A/N: Dreams-in-Shadows here! Finally, another story up! My laptop decided to be a pain and made uploading difficult. So, I was listening to Katy Perry's "Firework" in my car the other day and I thought that it perfectly described Kyoya. This didn't turn out nearly as well as I hoped, but it's long enough and I did my best. Anyway, I have Kyoya's reply to this, so, show me love and let me know if you want me to put it up! You know the whole R&R thing! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own not Ouran High School Host Club or the song "Firework." They belong to Bisco Hatori-sensei and Katy Perry, respectively.

Haruhi was busy in the kitchen area of the club room after the activities for the day, doing the dishes. All of the others members had left immediately after, save for her and Kyoya, who was in the main room, at his usual table, clicking away at his laptop. She heard a phone ring and looked around for her cell before realizing that it wasn't one of her ringtones. A minute later, she heard Kyoya answer the call.

"Hello," Kyoya said in a crisp, proper voice. "How are you this afternoon, Father?"

Her interest piqued at hearing this, Haruhi strained to listen to the conversation. She knew little of Kyoya's family, but did know that his relationship with his father was strained.

"I realize this. I understand, but I had nothing to do with that. I have no connections to that family and did not try to make any. I know, Father, but I…." he paused for a moment while his father spoke. "Yes, Father, I won't disappoint you." Kyoya snapped his phone shut.

Haruhi moved do the curtain that blocked the little kitchen area from the rest of the club room, wiping her hands on a dishtowel and watching Kyoya. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, frustration and weariness visible in every movement of his body. He looked so tired…as if he hadn't slept in days.

She wondered what his father had asked of him now. Yoshio Otori was a ruthless man, who loved to torture his youngest son. It's as if Kyoya wasn't even a real person, but merely a pawn for him to boss around. She doubted he even knew how much Kyoya went through to impress him and prove his worth.

Kyoya looked up, feeling her eyes bore into him. He turned to look at her, neglecting to put his glasses back on. They stared at each other for a few moments. Kyoya was scrutinizing her, while Haruhi was entranced by his eyes. He had beautiful, auburn colored eyes. Finally, Kyoya had enough and broke the silence. "Yes, Haruhi? Is there something you need or would you just like to stare at me blankly for another few minutes?"

Haruhi mentally slapped herself and returned to the world of the living, a small blush rising to her cheeks. It seemed that she had been staring at him a lot, lately. She would be entertaining her guests when her eyes would drift over to him, watching him. He was gorgeous and he was so graceful. Watching him move was like watching a dance; each step planned to be executed at a precise moment. She was addicted.

"Sorry, Kyoya-senpai, I was just worried about you. You look exhausted. Is there anything I can do to help?" Haruhi was twisted the dishtowel in her hands. She had no idea why she felt nervous being around him all of a sudden.

He put his glasses back on and went back to typing on his laptop. "No, Haruhi, I'm quite fine, thank you. If you have finished cleaning up, you are free to go for the evening. I expect to see you on time tomorrow afternoon; otherwise I'll have to add to your debt for your tardiness. Time is profit, after all."

She recognized a dismissal when she heard one. Sighing, she put the dishtowel back in the kitchen, grabbed her bag and started toward the door. Today wasn't a sharing day for Kyoya. No, today was a I'm-going-to-keep-everything-locked-up day and Haruhi knew he wasn't going to make an exception for her. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Kyoya-senpai….goodnight." She received no answer, not that she was really expecting one and walked out of the club room.

XXXXX

Haruhi came to her apartment complex and stopped to check their mailbox. She pulled out several letters and a small, square package. She started flipping through it, as she walked up to her apartment.

"Rent, electric bill, telephone bill….I guess I better get out Dad's checkbook and pay these tonight," she thought to herself, heaving a sigh. She came to the package and found that a letter was taped to it. Haruhi's face lit up. "It's from my American pen pal!" she thought excitedly. She ripped open the letter and read as her pen pal, Frannie, told her about school and her friends and things she learned from research of Japan that she had to confirm. Haruhi smiled to herself as she continued to read. She got to the end where Frannie told her that she had burned her a disc that had a lot of her favorite artists on it and she thought maybe Haruhi would like them, too.

Haruhi walked into her house, dropped the mail on the table and walked to her room. She ripped the paper off the package and popped the cd in her player. She sat down on her floor and pulled out her books to work on a bit of homework before she started dinner. She looked at the handwritten list on the case of the disc and saw that the first song was called "Firework" by Katy Perry. She pulled her math book in her lap and picked up a pencil while the song started. She listened to the song and sat still as the lyrics washed over her.

"Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?" The song was pretty good. It sounded really nice and inspiring.

"Do you know that there's, still a chance in you, 'cause there's a spark in you; you just gotta ingnite, the light and let it shine. Just own the night, like the 4th of July! 'Cause baby, you're a firework! Come on show 'em what you're worth! Make 'em go ah-ah-ah, as you shoot across the sky-ah-aye!"

The pencil fell from Haruhi's hand. This song…this song reminded her so much of Kyoya! This described him almost the exact same way she had earlier. She continued to listen to the song, thinking about Kyoya.

"You don't have to feel, like a waste of space, you're original, cannot be replaced. If you only knew, what the future holds, after a hurricane, comes a rainbow. Maybe a reason why, all the doors are closed, so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road. Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow, and when it's time you'll know."

Haruhi listened to the rest of the song. It truly felt inspiring. This woman, Katy Perry, really hit on the person that was Kyoya, whether she knew it or not (knowing Kyoya, he just might know a successful American pop star).

"Maybe this is what he needs," she thought to herself. "He needs to know that he has worth and he doesn't have to prove himself to his father. He can do whatever he wants on his own. He's brilliant, talented, handso-," she stopped herself, startled. Where had that train of thought come from? He was the Shadow King!

Haruhi shook her head. She was tired. That must be it. She decided to just finish her homework and fix dinner. With her plan in mind, she finished her math and went on to chemistry. A few hours later, she went to her kitchen, fixed dinner and put a plate out for her father with plastic wrap over it. She took a shower and went to bed at around 11 that night.

As she lay in bed, she couldn't get a certain bespectacled Shadow King out of her head. Haruhi was not an Ouran girl. She wasn't one of those rich daddy's girls that had unlimited free time and squealed every time one of the guys looked at her. Her mind was much too logical for that train of thought. She analyzed what she thought earlier.

Kyoya was brilliant, that was obvious. He knew everything about every one of the hosts with files to go with them. He was steady, but surely, pulling his father's companies right out from under his known. He knew how to maximize profit. And talented! Kyoya was so talented. He could make a female's heart melt with that signature host club smile. He could play people in the palm of his hand and never let on to his original plan. He had an iron-clad mask that he could hold in any situation. And, Haruhi had to admit to herself, Kyoya was attractive. He was in the Host Club, after all. But…it was more than that. The part of him that was most attractive was the part that barely anyone else saw. She felt heat rise in her cheeks. Ever since that day that she found him at the products expo…that was when she found that side of him.

"I had never thought that he had such a caring side. He told me that he never did anything unless it benefited himself, but that wasn't true. He is good," she smiled softly in the darkness, staring out her window at the bright stars twinkling in the sky. "I guess I knew that since the day at the beach, when he acted the bad guy to show me that I wasn't as strong as a boy."

Haruhi closed her eyes and let the memories of that day come to her mind. She had just come out of the bathroom and he was standing there, shirtless, without his glasses on. That was the first time she was able to see emotion in his eyes. He had no glass glare to hide them. She knew, as she looked into them, that she could trust him completely. "That's why I wasn't scared when he threw me on the bed. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me."

Haruhi rolled over on her futon and groaned. "What is wrong with me?" she mentally scolded herself. "Why can I suddenly not get him out of my head?" "But is it so sudden?" a tiny, annoying voice in the back of her head asked her. "Or have you felt like this for a long time and you were being too dense to realize it before?"

No, that couldn't be it. He was her senpai and the hypotensive evil lord and the Shadow King of the prestigious Ouran Host Club. He was cold, calculating and manipulative. He had a reason behind everything he did, even if it was seemingly for nothing. Even if he was good, he was uncaring of anything except becoming heir to his father's companies.

"You're wrong and you know it," the voice said, much to her frustration. "You're denying the truth." She thought about what the voice had said. Yes, he's calculating and he has a way with getting people to do what he wants, but is he cold or really manipulative? Especially when his plans usually helped everyone involved, in one way or another, even if it wasn't apparent. "And you know he cares, too. He cares about Tamaki, even if he annoys Kyoya to no end. You can see it in his eyes." She supposed the voice was right about that, too. "Just face it. You like him. And there is nothing you can do about it."

Haruhi's frustration returned. Damn that little voice. Damn those rich bastards she called her friends for making her be in the Host Club. Damn that Kyoya for making her to never want to leave. For making her want to stare at him for hours. For making her want to do everything in her power, just to see one of his rare, true smiles.

At that moment, Haruhi gasped and her eyes went wide. It was true! She did like Kyoya. She liked everything about him. That would explain so much! Why she went to club activities without complaint, just so she could see him. Why she stayed after to clean up, just to be able to spend a little more time with him. Why it really didn't bother her that much when he raised her debt anymore. She just didn't care! Anytime she spent with him was time well spent. Somewhere along the line, after spending the extra time with him and learning more about him, she had found out things that she had never known about Kyoya before. He was a great conversationalist and had great passion that he kept under constant control. He liked peaches more than any other fruit and he would listen to alternative rock when he was working on his laptops, if no one was around to hear it. Somewhere, along the line, she had forgotten that he was the Shadow King and had fallen in love with him.

She froze up at that revelation. "Is it really love?" she wondered, biting her lip in deep thought. "Or am I just hoping for too much?" She closed her big, brown, doe eyes again. "Does he even like me back at all?" she asked her heart of hearts. But there was no little voice to answer that question. With those last thoughts swirling through her mind, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

XXXXX

Another normal day at the Host Club was drawing to a close. The twins were annoying Tamaki, Mori was watching over Hunny, who was eating his last piece of cake for the day. Kyoya was typing on his laptop and Haruhi…was trying to act normal. Or, as normal as one could be when they were part of the Host Club. She said goodbye as her last appointments left and heaved a sigh of relief. That is, until Tamaki came crashing into her.

"Oh, Haruhi, my darling daughter! Daddy hasn't gotten to hug you all day. You have no idea how empty a father feels without having his little girl around to hold and protect her from the harshness of the world!" Tamaki was spinning her around and squeezing the life out of her.

"Can't….breathe…."she gasped out, trying futilely to escape his vice-like hold on her.

"Tamaki, if you don't let her breathe, your daughter won't be around much longer," Kyoya said, not even looking up from his work. Haruhi could swear she had seen a small smile pulling at his lips. Tamaki immediately let her go.

"Yeah, Boss, you're gonna kill her," Kaoru said, coming to her side and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Then we wouldn't have our toy to play with anymore," Hikaru finished, mimicking his twin on her other side.

"RELEASE HER THIS INSTANT, YOU DEVIL TWINS! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY HARUHI!" Tamaki shrieked at the top of his voice.

"She's not your Haruhi! She's OUR Haruhi," they said in perfect unison.

The Haruhi in question was able to extract herself from the twins grasp before rounding on all three of them. "I'm not anyone's Haruhi! Now quit bothering me. I have to clean up." She grabbed a tea tray full of dishes and stomped to the kitchen angrily, muttering about rich bastards as she went. Tamaki had immediately retreated to his corner of darkness to sulk.

Soon she heard the members get up to leave, all of them shouting goodbyes to her as they left. She looked over her shoulder through the crack in the curtain. Kyoya was still there, calculating today's profits in his ever present black notebook. "Good, he's still here," she thought as she hurried to finish cleaning up.

She was just finishing putting up the last of the tea sets when she heard the same ringtone from yesterday and Kyoya answer on the first ring.

"Good afternoon, Father. I trust that you are well?" Kyoya said, in the same, cultured voice he had used yesterday. Haruhi snuck to the curtain and peeked out at Kyoya, trying to read his face. Unfortunately, it was still in the same cool mask as always.

"No, there has been no change," he said. He paused as his father said something. "I realize that, but I really think this should be my decision." He stopped again as his father spoke on the other end of the line. "Yes, I realize the value of such an asset, but it's more than that to me. It is a very delicate situation. This isn't one of your games, Father. This is possibly the most important thing in my life and I-," he was cut off. There was barely contained rage in his next words. "I understand. I will try harder. Goodbye, Father." Kyoya ended the call and threw his phone across the room. He was trembling. Obviously, whatever his father had asked of him was not sitting well with his son. He looked ready to kill. It was then that he felt her eyes on him and he looked up, murder in his gaze. She took a step back in fear.

He calmed himself down and called out to her. "Haruhi, I'm sorry you had to witness my outburst. Are you alright?" he asked, with the slightest bit of concern in his voice.

Haruhi sighed and steeled herself for what she was about to do. She had thought of a way to help Kyoya since she woke this morning and she thought that maybe, just maybe, the song she had listened to yesterday would have an impact on him the way her words had not.

"I think the better question is, are you okay, Kyoya-senpai?" she asked, her chocolate colored eyes locked to his auburn ones as she walked out of the kitchen towards him. She stopped when he was about a foot away from him, looking up at him.

He met her gaze for another moment before turning his head, angling his glasses so they were obscured by glare from the sunlight. "I'm just fine, Haruhi. Nothing that would concern you in the slightest."

Haruhi sighed. "How would you know?" she whispered, barely audible.

"I beg your pardon?"

"How would you know? How would you know what concerns me or not? You've never asked, so how would you know?" She continued to gaze up at his face. She could see the slightest bits of emotion flicker across his features.

Kyoya scoffed, giving her a look that said she knew very little of the world around her. "My troubles are much greater than those of a commoner such as yourself. Don't worry yourself, Haruhi. You have no dealings in the world of the wealthy and prestigious."

"That's where you're wrong, Kyoya-senpai. I'm a commoner, yes, but I'm a commoner that lives in the world of the rich and powerful. I watch you fight these battles every day, whether it is with your father or someone who poses competition. I've been watching for weeks. I can see the exhaustion and tiredness in your face. I'm tired of these battles putting such a strain on you. Why do you fight so hard? Why do you let the corrupted will of these people consume you?"

Kyoya let out a small sigh. "Because I have no choice. I'm expected to fight these battles and I will, if it makes my father see my worth."

Haruhi shook her head, a sad, small smile on her lips. "But everyone else can see your worth, senpai. You seem to be the only one blind to it." She walked over to her bag and pulled out the mix cd she had gotten yesterday. She took it over to the stereo and put it in the player. "I want you to listen to this," she said, going back towards him.

"Haruhi, I don't have the time for commoner antics such as—." She cut him off with a finger to his lips.

"All I want you to do is listen, just for a minute." She took her finger from his lips as the song started. He sat down on the edge of his sleep and Haruhi shut his laptop before his eyes had the chance to drift to it. She kept her eyes on him, trying to catch any reaction.

"Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again? Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin, like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?"

Haruhi saw Kyoya's shoulders slump by a fraction. Maybe this would work. She tried to glimpse his eyes as he continued to listen.

"Do you know that there's, still a chance in you, 'cause there's a spark in you; you just gotta ingnite, the light and let it shine. Just own the night, like the 4th of July! 'Cause baby, you're a firework! Come on show 'em what you're worth! Make 'em go ah-ah-ah, as you shoot across the sky-ah-aye!"

Haruhi caught several emotions flash through Kyoya's eyes. Disbelief, confusion, loneliness, pride and so much more. Under each one of them, though, was the passion that he carefully controlled, no matter what he did.

"You don't have to feel, like a waste of space, you're original, cannot be replaced. If you only knew, what the future holds, after a hurricane, comes a rainbow. Maybe a reason why, all the doors are closed, so you could open one that leads you to the perfect road. Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow, and when it's time you'll know."

Haruhi walked around to stand behind Kyoya as the song went into the second chorus. She took a deep breath and called on all of her courage to do what she was about to do.

"Boom, boom, boom. Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon. It's always been inside of you, you, you. You just gotta let through-ooh-ooh!"

She leaned over his shoulder and whispered quietly. "Kyoya, you have no idea the worth you have; the potential you have. Why do you try to prove yourself to your father? You've already proven yourself to your friends. You can do whatever you want. You just have to let yourself shine, like the song says. There's still a chance for you. Just own yourself. It's your life and it's your time to make everyone see what you can do! I have faith in you."

"What about you, Haruhi?" Kyoya said, so quietly, she almost couldn't hear him.

"Wh-what do you mean, Kyoya-senpai?" she stuttered, cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Have I proven myself to you?"

Haruhi smiled and leaned down again. "Kyoya…you've proven yourself to me time and time again, but not just by your accomplishments. You, being just the way you are, showed me that you are so much more than what you let on." She blushed and whispered even more quietly than before, "And as I got to know you, you not only proven your worth, but you won my heart."

She leaned over a bit more and gasped when she saw a single tear run down Kyoya's cheek. His eyes were closed and a small, but true smile was on his face.

Haruhi gathered the last of her little reserve of courage and hugged his shoulders from behind and pecked his cheek, before she ran over, grabbed her bag and fled the room, her cheeks flaming.

Kyoya opened his eyes as he heard the door to the room close, the small smile still on his face. He was vaguely aware that the stereo was still playing Haruhi's cd. He walked over to the window facing the entrance and watched as Haruhi walked quickly through the gates, in the direction of her apartment.

"Haruhi," he thought ruefully. "If you only knew…if you only knew."

R&R Please! Dreams-in-Shadows out!