A Passing Fancy

"I don't see why I was recruited for this as well. I can think of four others who would rather be wondering the streets at nine o'clock in the morning."

"Kyouya, this is for Haruhi! She has errands to run and we're here to help!"

"Actually, I wouldn't have invited either of you if I had the choice." Haruhi grumbled, holding the top of her coat closed with her fist, the top button missing due to some neglectful mending. The bitter November air was worse than it had been in the end of October. Puffs of air escaping her lips and mixing in with the huffy breathing of a rather weary-looking Kyouya and the steady stream escaping Tamaki's parted lips as he twisted his head every which way to observe the people they passed.

"Haruhi, how could you say that?" The blond gasped, focusing on the back of the brunette's head. "If we were not here, who would carry your things when you leave shop after shop with your arms full of items? Countless items that will burden your arms because you do not have a car to place them in?"

"I'm not buying that much!" she grumbled, glaring up at the blond when he fell into step with her.

Rich bastards just seemed to keep growing…Tamaki was already taller than he had been when she first encountered him last year. A careful check up on Kyouya clarified that he too was growing a bit in height. They weren't as evenly matched at this point; in fact, Ootori seemed to be winning the growth-spurt. Idiocy must have stunted Tamaki's development.

"How did you come across the information that she was shopping in the first place?" Kyouya asked, still not appearing very forgiving when he shot a narrow-eyed glance at the blond.

"He called me." Haruhi answered in his stead, "Someone gave him my cell phone number and he wouldn't stop calling until I picked up."

"I was worried! Winter Break is approaching and you haven't been at school recently!" Tamaki exclaimed in his defense.

Kyouya lowered his eyes to Haruhi, "Haruhi, you've just recovered from a cold, right?"

"Sort of, my father wouldn't leave me alone to rest so it took longer than it should have because I kept exhausting myself telling him I would be fine. Hikaru and Kaoru came by as well with Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai following close behind to make things worse." She heaved a sigh, gripping the collar of her coat tighter, "I still have a little fever today, but since father never left the apartment, we didn't get around to buying groceries or anything else that we needed. So, since he's back at work today, I was going to run the errands. I wasn't expecting Tamaki-senpai to want to come; I especially didn't think he'd drag you along too. I'm sorry."

"You're not the one responsible for waking me up." Kyouya said, Tamaki edging away from him a bit, aware of the danger zone he was in. But the retreat was in vain, for Kyouya reached over and grasped a fist full of Tamaki's coat; pulling him back over to him. "You're the one who I won't let off the hook for waking me up after a mere three hour sleep."

"I-I didn't know you were up so late!" Tamaki held up his hands in a peaceful gesture, "I didn't know!"

Ootori released his coat and shoved his hands into his pockets, grumpy with his lack of sleep. "In any case, Haruhi, let's get this over with."

"S-Sure."

It was obvious the junior had become a bit uneasy now after seeing the rather murderous state Kyouya was in. She would have to do her best to carry what she could and force the rest on Tamaki to avoid a deadly encounter with the Shadow King. She covered her mouth to stifle what was left of her coughing. Maybe she should have taken advantage of her father being at work and stayed home after all.

The muffled cough caught the eyes of the two kings, silent but wary gazes watching over her but neither of them making a move to force her to go back to her apartment. Haruhi was too stubborn to listen sometimes, today would be no exception.

"Here's the first stop." Haruhi pointed out, removing her gloves and frowning a bit at the one she had thoughtlessly coughed into before stuffing it into her coat pocket. "You two can wait out here or go inside but I don't want to stay here too long, alright?"

Tamaki pouted a bit when she ventured inside (she knew he would spend hours looking around at the commoner goods inside if she didn't give him a time limit) but followed immediately. Unable to hold the door open for her, he probably believed he could make up for it by becoming her shadow throughout her visit through the store. It took a moment of debating before Kyouya shrugged and ventured into the store, identifying it as a convenience store once the warm air rushed over him upon his entry.

The teenage clerks at the registers and equivalent baggers and various other employees were all the proof he needed to identify the type of business. A girl was mopping up what looked like spilled clear soda near some shelves displaying "Ramune" sodas. He recalled seeing them before but never had the urge to try them like Tamaki probably would have if he saw that display.

Even though the store wasn't big enough to lose himself in, he had to look down a few aisles before he could find Tamaki and Haruhi. It was similar to seeing them talking when he and the rest of the Host Club went to the supermarket with Ranka to watch over Haruhi as she bought things for the apartment. This was the same store if he wasn't mistaken.

"Can I help you, sir?"

"No, thanks." He muttered to a girl who had abandoned her register to talk to him.

It was irritating how often commoner females became attracted to him…well, he wouldn't have minded it if Haruhi was one of them now that he's come to the conclusion he was, indeed, in love with her like the rest of the hosts. Perhaps he was the last to catch onto what he was feeling, Tamaki knew what it was, but he simply couldn't identify what kind it was. Like a taste test for something you don't usually have interest in. You taste it and others but can not identify what the flavor is because it is something you are not used to.

That was Tamaki's love in a nutshell.

Stalking down an aisle, Ootori re-joined the two and managed to catch up with the rather simplistic conversation Suoh had managed to coax out of Haruhi. He watched Haruhi carefully as she peered up from one host to the other, not noticing his stare since her eyes were constantly moving. A part of him heard what she was saying but the rest remained in a constant thoughtful stage.

If I love her as much as I believe I do, what is it that stops me I wonder?

Tamaki's laughter broke his train of thought and his stare, drawing his attention to the slightly flustered blond as he avoided being hit with a bag filled with lemons.

"Don't judge it before you try it." Haruhi frowned, "I know it sounds nasty but it's good when it's cold outside. And if you want to see my apartment again so much, you'll put up with it."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, Haruhi." The Idiot King apologized, resting his hands on her shoulders, making Kyouya's eyes narrow a bit. "I'll try it. Instant coffee was a hit when you brought it into our world, I will not deny hot lemonade as well!"

"Hot lemonade?" Kyouya touched his chin, "So that is what you drink when you're sick."

"Yeah, I don't really like hot tea when I'm sick, I drink it constantly when I'm well, so my father and I decided to try and make something else. We eventually tried Hot Lemonade and since we're still alive and we keep enough sugar, it's not hazardous."

"I will try it!" Suoh stated with determination, Haruhi simply started walking away down another aisle to pick up more things, the blond scurrying after her to try and find out what he said wrong this time.

Once again, Ootori just followed after them, following them like the shadow he was.

Perhaps there was a double-meaning to the title Shadow King.

"Haruhi, where do we go next? Where do we go next?" Tamaki asked, pumped up with excitement as he waved his arms, already holding onto the plastic handles of several bags.

"Stop shaking those!" Haruhi snapped, recovering from a few stifled coughs that he hadn't noticed in that time he was babbling, "I just have to pick up something from a repair shop, take the stuff home, and then you two can go home already."

"Haruhi, you don't want us to stay longer?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's hazardous to my health." She said flatly.

"MAH?!"

"Tamaki, Haruhi is still recovering from her cold." Kyouya reminded him, making the blond silent and appear more thoughtful of the situation. "Do you understand, now?"

"Yes."

Kyouya nodded, adjusting his glasses, noticing Haruhi had stopped walking with them and they both paused; staring back at her. "What is it?"

"It's just," Haruhi blank up at them for a moment, a bit confused as she stared at the two before her. "I guess I'm still amazed over how you two get along so well even though there are some enormous differences between you."

Smirking a bit and managing to momentarily awaken further, Kyouya exchanged a glance with Tamaki, met with a small smile before they both looked at her again. "You have already pointed out that we are very similar, Haruhi."

"Contradicting yourself, eh, Haruhi?" Tamaki grinned, shaking a finger once he loosened it from the plastic bags.

The hint of red in her cheeks made the two smile before Haruhi brushed past them and continued walking, her bag boys trailing after her and gradually returning to their previous moods, Kyouya's sinking back into a grouch as he observed the cliché names of the stores they passed, some of them having altered names of more popular businesses, ones he heard of as opposed to the majority of what he saw on the street.

"Here it is," Haruhi shifted her bags and pointed up at the wooden sign suspended over the entranceway, revealing a repair shop and the three trooped inside where the atmosphere was hardly any warmer than it had been outside. Tamaki huddled over a bit closer to Haruhi but Kyouya wondered to the shelves burdened with items bearing sale tags to reveal them purchasable if someone willed.

He didn't pay attention to the other two as they waited for the owner to come up front, eyes focusing upon some of the finished pieces and wondering exactly what the owner repaired on some of them, judging by the state they were in. However, he had to admit, some of the items looked pristine and buyable if he was the sort of person to buy personal items such as lamps or colorful music boxes. One in particular seemed to be in the best shape, a white music box that was curved into an oval shape with silver lining about the lid and the base. It seemed plain enough to be looked into further and he picked it up, opening the lid and expecting the melody to play but it was silent.

The box's interior has soft gray felt to posses jewelry or whatever nonsense someone could think to place inside but an uncharacteristic painting in the lid revealed cherry blossoms on warm gray branches, petals make out of brief brush strokes to appear flying from their blossoms in a painted wind. He didn't expect such a painting in such an ordinary box…but it was nice work from an artist he didn't recognize.

That was definitely a first.

Turning it over, he wound up the box and opened the lid again, listening to the soft tune tinkling out of the depths. Yet another trait he did not recognize in spite of his usual knowledge of artists and musicians. Snapping the top shut once more, he placed it on the shelf again.

"I'm going to wait outside." He announced quietly, not caring if he was heard as he pulled the glass door back open and slipped into the degree colder noon air.

If he bothered to watch, he could see Haruhi and the Idiot King through the window, a man at the counter and balancing a black radio in his hands with a dent in the metallic speaker but still in working condition, he was sure. Haruhi spoke with him rather friendly as opposed to her attitude with Suoh and himself so far on this errands run, but he supposed he couldn't blame her. She had company against her will quite often after all.

"Himitsu-chan, come on."

He turned a bit, taking one small step back to avoid a little girl who would have crashed into his leg and allowing her mother and herself to wonder by, hands held together in that usual parent/child bond they had.

"Daddy's waiting at the hospital."

The familiar term clicked in Ootori's mind and he tilted his head down partially, recalling the family's companies and the majority of them being related to the medical career. It suspended in his thoughts as he watched them wonder off further, the little girl glancing back over her shoulder at him and smiling obliviously. She was missing a tooth but another was on the way, he figured.

Did he smile back at the child?

Even he didn't know as he twisted back around to see Haruhi emerging from the store, trying to hold onto the radio along with the bags and Tamaki supporting one more bag with an obvious trinket for himself.

"Haruhi, here." He reached over and slid his hand beneath one of her own. With a little maneuver, he took the plastic bags from one of her hands and grasped them firmly; suspended at his side. "I might as well carry something while I'm here."

"Thanks…" she stared up at him curiously but he didn't focus on the inquisitive brown eyes long enough.

"Kyouya!"

"Hm?"

"I bought you something!" Tamaki grinned, holding up the newest sack on his pinky. "Take it. Take it!"

Raising an eyebrow, he accepted the bag and peered down through the miscellaneous openings of the bag to see what was sitting in the bottom of the plastic.

It was the music box he had been looking at.

"I saw how interested you were in that box so I bought it for you as a present!" Suoh grinned.

Briefly transferring the bag to join the other ones in his hand, he smacked the blond upside the head and earned a yelp of pain and then whining that asked for the meaning of his violence. All things of which he ignored and looked to Haruhi to lead them back to her place so they could deposit all of the items. A small desire to ask how much she spent bothered him in the back of his mind but he ignored it along with Tamaki as the trio walked on.

The clap of Kyouya's phone closing drew Tamaki and Haruhi's attention from their tea she had made, Kyouya sliding the phone into his pocket as he entered the sitting room once more and re-joined them at the table. Removing his glasses, he rest his elbow upon the table and covered his face with traces of an audible sigh evident.

"Kyouya?" Tamaki reached over to him.

"The car will be here soon." Ootori grumbled and the blond immediately drew his hand back. "The only thing keeping him from arriving sooner is that my father is being transported to a meeting he has arranged with the head of the Suoh family.

That made Tamaki's oblivion change into surprise, "Why would your father be meeting with mine?"

"Not your father, idiot." Kyouya lowered his hand, eyes narrowed, "He's meeting with your grandmother. I wasn't informed of such a meeting when I was home, it must have been a rather sudden arrangement he made."

He replaced his glasses, resting his hands on his knees and staring at the cup of tea sitting before him. The soft blue mug had a cow character's head on it, large brown eyes staring right back at him as if challenging a staring contest with him. Twisting the mug around by the brim to hide the caricature, he realized something that could have been responsible for the meeting.

November twenty-second was approaching. If that was the reason, he could understand why the Suoh family would be contacted by his father.

"It may not be serious after all." He murmured.

"Huh?" Haruhi blank over at him.

Replacing his glasses, Kyouya looked over at Tamaki and smiled. "The twenty-second is approaching, so the plans for the celebration are probably being set into motion."

"Ah, that's right! Now I understand! Grandmother likes banquets, especially when they involve birthdays, though she doesn't like to show it. Your father probably thought of inviting her along and so he's meeting with her!"

"Um, what is on November the twenty-second?"

The seniors looked to Haruhi as if they had just realized she was sitting there.

"The twenty-second is Kyouya's birthday!" Tamaki beamed.

"Oh, that explains a lot!" Her eyes widened, "I didn't know that." She turned to Kyouya, "No one really told me when their birthday was…"

He held up a hand, "I don't flaunt my birthday around and so you would have not received any hints regarding that it was on its way. The others don't really excite over it either since the parties are all practically the same, no matter what the occasion."

"Well, I can still wish you "Happy Birthday" though, right?"

"If that is what you wish to do. We are in your home after all, Haruhi."

But the thought of her wanting to wish him Happy Birthday was some-what touching in a way. Tamaki always made a show of it at the gatherings since he moved to Japan, but a simple birthday wish was a nice change this year.

"Happy early Birthday, Kyouya-senpai." She wished, smiling up at him.

It was funny how oblivious this girl could be sometimes. What was simple to her was always even simpler to him, yet, in spite of the simplicity, Kyouya was smiling. Tamaki could see it from where he was sitting. A soft smile that was warmer than he expected to see of him, small, but expressive of appreciation. A smile that was gone too quickly and replaced by a slight inquisitive look.

"Birthdays aside—though I suppose it is a related topic—I expect an explanation for this sudden "gift" Tamaki." He held up the plastic bag with the music box inside.

The blond grinned, "I saw how interested you were in it and so I bought it for you as an early birthday present! Now I don't owe you one like last time!"

"No, this only makes you have to purchase another one." Kyouya frowned.

Tamaki leaned away from his friend, "Y-You're evil."

"Which is why you keep me around." He smirked.

"Hey, can I see that?"

Both of the males looked back to Haruhi. Kyouya rest the bag upon the table and Haruhi fished it out, scooping the bag back off and resting the music box upon the center of the table.

"It's pretty plain for a music box."

"That's why I thought it would suit Kyouya!" Tamaki beamed, tapping the lid with his index finger; fears of Ootori's wrath forgotten. "Kyouya likes to keep things uniform about him! You should see his room; it is all white, gray, and black—"

"When you're finished talking about my private information," Kyouya said pointedly, pinching the back of Tamaki's hand and making the teen cringe and snatch his hand back to rub it gingerly.

"Actually, I think this suits Kyouya-senpai as well." She opened the lid and the final bits of the melody tinkered out before it fell silent. "He seems collective and put together on the outside, and just as ordinary on the inside as well, if not a bit devilish once in a while. But—" she turned the box around so that they could see the painting in the lid. "There is a part that's expressive, it may be something he hides, but it's there."

"Haruhi…MY DAUGHTER'S SO INSIGHTFUL! Haruhi, you can see into Kyouya like I can, right? Right?!" Tamaki asked, flinging himself at her and embracing her to him while she flailed and protested.

Ootori simply ignored them, shutting his eyes before reaching over and flipping the lid down so that it hit the rim with an assertive snap, rendering the two silent. He picked up the mug of tea and took a drink.

"Your insight is invalid." He stated; opening his eyes and the two opposite him froze over from the cold gleam in them.

"How?" Haruhi asked.

"I cannot compare anything with this music box. Not an emotion, not myself, nothing. Besides," he wound up the music box and cracked open the lid, "since when did I posses an aspect similar to this music?"

Haruhi edged the lid up further, Kyouya making sure his fingers fled before she could thoughtlessly touch them in the progress. "I know this song, listening to this version of it, I'm sure it doesn't apply to you, Kyouya-senpai. But still, the music itself at this pace…I think it's delicate enough for you."

"Delicate?" Tamaki and Kyouya asked at the same time.

Apparently they both doubted Kyouya Ootori was delicate in any way.

"This song, it's called Sakura Kiss, I don't like the original version that's on the radio or TV, but this one…it's ok." Haruhi pointed out, unaware of their questioning looks. "I don't know the words, but it suits this life. It suits the Host Club, I think."

"A song to suit the Host Club, eh?"

"Kyouya! We should get that song and have the others listen to it and make it into our theme!" Suoh exclaimed.

"NO." Haruhi and Kyouya said; this time their unison voices made the two stare at one another with raised eyebrows. It was unexpected, obviously.

The rather manufactured ring of Kyouya's phone caught his attention while Tamaki whined to Haruhi, wanting to know why she disagreed with them having a theme song. He heard the voice on the other line; recognizing it at the driver's.

"Tamaki, our car is here." He said, tucking the plastic away again; rising from where he sat.

"Oh, ok." The blond rose as well, Haruhi sticking the music box back into the plastic bag and holding it up to Kyouya as she stood.

"Don't forget this." She said, unknowing that he didn't really want it.

Taking it to keep anymore protest out of the way, he grabbed a handful of Tamaki's sleeve and hauled him towards the door; knowing the blond would probably try to cling to Haruhi if they didn't start moving right away. They retrieved their coats and Haruhi opened the door for them to release them back out into the chilling winter afternoon. Even with the sunlight, the streets of Japan were frozen and lifeless with the exception of the sleek black car idling in front of the apartments.

Tamaki left first, Kyouya about to follow when he paused and glanced over his shoulder back at Haruhi.

"Haruhi, the celebration will be at my family's main estate on the evening of the twenty-second. Whether or not you feel like going to it is up to you, it's a party similar to any other you have encountered while knowing any of us."

"I'll think about it. Do you mind if I don't go?"

He headed for the staircase, raising a hand in a motionless wave, "Let's just say, I'll be expecting compensation if you do not attend."

Alright, the sequal is beginning to take shape. I've only finished the first chapter so this is going to take some time. Justice for Stupidity went much faster than I usually get stories up there so please bear with the long waits you may endure. I hope this new story appears promising. Especially since Kyouya's birthday is approaching.