled out of the car behind me, stretching their legs and arms. I couldn't help but look at Kyouya, who was actively looking elsewhere. I took in every detail about him without meaning to (or maybe I did- my mind doesn't quite know what it's doing). I sighed, looking away.

"Thank you so much for inviting me to the beach, Kyouya-senpai. I had fun." That was mostly true. It was fun, but things did happen. I did get thrown off of a cliff. My heart did get thrown around. I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. I was aware of how dramatic I was being, but I didn't really care.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Sahni. Let me walk you to the door." He said, falling into step with me as I prepped to go inside.

"Oh, that won't be necessary," I began, but stopped because I knew he wouldn't listen. We walked up the stairs in silence, passing the other doors before we got to mine.

"Thanks again, Senpai," I said, my hand on the doorknob. He nodded, but hesitated at the same time.

"You're welcome." I turned to go inside, but his voice stopped me.

"Miss Sahni." I faced him, and he looked at me for once.

"Yes?"

"What you walked in on at the beach is not at all what you perceived it to be. Haruhi and I are nothing but colleagues," Kyouya stated. I looked him in the eye, and he stared right back.

"Okay." Was all I could muster in response. "Thank you for letting me know." He nodded, finally walking off and leaving me with my thoughts. I watched as he walked down, waving to him and the twins as they got in the car and drove off. I walked inside, immediately being questioned by my mother.

"Kaiyoka! How was the beach?" She asked, handing me a cup of tea. I shrugged.

"It was pretty good," I said. She smiled in the knowing, motherly way.

"Anything you want to talk about?" She asked me. "Kyouya didn't call me at all while you were gone and I saw you talking outside the door." I smiled, always in awe at my mother and her... Observant tendencies. If she were anyone else, I'd call it stalker-ish.

"I don't really know. Kyouya-senpai is just confusing me." I spoke honestly, sitting on the chair closest to me. My mother nodded, an invitation for me to continue. I explained what happened at the beach, leaving out certain parts and explaining what happened when I walked into Kyouya's room in a very watered-down way.

"Well, honey, it sounds to me like it was all one big misunderstanding," My mother said once I was done, finishing her tea and setting the cup on the table. "Boys like Kyouya don't manipulate their words very well, and you're probably reading into what he's saying too much because that's what you have to do with everyone else." She's probably right, and I told her so.

"Of course I am." My mom smiled. "Your father was just like that."