Chapter 4 - Sleepy Feelings

The next morning, Haruhi woke up feeling a bit more relaxed than the night before. The idea of Mori (and Honey) being there for her made her feel safe even though she felt bad that she was keeping them from going about their daily life. She didn't want to be a nuisance but she also didn't want to meet this stalker, and having a bodyguard was the only viable option.

She pulled out some juice from the fridge when suddenly a loud honking from outside startled her and made her jump. The juice fell to the ground and exploded all over the kitchen tiles.

Her father walked in then, dressed in a oversized t-shirt with stubble dotting his chin, he appeared groggy and exhausted from a sleepless night. His eyebrows knit together when he noticed the mess on the floor.

"What happened?" Ryoji asked perplexed, wiping the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Nothing I just-" Haruhi warily peered out the window to see who it was, only to find Honey waving vigorously from the window of the car, a piece of cake in one hand.

Oh, good. It's just them.

"Is your ride here? Oh who is it?" Her father joined her at the window. "Oh, it's Honey and that tall fellow. . .what's his name? Moru . .Meri-"

"It's Mori, dad." She hurriedly cleaned up the mess on the floor, tossing the paper towel in the garbage.

Ryoji eyed up his daughter with a playful twinkle in his eye, "What? Is he your boyfriend now? Driving you to school in his fancy lil' car."

Haruhi felt a blush rise in her cheeks as she turned to look at her dad feeling exasperated, "No, wha- of course not, he's just my ride to school, that's all." She left out the whole stalker part so he wouldn't freak out and become the protective over bearing father he could occasionally become.

"I have to go, I'll see you later," Haruhi mumbled, opening the door and hurrying to the car before her dad could embarrass her further and ask follow up questions.

Mori was not her boyfriend. He would never be her boyfriend. . .ever. She didn't see him like that. . .right?

The ride to school went smoothly, and it was just as quiet as yesterday's drive, minus Honey's cake eating. Haruhi wondered briefly where they even stored all this cake for him to eat, but she decided it wasn't worth over thinking.

Walking to the music room had also been very simple, no one had followed her and there was no signs of suspicious people either. Then again Haruhi wouldn't have wanted to mess with someone like Mori either.

When she opened the doors, Tamaki was at her side at once. "How did it go? Did you find the stalker? Were you hurt?" He pushed the hair on her forehead back, checking for any sign of injury.

She pushed away from him, "I'm fine. Nothing happened, except for well the whole thing yesterday with the notes under the door-"

"Already taken care of," Kyoya announced, lazily saundering into the room, his clipboard tucked precariously under his arm. "Mori brought them here yesterday and I sent them to a lab to be tested for fingerprints and anything that could help us figure out who your," he searched for a word and then offered, "secret admirer is."

Kyoya pushed his black rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose and added, "I sent for the baseball to be tested as well, but the only fingerprint they could get was Tamaki's, since his fingers were all over it." He gave Tamaki a pointed look.

Hikaru and Kaoru both chimed in suddenly with a, "Good going Boss."

Tamaki winced dramatically and began to shout, "I'm so sorry, Haruhi this is all my fau-"

Kyoya cut him off abruptly though, "Anyways let's get ready, the girls will be here any minute. Mori you've done an outstanding job though, you work very well with Haruhi. It's almost like you were meant for her. . .well to be her bodyguard I mean." He chuckled softly and walked away.

Haruhi glanced at Mori through her peripheral vision and swore that she caught a light blush on his cheeks, but she doubted that he would ever feel like that for her.

During the sessions with the girls Haruhi noticed something strange about Mori. He was acting awfully talkative today (which caused the girls to squeal over him even more) and she seemed to notice bags under his eyes. She wondered if he was getting proper sleep.

Haruhi felt the urge to ask him what was wrong but kept her distance and entertained the girls with stories from her past instead, trying hard not to hear the giggles from the other side of the room whenever Mori would say something cute.

Why was the blood ringing in her ears? Why couldn't she concentrate? All she could hear was Mori. . .

"Is there something wrong Haruhi?" One of the girls to her left asked, her face twisted in concern. The others all nodded in worry as well.

Haruhi regained her composure, "No, no I'm fine ladies. I'm just feeling tired that's all." Then she hurriedly distracted them, "Are you doing something new with your hair? You all look very cute today."

They all cooed in happiness and Haruhi smiled, trying to hide the fact that she was still listening in to Mori's conversation.

After school and all the girls had left for the day, everyone began to slowly leave, going home for the night.

Kyoya looked over at where Haruhi sat with Mori and Honey on one of the couches. "I'm off to fetch the fingerprint tests from the lab, hopefully it will give us some answers. Honey would you like to come with me?" Kyoya asked curiously.

Honey's face lit up like a Christmas tree at the idea of helping Kyoya and the case. "Yes of course Kyoya! Anything to help Haru-chan! Just let me grab some cake first," Honey jumped off the couch and hurried after Kyoya shouting over his shoulder. "I can go home by myself Takashi, you don't have to worry about me! See ya' later."

Then it was just Haruhi and Mori. She assumed it would be another silent ride back to her house but when she looked over she watched as Mori lounged on the couch, his legs sprawled out. The bags under his eyes seemed to be even darker than when she examined him earlier.

Haruhi tentatively stood up and sat down next to Mori, her eyebrows narrowed in worry. "Mori, is everything alright?"

A smirk formed on Mori's face as he mumbled under his breath, "Haruhi, have I ever told you your eyes are gorgeous." He sat up a bit, "And, and -and," his words began to stutter and his eyelids seemed to droop, "And you're the prettiest girl I've ever met and you understand me even when everyone doesn't."

Haruhi sat back, a bit startled at Mori words. What was wrong with him? Why was he saying these things?

"Mori I think you're tired, you need to rest," Haruhi put a hand on one of his shoulders, trying to make him lay back down. Mori wasn't having it though.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him, until she was right next to him. He leaned in to her face, twirling a piece of her hair.

What was going on? Why wasn't she pulling away?

She tried to find her voice, "Mori, you're tired, this isn't you. You need to lay down and go to sleep-" But she lost her sentence when she caught sight of his eyes and the way he was looking at her. It was something she'd never seen before.

Mori suddenly leaned in pressing the tip of his nose to her cheek, his hand reaching up to softly cup the side of Haruhi's face.

"Mori," Haruhi whispered, at a loss for words. She felt her body go numb to movement, but the nerves in her body were on fire.

He turned her face to his and gingerly kissed her on the lips. Then he sleepily pulled away and laid down as if nothing had happened. As soon as he closed his eyes, he fell asleep and Haruhi was left sitting in shock with the feeling of Mori's lips against hers still in her head.

A/N - Holy crap guys, I haven't updated this story since 2013! But I just came back to this site to find so many reviews and people wanting more so I decided to continue. Sorry it took so long (and by long I mean almost 2 years) but hopefully I can get back in the swing of updating every few days! Thanks for all the sweet comments and reviews!