Kyouya was not the jealous type, not at all. Jealousy was a useless, inefficient emotion, and Kyouya was only invested in things that were useful.

So that nauseating feeling settling in the pit of his stomach when he saw Tamaki being more flirtatious than usual was only due to indigestion, really. He knew he shouldn't have accepted the slice of cake Honey-sempai offered him.

Tamaki's flirtations were always grandiose, always ridiculously romantic, but he never kept his attentions on a single girl for too long; that is how he accumulated such a vast following, after all.

So what was different about this girl? She had dark hair, dark eyes, fair skin and a tiny waist, but most of them did. She was more developed than most of the girls in the room, but he knew that Tamaki wasn't that shallow. Wasn't he?

Kyouya closely scrutinized the girl's behaviors. She squealed and giggled just like the others. There was nothing special about her at all. So why was Tamaki giving her so much attention?

Tamaki shifted closer to her, and tenderly took her hand into his. He stared lovingly into the girl's eyes. "Seeing your beautiful face brings the warmth into my cold world, the light into my dark universe…"

The girl took in a high-pitched breath, her eyes watery with joy. "Oh, Tamaki…" she gushed as she leaned towards Tamaki, almost as if she were about to initiate a kiss.

Before he had known it, he was up on his feet on a fast course towards Tamaki and that girl. He stood and loomed over them imposingly. "While I hate to intrude, Tamaki, there are other customers who are requesting your presence." This was, in fact, the truth; however, it wasn't imperative for Tamaki to see them right away.

Tamaki glanced up briefly and nodded graciously, and then returned his full attention on the girl. "While I must attend to my duties as a host, I will be anxiously awaiting our reunion." He lifted her hand to his lips, and she sighed adoringly.

She was about to reply when Kyouya interrupted with an extremely terse order, "Tamaki, our customers cannot be kept waiting any longer."

"Ahh! Of course, I am very sorry!" Tamaki exclaimed as he let go of the girl's hand and stood up. "Goodbye for now, Minako-chan." He bowed, and then Kyouya roughly took his arm and led him away from her.

Once they were out of her earshot, Kyouya admonished him. "You know that we have many customers everyday. You should not spend so much time with one customer; it is unfair to the rest of them."

Tamaki laughed nervously, raising one arm to cup the back of his head in his hand. "Maa, I'm really sorry Kyouya, but I—"

"No excuses." The last thing Kyouya wanted to hear was some diatribe about how wonderful the girl was – not because he was jealous, but because his stomachache had seemed to grow stronger, and he wasn't in the mood.

Before Tamaki could protest, they stopped in front of a group of girls, who all squealed in delight when they saw Tamaki. "Be sure to treat them equally," Kyouya reminded, then pivoted on his heel and sauntered away. Now that he was with a group, he had no reason to worry about it anymore.

…Not that Kyouya was personally worried about it, of course; all he cared about was the profits the Host Club brought in, and too much individual focus would hurt that. That's all.

As Kyouya returned to his work, Haruhi, who had been surreptitiously watching the whole ordeal, widened her eyes as she came to a conclusion. She slowly approached Kyouya, and before she could even speak, he spoke first, "Is there anything you need, Fujioka?"

"Not really," she answered nervously, then looked over to where Tamaki sat amongst a flock of adoring ladies, "Tamaki seemed to be really cozy with that one girl," she commented, trying to make it sound as innocent as possible.

Kyouya's grip on his pen tightened. "He is cozy with many ladies, what is your point Fujioka?"

She was quick to cut to the chase. "I just think that before you jump to conclusions, you should ask him about it first. After all, if you knew the cause, then you could find a way to stop it, right?" Kyouya gave her a sharp glare, and she gulped as she added, "For the sake of the Host Club profits, of course."

Kyouya's stare froze as he said, "Thank you for your suggestion, Fujioka. You may leave now." She took the hint and scurried away, as Kyouya scowled. If his jealousy – no, his irritability thanks to his indigestion – was that noticeable, then there was a serious problem, and he needed to address it soon.

When all the customers had left and they had cleaned the room, everyone was preparing to leave. Kyouya decided he needed to get this done now, so as Tamaki was twirling away – which could only be explained by some fit of fancy of his, he assumed – Kyouya tapped his arm and said, "We have something to discuss. Everyone else can leave."

That announcement immediately caught everyone's attention. No one budged from their places, all curious to what they would talk about. Kyouya sent them all an icy glare, followed by a sinister glint off his glasses, and they all started shivering as they dashed out of the room.

Tamaki seemed oblivious to Kyouya's scare tactics as he beamed up to him. "What do we have to talk about?"

"I must stress how important it is to dote on our customers equally," Kyouya rebuked.

Tamaki blinked once, twice. "You're still upset about that? I won't do it again, I promise," he said as he tried to put an arm around Kyouya. Since Kyouya still wasn't satisfied, he evaded the maneuver.

Kyouya adjusted his glasses calmly. "But why did you do it?"

"Oh, that's easy!" he exclaimed, and Kyouya braced himself for a headache, "She kept it a very good secret, but she's actually the daughter of a very wealthy CEO, and I thought if I was more friendly to her it would help you, Kyouya!"

Kyouya stared. He didn't know whether to be relieved that his suspicions were wrong, or to be horrified that he didn't know the girl's identity. In any case, his indigestion seemed to evaporate instantly.

Tamaki took advantage of Kyouya's silence by stepping closer, almost close enough to touch. "You should know that I only like you." He smiled.

That was very simple. No exaggerations, no frills or lace. Just simple and to the point.

That was how Kyouya knew Tamaki was being truly sincere.

Kyouya nodded, with the faintest ghost of a smile on his face. As Tamaki leaned forward, a burst of feelings exploded in his stomach, but it wasn't indigestion – no, this was very different. He was confident of this as he met him halfway, sealing the kiss.

No, Kyouya wasn't the jealous type at all. Because he didn't need to be.