At what price,love?

Chapter 2

At What Price, Love? (Chapter 2)

~oOo~

Kyoya really wasn't looking forward to this morning. He located Tamaki sitting by the window in Music Room 3 before the start of class. "How are you doing?" Kyoya asked.

"I'm fine," Tamaki lied, giving Kyoya a smile that almost made him believe it.

"I took Haruhi to dinner last night."

"Oh? Thank you. I know her father works late and eating by yourself is almost like having no family at all." Kyoya would bet anything Tamaki ate alone last night.

"No Tamaki. I took Haruhi to dinner last night."

"Oh," Tamaki looked away. "How did it go?"

"Better than I expected," Kyoya paused. "She still cares about you, you know. And she doesn't understand why you ended things."

Tamaki looked up sharply. "She can't know. She'd go straight to my grandmother and tell her off. Then my grandmother would have no reason not to destroy Haruhi's life. This is not some quaint movie where the old lady wants a good fight and will respect and admire the one who stands up to her. That woman has destroyed my father's life twice over, my mother's life twice and now mine. We need to keep Haruhi clear of her."

"Mori suggested we should find Haruhi a patron, someone your grandmother would think twice about challenging. Maybe a Haninozuka or an Ootori."

Tamaki nodded. "That ... that would make sense...but...not you. You're my best friend and I still love her. I don't think I could bear to watch..."

Kyoya looked out the window. "Yes, I can imagine how hard it would be to watch the woman you love end up with your best friend."

~oOo~

Kyoya avoided Haruhi the entire day, which wasn't hard. As they were different years, they had different classes and Haruhi usually found a quiet place to study during lunch. Even so, Tamaki was looking around the cafeteria for her.

"She's not here," Kyoya said with a touch of exasperation. "So stop looking for her."

"You know, you guys want to be more discrete in your choice of pronouns," Hikaru said as he sat down.

"Why?" Kyoya responded in a conversational tone. "If the rumor goes around that our prince may actually have fallen for one of the girls, it can only improve our end of year sales."

And it did. Website traffic was up even before the end of the school day and the flock of twittering girls around Tamaki was almost unmanageable. The whole thing would have been amusing if not for the pain it caused Haruhi. "Would you mind if I leave early?" she asked.

Yes, by all means, let's get you out of here. Bad enough that you have to endure all this without it playing out right in front of your eyes. "Of course not," Kyoya looked thoughtful. "You seemed disappointed that we went to a restaurant last night. Would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight?"

Her head shake was more of a denial of the question than a refusing answer. "I have a French test tomorrow."

"Then you won't have to interrupt your studies to make dinner." Seeing her skeptical look, he added "I have a literature paper due tomorrow. I promise studying will get done."

They quickly tidied up after their guests and slipped out of the room unseen by Tamaki, who remained surrounded by girls reluctant to leave, his sorrowful goodbyes convincing each of them that she was the one he had secretly fallen for. When the last one finally departed, his princely demeanor held up for about five seconds before dropping away completely. He scanned the room taking note of who was there and who was not. "Haruhi is gone?"