Author: Gem2niki
Character and Pairing: Hitachiin Kaoru/Ootori Kyouya, implied Hitachiin Hikaru/Fujioka Haruhi
Genre: Romance/Reflection
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Disclaimer: Ouran Host Club is owned by Bisco Hatori.

Notes: I am not a writer. I can't write stories...well. I am a fanartist. But this is my excuse to develop the story off from my short KyouKao doujinshi. I'll probably add and change stuff whenever it comes up in my head. And hopefully, I get suggestions on how I can make it better and possibly make it into a longer doujinshi? Just to warn you, there is not really a total focus on just the pairing or character...though it is very Kaoru centered. There are some general stuffs and my own analysis/interpretation added into the story.

The Notebook Kiss.

Ootori Kyouya. The cool type. He never loses his cool and never does anything to embarrass himself, even if it means turning against his own members.

That is how I see Kyouya-senpai.

"So this is it, huh?"

"Yea."

Kyouya was standing and looking over at the sleeping Tamaki in the bed. Kaoru stood next to his senpai.

"Where's Hikaru?" Kyouya asked.

"Err...he had something else to do." Kaoru replied. Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai were already at school getting the setup and props ready.

"Oh, I see."

"So are we supposed to wake him up?"

"Just give it a minute." Kyouya watched the host king sleep comfortably in his bed like a 10 year-old princely child. The reason why they were at the Suou's mansion was because Tamaki overslept on the day of the grandiose Host event he was planning. He insisted everyone to gather at the meeting room bright and early. He even left several voice automated messages on everyone cell phone to wake them up or to annoy them so much that they were wide awake by 6 am. But here he was, in his room sleeping at 8 in the morning, while everyone else was awake.

"Hehe, let's buy this and this and that for my daughter. Hehe." The king spoke and giggled. "Yes, this one and that one too."

"Eh. Did he just sleep-talk?" Kaoru never actually saw Tamaki asleep before and was almost creeped out by what he might be dreaming about.

"Only idiot's sleep-talk." Kyouya calmly responded. "That idiot over there is an idiot after all."

Kaoru chuckled. "Hmm, come to think of it, Hikaru sleep-talks sometimes. I guess a cool person like Kyouya-senpai wouldn't sleep-talk?"

"Of course not."

"Ehh, you might never know since you can't hear yourself sleep-talk." Kaoru looked away speaking thoughtfully out loud.

"We have audio devices from the medical industry that can detect any sign of speech pattern in our sleep. Of course mine would always show up negative."

"No fun." Bored, Kaoru looked at Tamaki again. What is Kyouya-senpai waiting for...No wait...could it be?

Kaoru turned around and looked back at Kyouya, who was examining his watch. Then, immediately he flipped open his cell phone instinctively dialed the buttons.

"Okay, bedtime is over." Kyouya snapped his cell phone and out of no where, Tachibana and the other black suit bodyguards (or was it the police force) marched their way over to Tamaki's bed and easily picked up the mattress and carried it over their head. The door to the room was large enough to fit the mattress through and they stomped right out of the host king's room. Kaoru looked down at the staircase and saw them still carrying the mattress with the owner out of the mansion's door. Kaoru ran to look out from the nearest window and saw a large truck parked outside, slamming the back door shut.

Did they just abduct Milord into the truck? Kaoru almost frightened to even look over, but still did, stared at the Shadow King with incredible fear. What on earth is he planning?

"This is payback for that stupid phone messages in the morning." Kyouya said coolly, but slightly breaking into a harsh tone. No one should mess with the Evil Shadow King when he had only three hours of sleep.

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Out in the middle of the Ouran High School courtyard, students gathered around a certain area. Several more gathered around to see what the commotion was about. There was a large red satin tent and inside that tent was Tamaki's mattress on a fancy bed frame including the king himself. There were several poles with large red ropes hanging on each as a boundary line. Next to the poles was a sign: "Host Club Special: Personally take a picture of the Host King 10,000 yen (per photograph)."

The girls there were fangirling at this unusual and rare sight and each lined up to take a picture. Of course, what they were being charged for was only a quick snapshot of a 72 dpi 4x5 digital image file sent directly to their e-mail. Less ink to print. Less paper to buy. And more profit. If they wanted a high quality photo, they would of course be charged an additional 5000 yen. All in the mind's work of a vengeful evil.

While there was a lot of whispering about, the sleeping King was slightly perturbed by the noise. Although he thought he was actually awake in his dream, he had to wake himself again and again until he reached reality. The blonde opened his eyes slightly and closed it again before he fully opened them in utter shock. This isn't my room. Is this a dream? Maybe I am still asleep?

And then he felt a pinch. Actually, it was a huge pinch to the cheek. "This isn't a dream, Sire." Kyouya let go of the bewildered Tamaki, who finally found out it was not a dream.

"What is going on, Kyouya?! What did you do to me?! Where am I?" screamed Tamaki, almost completely forgetting about the customer, who were lined up, until one of them flashed a snapshot. Tamaki turned around at the source of the light.

"Tamaki-senpai is pretty grumpy when he wakes up." The school girl noticed. Tamaki, letting go of Kyouya's collar, posed to the camera and approached the student in his silk pajamas, grasping her hand with elegance.

"I hope I didn't startle you just a while ago, My Lady. I was taken aback by your radiating beautiful charm that I had to wake up a thousand times to be sure it wasn't a dream."

"Oh, Tamaki-senpai," flustered the girl.

From the other side of the crowd, the rest of the Host members observed the turn of event.

"So I guess the huge-what-ever-Tono-planned is not going to happen." Hikaru commented. Kaoru, with his hand leaning over his shoulder, nodded.

Kyouya-senpai is really scary after all. To have planned that this morning... thought Kaoru. It's probably better not to mess with the Evil King.

"Tamachan is doing all the work!" cheerfully exclaimed Hunny-senpai. "Well, we did have to set up the tent, right Takashi?"

Mori-senpai nodded. Although more than half the labor of setting up the tent was due to Mori-senpai's effort...

"And here I actually came early to school for this..." Haruhi muttered, but then her eyes glanced at Hikaru. "Kyouya-senpai, does that end the Host meeting and event?"

"Yes. Everyone should take a break for today after this." Kyouya waved and walked back to surveying business.

After the photo shoot of only Tamaki, everyone went on with their daily business of going to class.

During lunch, the first-year members sat at the cafeteria table. As usual, Kaoru sat on the left and Hikaru sat on the right of Haruhi. It was unusually quiet today as there was nothing else to look forward to after school and there were no upcoming exam to whine about. Kaoru glanced over at the two. Hikaru was actually eating from Haruhi's obento box rather than his lunch again. Haruhi didn't seem to mind though.

Earlier in the morning, Hikaru told Kaoru if it was okay for him to meet with Haruhi alone. Kaoru, although felt a bit sad, knew it was inevitable and silently allowed him to go. He knew that opening that unused music room door upon entering High School, their world might actually change. Their world especially opened up since Haruhi entered that door as well. Hikaru and Kaoru still spent almost the same time together, except they also started to find something they were both interested in, yet on different paths. Perhaps on an affection level, Hikaru found Haruhi. While Kaoru also liked Haruhi, he didn't like her in the sense that Hikaru might "like" her. Still, he was actually happy it was like this. Who knew what would have happened if they never joined the Host Club? Would they have ever opened that gate? Perhaps the world is changing for the better or something like that.

Hikaru looked over at Kaoru, who was spacing off, thinking to himself. Hikaru sighed. Haruhi looked at the both of them.

"Hikaru. Kaoru."

"Eh? What is it Haruhi?" they immediately responded, anxious to break the silence.

"Today, I will be taking the train home."

"Don't you usually take the train home?" questioned Hikaru.

"Yep. The usual. Do Hikaru and Kaoru want to come over? I'll be making a new dinner." Haruhi glanced at her last night leftover in the bento box and then glanced at them both and smiled. "But you guys have to pay for grocery."

Both surprised by her invitation, happily agreed to join. "Of course we want to come!"

"Yay commoner shopping! Commoner Grocery!"

For the rest of lunch and on their way to class, they chattered about what Haruhi should make and what they should buy, although all unrelate to the ingredients.

The school bell finally rang marking the end of the school day. The three were walking down the hallway, when it occurred to Kaoru that he forgot his bag in the music room. Kaoru insisted that he go get his bag by himself and will catch up with them in the front courtyard. Before Hikaru could disagree, Kaoru went off.

Walking back down the hallway to the music room, Kaoru reflected on Haruhi's action during lunch. Haruhi is an interesting person indeed. To break that silence...

Kaoru opened the door and walked straight toward the table. Ah, the bag was really there. I can't believe I forgot all about it. Apparently Kaoru was so into his thoughts he didn't necessarily paid attention to class all day. He did carry his mechanical pencil in his pocket to write things down.

Kaoru felt another presence in the room. He spotted a black head on the sofa across. Grabbing his bag with him, he looked over at the sofa and observed at the cool host resting, yet sitting upright on the sofa.

Eh, Kyouya-senpai fell asleep. That's rare to see these days. Kaoru then spotted the notebook that Kyouya had his arms around. He's still holding on to his notebook when asleep?! What does he write in that notebook of his anyways? Doodles? Data?

No one in the host club knew exactly what Kyouya writes in his notebook. But it seemed to be a very powerful tool and source of information for their Vice President. His mischievous Hitachiin mode turned on and Kaoru leaned over the sofa head to reach for the notebook. Now is the perfect chance to find out!

As Kaoru reached even further over for that sacred item of the owner, he heard a soft audible sound through his ear. Kaoru turned over and gazed at the lips where the voice came from. Did Kyouya-senpai just...sleep-talked?

Although he would have laughed at the contradiction of what Kyouya said earlier, Kaoru's face was only inches away from his senpai. Staring at the unguarded Kyouya, Kaoru blushed. Perhaps, the cool exterior that Kyouya-senpai puts on during the host club is different from what's inside...

A little dazed, Kaoru leaned even closer. His hand moved away from the notebook and gently wrapped his right hand across Kyouya's upper body. Although, some people would be mesmerized enough to go for the lips, Kaoru remained composed and gently tilted the megane teen's head back with his left hand, not so much that he would wake up, and pressed his lips on the side temple, brushing aside the black hair that fell on Kyouya's forehead.

Somehow, it's actually cute seeing this side of Kyouya-senpai…

He never admitted it, but he always believed Kyouya-senpai as being strictly cool and uptight. And at times, he was even scary that no one should mess with him. It was what makes things interesting. But it was also fun to see something different. To not see that barrier up when Kyouya was asleep, Kaoru had the urge to kiss him--- And then a familiar voice came across the door. "Kaoru."

GAAAAAAACK!! Kaoru immediately moved his hand away from the sofa. Hikaru peeked out from the opened door looking slightly irritated. "Kaoru, what's taking you so long? You just forgot your bag right. We're going to be late for the train. (We're going to ditch you if you don't hurry.)"

"Okay, okay, I'll be right out." Kaoru startled, quickly finished doing something and grabbed his bag from the floor. He slipped the mechanical pencil into his pocket. "Don't leave me behind, meanie!"

"What?! Meanie?" Hikaru felt insulted. He then noticed there was another person in the empty room. "Oh, Kyouya is asleep?! That's rare to see. Should we mess with his hair or something?"

"You wouldn't dare. Beside, I already did."

"Che, no fun." disappointingly sighed Hikaru. "Hurry up then. We'll be at the hallway."

"Okay, okay." Kaoru just about to leave looked back at the sleeping megane and the surprised he left him and smiled.

Out in the large hallway, Kaoru ran down the hallway to catch up with the other two. "Sorry for the delay, Haruhi."

"It's okay, Kaoru."

"Geez, sometimes it's hard to read what you're thinking." Hikaru said, again with that irritated look.

"Eh?" Kaoru noticed something.

"Hmm...Kaoru, did something happen?" Haruhi also noticed something. "You're face looks somewhat different."

Only Haruhi was able to notice it right away.

"What are you trying to imply, Ha-ru-hi?" Shuffling Haruhi's hair, Kaoru quickly changed the subject. "We should get going, right? We'll all be late for the train."

"Um, Kaoru." Yet again something unusual was happening. "When we get home, you better tell me what's up. You got that?" Hikaru said embarrassingly as if he was trying hard to say those words. Hikaru pulled Haruhi to his side and placed his hand over her head. "Let's go."

Kaoru did not move right away. He stood surprised looking at the two walking and hearing Haruhi's faint echo telling Hikaru to stop messing with her hair.

When did Hikaru ever cared to ask what I was thinking? Normally they would understand each other without uttering a single word. Whether they actually understood each others' thought completely was another thing. Is this what happens when our world is slowly opening up?

Hikaru did notice something was changing. Although not as keen as Kaoru, he felt it. Kaoru had started to frequently daze off into his own world leaving Hikaru continuously clueless. It occurred so often, Hikaru became irritated trying to figure out what was on his younger brother's mind. However, it was never Hikaru who questioned about his twin's problem because it never occurred to him that Kaoru actually had problems. Often time it was Kaoru who counseled Hikaru.

Early that morning, Hikaru had asked Haruhi to meet him before the club meeting at school. Haruhi, willing to listen, learned that Hikaru was troubled by Kaoru. Haruhi suggested that he go confront his brother and ask Kaoru himself.

"If you don't ask what he is thinking, you'll never know." She advised.

"But...I don't really know how to..."

"Eh? (I guess you never really communicate in that way...) Should I help you then?"

"Huh?"

"Hikaru wants to be a considerate brother, right? I think I can help, but you have to keep your rude behavior to yourself."

"Rude?!!" Insulted again; however, Hikaru agreed to be "trained" under Haruhi to be a thoughtful older brother. And because he was trying, Kaoru notice that change.

"Kaoru! What are you doing standing there? Go, go, go."

"Ugh...yea!" While Kaoru caught up with Haruhi and Hikaru, someone else was thinking to himself.

In the unused music room, Kyouya was fuming menacingly at the open black notebook on the tea table in front of him. How did my notebook get there...?

WHO HAD THE GUTS TO TOUCH MY NOTEBOOK? The nerve they had to even leave it opened.

Kyouya picked up the notebook in his hand and flipped thoroughly through the pages. Most likely they left some sort of evidence. I could even do a fingerprint scan if I must...

And then he stumbled on a page, recognizing immediately the evidence was not in his own handwriting nor was it written in his usual black ball pen.

"Hmm...The culprit found." Kyouya said amused. Too easy.

"What should I do with this new data?" On that opened page was the host member data of Hitachiin Kaoru. There was a bunch of short notes on his analysis on several areas. However, what Kyouya left blank was Kaoru's "Relations with other" (with the other host members excluding his brother). He couldn't easily infiltrate what Kaoru was thinking or how he felt about the others and decided to leave it blank until he had clear valid information. However, on the bottom left corner of that page, there was a pencil mark of Kyouya's name encircled by a heart and arrow.

Although it felt right at the time, Kaoru suddenly came down with a chill of regrets while waiting for the train at the station.

Maybe it was a mistake to have done that. It is Kyouya-senpai after all...Who knows what he'll do especially since I touched his notebook and... He continued to be immersed in his train of thoughts.

Hikaru again looked at Kaoru annoyed that he was excluding him out. "Kaoru are you thinking to yourself again? Tune your brother in!"

"You're supposed to ask nicely, Hikaru..." muttered Haruhi while the train, rustling against the tracks, finally arrived. And they boarded on.

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It continues!