Just Look into It

32. Quite Perceptive

It was starting to get late. 

Ryo stood and stretched, a yawn escaping her lips as she glanced at the time. Yuu had fallen asleep almost immediately after they ate, and she had taken him back to their room. The twins had complimented her in regards to how caring she was when it came to Yuu.

She hadn't known how to respond to that. 

Her work was almost completely done. She moved her things to a different location, one tucked further away from the rooms in use. The last thing to do was to complete the system installation and adjust it to the cameras installed.  She would lock the system then, and give the key to Kyouya which would be passed on to whoever was placed in charge of monitoring. 

Ryo kept a master pin for all of her systems. It was similar to the secondary command feature she had created for Ouran. 

She typed, mind falling into a familiar rhythm as she lost herself in the thing she prided herself on, a small smile on her face. The moon was rising in the sky, and the air was silent. She assumed that most of the hosts would be resting in their rooms. Then again, it wouldn't surprise her if they were preparing to play a children's game, like hide and seek or ghost in the graveyard. Ryo wondered if Tamaki and Haruhi had made up yet. 

If not, then there was likely a tense air around the two, making it hard to do anything. 

The brunette sighed, looking between her notes and the screen. She made a quick mark to return to that issue, and tried to continue on. 

She was unable to, leaving her little choice but to grab her notebook and search for Kyouya. He was the only one who would be able to answer her questions, and she knew well that he was normally up late at night. 

The halls were silent as she made her way down to his room. A bit confused, she glanced around for any signs of the other hosts. 

"Kyouya, I need you to come and check something for me," Ryo said, knocking on his door. There was no response. She could hear his voice, but there was no way to tell what he was saying. Confused, she slowly pushed the door to his room open, eyes narrowing as she tried to adjust to the dim lighting.

She brushed a strand of her hair back, taking a step into the room. She opened her mouth to call out again, but as she finally adjusted to the lighting, her voice died in her throat.

Kyouya was shirtless on his bed, Haruhi pinned underneath him.

The two were alone in his room with the lights out. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. She knew her cousin well enough that if she didn't want to be in that situation, she would be raising hell. She had always thought that Kyouya wasn't the kind of person to bother with such things like romance, but she supposed that she was wrong.

Ryo could barely think as she quickly stepped out of the room and pulled the door shut. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Why?

She backed away from the door, eyes locked onto the handle.

Her skin felt like it was on fire.

"Ah, Ryo. Is Kyouya in there?" Tamaki asked, quickly approaching. "I've got a sunburn and need to borrow his lotion."

"Ah, Tamaki-" she struggled to find the words. She could tell that the blonde liked Haruhi. What was she supposed to do? "Don't go in there. Just- Just trust me."

He paused, concern in his eyes. "Are you alright? You look pale-"

She shook her head. "I-I'm fine. I have to go."

"Ryo-" he called out.

The brunette couldn't think straight as she darted away, hurrying back to where she had been working, her notes pressed to her chest. Why did it hurt so much to see that?

There had to be a reason, though she wasn't sure she'd like the answer.

Ryo pulled her hair back. There was work to be done, and that was what she did best. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, attempting to fall into her rhythm. She could figure it out on her own.

She kept mistyping. Her fingers wouldn't hit the keys she wanted them too.

Her chest was still tight.

There was cotton in her mouth.

Suddenly, she recognized the sound of thunder and rain in the air. She paused, turning to face the giant windows facing the beach.

Haruhi had never liked thunderstorms.

Ryo loved them.

Figuring that she wasn't going to get any proper work done in her state, she pulled her glasses from her face and moved closer to watch the storm. She sighed, relaxing against the wall. She wasn't going to think about it. Kyouya had his own thoughts and feelings that she couldn't see. They had started with a business relationship and it had grown into what she would call a friendship. There was no reason to want anything more. 

She shouldn't want anything more, not so quickly after he had gone behind her back. 

She reminded herself that he had good intentions in doing so.

"Oh good grief, Ryouka," she hissed at herself. "Get a grip."

Even so, she gave up. She decided to let her emotions run wild now so she could move on.

Maybe it was a misunderstanding of some kind.

But her luck had never been that good.

She heard footsteps approach her, stopping a few steps away.

"Miss Ryouka? I heard from Tamaki that you were looking for me." His voice washed over her, putting her thoughts to a sudden halt. She felt her lungs freeze for a moment as she tried to remember how she had felt before opening the door.

"He must have been mistaken," she answered.

He took a step closer. "Are you quite sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Ryo closed her eyes and focused on the storm. He was standing right behind her now. She couldn't breathe. She wanted to open her eyes and watch the storm instead of the sight burned on her eyelids but if she opened her eyes, she would see him in the reflection on the glass.

He was good at reading her thoughts.

"Ryouka," he sighed, an unfamiliar tone to his voice. "I'm assuming you saw Haruhi and myself earlier."

She couldn't stop the shuddering breath she took as she forced herself to keep breathing.

"I was only trying to make a point on Tamaki's behalf. The two were still at odds after dinner and showed no signs of talking," he explained. "Your cousin is quite perceptive. She saw through me with one simple reason."

He stepped closer, his chest nearly against her back. With slow movements, she felt him reach up and slowly, cautiously remove her hair tie. She winced slightly as he pulled it from her hair. It spilled across her shoulders again, and he let his fingers carefully play with the freed strands.

She forced her eyes open. Their eyes met through the glass.

"Haruhi was certain I would never do such a thing with her, because of you."