Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran High School Host Club

Chapter 23

Yours and Mine

There was a strange sensation of being watched that broke through the haze of Kimiko's sleep. At first it was just a little tingle of paranoia that made her roll over in the very comfortable bed. A few seconds after she had rolled over, however, the sensation grew intensely and she could have sworn that she had heard movement somewhere near the door. Her sleepy paranoia over ruling her intense desire to fall back into a restful sleep caused her to slowly peek an eye open. Not expecting to see anything remotely frightening, she glanced around blearily and was just about to close her eye when she let out a startled yelp and sat up so fast she made herself dizzy.

"What the hell are you doing in my room, Tamaki?!" She shouted at the blond that had stuck his head in her door and was giving her his best attempt at innocent puppy dog eyes.

Taking her shout as an invitation to fully enter the room, Tamaki dramatically burst through the door and ran towards the bed."It's Haruhi, she's been at the whim of those treacherous twins since last night. Those two are nothing but trouble and I can't bear the thought of what they might be doing to my poor Haruhi! We have to go and rescue-"

"Get out!" Kimiko yelled, pulling one of the fluffy pillows from the bed and smacking him in the face with it. "Haruhi can take care of herself if you hadn't noticed. Now go be insane somewhere else, it's only six in the morning and it's too early for me to deal with your fantasies." She plopped back down on the bed and pulled the sheets over her head, ignoring the sniffles and dragging footsteps of Tamaki as he left her room. "Jackass," she muttered grumpily.

Heaving an annoyed sigh, Kimiko glanced at the clock and frowned while thinking of ways to make Tamaki pay for waking her up at six in the morning. Unable to go back to sleep she had laid in the bed and thought about how things would be now that she had nothing left to fear. Her life was going to be much different now that her mother was no longer a threat to her and no longer had any say or influence in the path her life took. She was now free. Free from worry over her safety, free from worrying over how her father's cherished business would be run by anyone but her and free to make her own choices without fear of any retaliation from her mother.

Yawning widely and stretching her stiff muscles Kimiko glanced over to the clock on the bedside table. "Six thirty-seven. Guess I'll get up," she yawned while slipping off of the bed and making her way to the bathroom. "Might as well take advantage of the fact I can go outside."

Since she was the only girl staying in a house full of boys it had been decided that she would get one of the bedrooms with a private bath. After combing her long hair and pulling it in a ponytail she changed out of her pajamas and put on a pair of black yoga capris with a pink foldover waist as well as a pink sports bra. Unsure of the temperature outside, but knowing the mornings could be a bit chilly, she pulled a black tank top on over the sports bra before also grabbing a thin black zip up hooded sweater.

After pulling on her running shoes, she slipped on her sweater and headed outside. She didn't see anyone on her trek through the house and was wondering if she was alone when she entered the living room. The back of the room was dominated by slightly tinted glass that gave a great view of the surrounding hills and village just a few miles away. Mori was outside, it seemed she wasn't the only one wanting to take advantage of the beautiful morning by getting in some exercise. He was currently stretching on the grass and when she opened the door she smiled at him as glanced back at her.

"Good morning, Mori," she greeted.

"Morning."

"It's a beautiful morning for a jog, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Mori replied, tilting his face up to the morning sun. "I'll go with you."

"You don't have to do that," Kimiko said as Mori stood from the ground. "I'll be fine on my own."

"You don't know the area."

"Well, no, but-"

"I'll go with you."

Kimiko knew she was going to lose the little debate and settled on nodding. "Well, if you'd like, but it looks like you've already warmed up. I haven't yet so do you mind jogging for a few minutes and then stopping so I can stretch before continuing on?"

He shook his head.

"Ok then, so.. shall we?" She asked with a smile.

Mori nodded and made a sound of agreement before beginning to jog towards a path that led into the trees surrounding the cottage. Kimiko followed after him at a leisurely pace. After about five minutes at the slow pace they stopped and stepped off the trail and into a small clearing between the trees.

"It's been a long time since I've gotten to jog outside... It's been a long time since I've been able to enjoy being outside for that matter," Kimiko said while using a tree trunk for support so she could stretch her calves one at a time.

"Were you not allowed outside while you were gone?" Mori asked, he too was stretching lightly.

"Nope. I was kept indoors at all times. It got a little... overwhelming I guess you could say," Kimiko chuckled. She had, on more than one occasion, lost her temper with her guards who wouldn't let her even open the door to see outside.

"Must have been hard," Mori observed.

Kimiko sighed and nodded. "It certainly wasn't easy. I wasn't allowed to do much and I didn't know anyone there. My cousin visited me a few times, he brought Sora around Christmas and that made the last few months a little better... A little less lonely." She gave Mori a slightly embarrassed smile before chuckling and going back to stretching.

She had been so focused on stretching that when a hand was gently laid on her head she started and nearly lost her balance.

"I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for you I'd probably have a few broken bones by now," chuckled Kimiko as Mori steadied with a small, amused smile of his own.

"Everyone's really glad you're back. I don't think being lonely is going to be a problem anymore."

"Thanks, Mori."

He grunted an acknowledgment and turned his face back to the path.

"I'm done stretching, we can continue on with our jog," Kimiko spoke up.

A hum and a nod were her only responses before Mori began to jog back towards the path with her only a few steps behind.

The path wound its way through the trees and into the soft hills. The hills were gently sloped and made for easy climbs while also providing wide open views of the countryside. She wasn't sure how long the path was, she guessed about three miles since the clock told her only about forty minutes had passed since they had left and they had gone at a pretty easy pace so Kimiko could enjoy the morning air and beautiful views.

Once back in the yard of the Haninozuka cottage Kimiko took to stretching once again. Mori did a few stretches himself before he retrieved a bamboo sword from the deck of the house. While he practiced and ran through a series of exercises with the sword, she slipped off her shoes and enjoyed the feeling of the smooth grass beneath her feet for a moment before lowering herself to her hands and knees. She wasn't the biggest fan of yoga, but it seemed like a good way to get in a little more exercise and to continue to enjoy the warmth of the sun on her face.

Beginning with situating herself into the downward facing dog position, she held the pose for several breaths before raising her right leg slowly from the ground so that she was moving onto the downward facing dog split position. She moved slowly and gracefully through a series of poses before taking a deep breath and straightening up after about a half hour. Mori was still moving through his own workout and not wanting to disturb him Kimiko went back inside to clean up.

After taking a shower and getting dressed in a pair of light denim capris with a white tank top that she pulled a pale purple scoop-necked shirt over. Having a fondness for layering her clothes to hide her scarred back, and liking the look, she also selected a long, white open-front cardigan to pull on as well. She decided she didn't quite feel like doing her hair so she pulled it up into a neat ponytail and left some of her fringe out to frame her face.

Wandering back into the main portion of the house, Kimiko made her way to the kitchen and was pleased to see a coffee maker on the counter. It took a few minutes to find everything, but the tantalizing scent of freshly brewed coffee soon filled the kitchen. She was walking around the kitchen island to sit on one of the stools pushed beneath it when Kyouya, drawn by the scent of the coffee, walked in.

"Morning, sleepy head," Kimiko greeted with a chuckle at the rumpled looking Kyouya who was adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"Morning," he grumbled in reply, plopping himself into a seat at the island.

"Would you like some coffee?" Kimiko offered. It was rather amusing to see Kyouya wandering around in a wrinkled t-shirt and pajama pants with messy hair, it was quite the contrast to the usual Kyouya who was always so smoothly put together.

"Please," he answered.

When she had poured the steaming beverage into a cup and set it before Kyouya she walked around to take a seat on another empty stool. They sipped the hot drink quietly, Kyouya gazing blankly at a newspaper that had been on the counter top.

"Would you like another cup?" Kimiko asked when Kyouya had finished his first.

Kyouya hummed as if just realizing she was there, but nodded. "I would, thank you."

Taking both of their cups and stepping around the island, she poured them each another cup of coffee. It was as she was turning to set both cups back down on the island that Kyouya seemed to finally wake up.

"Have you been up long?" He asked as she sat back down and he noticed that she was showered and dressed for the day.

"Since about six," Kimiko answered. "Tamaki woke me up and I wasn't able to go back to sleep."

"That moron, he woke me up too. He's lucky I fell back to sleep otherwise I probably would have hurt him."

"I hit him with a pillow and told him to get out. I was too lazy to do much more at the time."

"If you've been up since then, what have you been doing for the last... three hours," he asked, glancing at the clock on the microwave.

"I went for a nice jog with Mori. Did some stretching and some yoga, then cleaned up and made coffee."

"So Mori-senpai and Hunny-senpai must still be here too," mused Kyouya. "I suppose I should clean up as well so we can all go to the pension together."

"Mitsukuni is just waking up too," Mori said, stepping into the kitchen from the hallway.

Kimiko smiled at Mori in greeting and noticed that he too was showered and dressed for the day.

With a sigh, Kyouya finished his second cup of coffee and stood. "Thank you for the coffee, Kimiko," he offered before taking his leave to go and clean up as well.

"Would you like some coffee, Mori? There's still some left if you'd like it."

He shook his head and retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge. "No, thanks."

She and Mori sat in comfortable silence while reading over varying news articles. When she had finished her coffee, she thought about drinking the rest of the coffee, but decided that two cups was more than a good start.

"Do you think Hunny-senpai will want some coffee? Or should I just clean out the pot?" Kimiko asked Mori.

"I'll have some coffee! And cake!" Hunny chirped, skipping happily into the kitchen and beaming at Kimiko. "Good morning, Kimi-chan! Did you sleep alright?"

"I did, thank you," she answered as she poured the last cup of coffee into a cup for Hunny. When she turned around he was already seated at the counter with a piece of cake in front of himself. She blinked in confusion, but then remembered seeing several slices of cake on a shelf in the fridge. "Here's your coffee."

"Thank you, Kimi-chan!"

"You're welcome."

"So where's Kyo-chan? Is he not awake yet?" Hunny asked between bites of his cake.

"He's getting ready to go," Mori answered since Kimiko had only heard part of the question as she cleaned the coffee pot and the cups she and Kyouya had used.

The three chatted for a few minutes until Kyouya reentered the kitchen looking much more like himself. He was dressed casually in a short sleeve white button up and dark pants.

"Kyo-chan is here!" Hunny cheered. "We should all meet the others and have breakfast." The blond hopped from his seat and merrily made his way out of the kitchen with Mori trailing along a few feet behind.

Reaching for the plate and coffee cup that had been abandoned on the counter so she could clean them Kimiko was oblivious to Kyouya approaching her until he placed his hand on her arm. She started and blinked up at the handsome Ootori who gave her one of his heart stopping smiling.

"The maid will get those, we should catch up to Mori and Hunny-senpai before they leave without us."

"Right," Kimiko replied absently, distracted by the smile Kyouya had given her.

"Well, come on then," Kyouya said, taking Kimiko's hand and leading her from the kitchen.

"This is really weird," Kimiko blurted out while they walked through the house.

"What?" Kyouya inquired.

"This," she answered and lifted up their hands.

"Why?"

"Because I've been gone for awhile and we were just starting to actually get to know one another before I left. It feels like.. a daydream, I guess."

"Is that a bad thing?" Kyouya asked.

"Well, no. I suppose not. I've always been a bit of a dreamer," she answered with a grin. "But when we get home would you mind telling me just what it is I am to you? You've never really made that clear."

He was quiet for a moment before he came to an abrupt stop that nearly caused Kimiko to run right into his chest as he turned towards her. "Well," he began in a contemplative tone. "I would think it was fairly obvious."

"It may be obvious to you, but I'd rather not journey into that dark and twisted brain of yours to see what you mean. So would you care to explain?"

A slight smirk tugged at the corners of Kyouya's lips. "If you insist," he said, leaning just a little closer to her. "You're mine."

Kimiko tilted a brow and gave Kyouya a bland look. "Possessive much?"

"Not really," Kyouya replied, with a shrug. "More like I'm stubborn and I don't like sharing."

"You seemed perfectly fine sharing me last night when Tamaki wouldn't leave me the hell alone," Kimiko pointed out.

"Yes, well, that was Tamaki and he's an idiot. I'm still not convinced he's even human."

"So if I'm yours then what are you? Mine?"

"Something like that," Kyouya replied, resuming their walk to the door.

~A/N~

This chapter has been done for awhile, but I was originally planning on making it longer. I ended up changing my mind and deciding I should post something since it's been... well, a long time since the last update. I also sort of like ending this chapter here, it sort of ends the first part of the story, now we move on to part 2. :) I was going to make a separate story altogether, but I don't that I will...

Anywho, thank you to all of my lovely reviewers! I have gone back and re-edited a few things that were pointed out to me and I also did a little bit of editing on the relationship between Kimiko and Mori, nothing that warrants going back to reread, but I took out some of the awkwardness that existed between them. They're just friends, Mori's still protective, but more in a brotherly way and less in the possible romantic way. Hope that made sense... My mind is fried. Midterm papers, tests, work has been insane and finals are right around the corner in two weeks. My brain needs a break.. And not in the breakdown kinda way which we're steering towards at the moment...

Anyway, stay sane fellow students and feed the review monster! It'll give me one less thing to worry about. :)