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Having already been married for about five years, Fuyumi bitterly regretted that she and her husband were still childless, despite their desperate efforts at conceiving. At one point, they did go as far as attempting IVF, but to no avail. It was already a necessity that she produce an heir at some point in their marriage, but being the doting, motherly woman she was, it was incredibly heartbreaking above all other feelings. She always loved children and wanted a child more than anything. Even though it was nothing substantial, she was so used to caring for Kyoya when they were younger that she felt more than confident in that it was fully within her ability to care for one as well. She didn't have anything really holding her back, considering that she never worked and was often at home alone and bored out of her mind. (Unlike her brothers, she was never pressured by Yoshio to accomplish anything great or do anything besides marrying well.) The desire just always stuck with her throughout her life, but it just never seemed to become a reality, even when the timing was finally perfect for her.

With such undesirable results, she couldn't help be continuously fret over the obvious worst case scenario, that she was infertile. In a way, it wasn't even an option since it was crucial that she'd produce an heir for her husband eventually. It also didn't seem all that likely since there were no cases of infertility in her family's medical history; both of her older brothers already had two sons each not long after they both got married. Males might have been blatantly more prominent in her family, but there were certainly no traces of infertility. There didn't seem to be any reason she couldn't have children as well.

Suffice to say that it shattered her heart to hear from her doctor that her worst nightmare was, in fact, a reality.

There was never any question that adoption or surrogacy were always viable options and that they wouldn't be difficult considering her family's income, but they weren't things she ever considered before. She always had that picture perfect family image burned in her brain that, though she might not have a choice in the end, she didn't want to deviate from if she could help it. She yearned to have her own child, to carry and give birth to herself. She wanted to full experience. She didn't want it to play out in any other way.

But sadly for her, in the present day, as she sat in the living room of her little brother's friend's condo, she was just past thirty and still as unsuccessful as ever in her endeavor to conceive. For some time, she was able to get those negative thoughts out of her mind and focus on other things in her life, including spending time with said brother that she hadn't seen in well over a year.

Unfortunately, the unexpected discovery of her new niece brought them flooding right back into her mind, though it was hard to dwell on them too much considering the enormity of said discovery. However, to Kyoya's relief, her anger melted away rather quickly once he invited her into the condo…

"Oh, my God, aren't you just the sweetest little angel I've ever seen! I just can't believe how sweet and adorable you are! Yes, you are! Oh, yes, you are! You just might be the cutest niece a woman could ever dream of having!"

Kyoya, coming back into the living room with a small tray that carried two cups of tea, the matching pot, and a freshly heated bottle, felt tempted to roll his eyes as he watched his ever-doting older sister coo in the cutesiest manner to the little girl she cradled carefully in her arms. He knew she was always a sucker for babies and children, but he couldn't help but think that this was her way of dealing with her distress of being unable to have any children of her own. For that, he felt somewhat sorry for her and held back any sarcastic comments he might have had. As sickeningly sweet as it was, he could admit that he was glad that Kyoko seemed to be okay with her aunt fussing over her so much; if anything, she looked like she might have even been enjoying it.

The infant, dressed warmly in light pink footsy pajamas, peered up at her and cooed happily as she was being bounced up and down, which only made Fuyumi fuss over her even more. Fuyumi took notice of her eyes, which were the same beautiful onyx color that ran in their family. As much as she also loved her nephews, Fuyumi didn't think she could possibly imagine a more beautiful baby than Kyoko if she tried.

Kyoya had some difficulty in making his way around the toy- and clothing-littered floor without spilling anything. As busy as she had been recently, he found it hard to believe that Haruhi would allow her home to become as dirty as it was since she was usually so on top of everything in her life. As out of character as it seemed, he somewhat wanted to do her the favor of doing some cleaning around the place, but she would likely give him a hard time about it, insisting that she would've been able to do it herself. In addition to that, he didn't think he'd have the time since he planned on doing some homework while watching Kyoko; his sister's sudden drop-in didn't exactly help his cause either.

"Settle down, sis. You've made it crystal clear how absolutely adorable and precious she is, both things of which I'm very well aware of, but just don't tire her out yet. I can't have her falling asleep before I feed her," Kyoya said matter-of-factly as he set the tray down on the table, giving his sister an unamused look.

For a moment, Fuyumi pouted in her brother's direction, but at the mention of feeding Kyoko, she gasped excitedly and her eyes instantly lighted up like those of a kid on Christmas morning as she looked back and forth from him and the gurgling baby in her arms. She had more than enough practice with her nephews and even Kyoya when he was first born; she already felt more than excited. However, Kyoya took notice of this right away and grimaced at her.

"No, Fuyumi, you can't feed her."

A look of complete despair fell over Fuyumi's previously hopeful expression. She couldn't help but gape dramatically at him. It was just like him to ruin her fun, but it didn't seem fair. Ready to object, she was quickly beat before she could get a single word out.

"I'm sorry, but only Haruhi, her father, and I can ever seem to get her to drink when she needs to. My friends have all tried and she's always difficult with them, not that I'm that surprised. They're just as bad as you are when it comes to fussing over her. But even the nurses could barely get a drop down her throat the first day after she was born. Look, just let me handle it."

As Kyoya sat down next to her and held his arms out insistently, Fuyumi slightly hesitated, but with a look of defeat, complied and carefully passed off the infant to her father, pouting once again. She watched how cordially he cradled her, but she had to admit that, as weird as the image might have appeared in her brain before (not that she ever envisioned it before today), it almost looked natural for him, but that was to be expected, she guessed. According to what he had told her earlier, he spent the entirety of his two weeks of winter break helping Haruhi with Kyoko while she was on maternity leave. It went without saying that he obviously learned a thing or two. Fuyumi knew how her brother always went above and beyond with every challenge he took on, but never could she imagine him being so dedicated to something like this.

As she grabbed one of the cups of tea, she watched him as he simultaneously grabbed the bottle and began using it to feed Kyoko, who quieted down immediately as she began sucking on it without giving Kyoya the slightest bit of a hard time. Fuyumi almost couldn't believe her eyes when she witnessed a slight smile creep upon his face. She had pretty much made the assumption that he was doing all this primarily out of obligation for his daughter, but it seemed as if he was actually enjoying taking care of her. She could barely bring the cup to her lips as she watched them in a mix of amazement and disbelief.

'Is this really the same Kyoya I watched graduate almost two years ago?' she wondered, slowly sipping her tea after getting over the initial shock. She still couldn't take her eyes off the two of them. 'I can understand that having a baby could change a person, but still, this is Kyoya we're talking about here! I would never think that he of all people would actually like taking care of a baby, even if she was his own. I'd only imagine that he'd force all of his parental responsibilities onto Haruhi or at least hire a nanny if he could…'

"Sis, is something the matter or do you just enjoy staring blankly at me?"

Snapping out of her thoughts at the sound of his voice, Fuyumi was a bit startled by the sudden wake up, only to see the puzzled (and still unamused) expression Kyoya was wearing as he kept feeding Kyoko.

"Oh, sorry, Kyoya. I guess I was just spacing out for a moment…though, I have to admit…" she said thoughtfully as she set her cup down on the tray and began refilling it with the teapot. Kyoya just sighed as he turned back to his daughter, who began sucking less as she became sleepier. "While I'm honestly very happy about it, I'm just a bit surprised that you're so dedicated to helping Haruhi take care of your guys' baby. I'd think you of all people would dread having such responsibilities on your hands when you're always working so tirelessly. In fact, I'm surprised that you're even doing any of this to begin with, but I'm proud of you."

Kyoya was unable to hide his surprise when he heard his sister say such a thing. His eyes scarcely widened as he looked back up at her. She could see it in his eyes that he was a bit stunned, but she just resumed sipping her tea as innocently as she could, not really sure what she could say to him. After a slightly awkward stare down between the two of them, she became surprised herself when his face suddenly fell. She didn't think her comment was exactly hurtful; if anything, it was just a simple observation on her part, but he looked upset suddenly. She had an even more difficult time now in believing that this was really Kyoya of all people. Since when did he not to hesitate to show emotion? What happened to keeping a cool front at all times? She could easily recall him even doing so with her at practically every waking moment, so what was different now (other than Kyoko now being a pretty major part of his life)?

"To be honest, you're not exactly the first person to make such a comment about my decisions, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to hear any more about it after I finally scolded my friends about it," he murmured quietly as he set the bottle down, turning away from her again as he began to gently rock the sleepy child he held firmly against his chest. She raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, clearly not understanding what he was referring to.

"Kyoya, what are you talking about when you say "decision"? I was just referring to how you seem to be doing a good job taking care of Kyoko. I don't entirely understand this little…arrangement you and Haruhi have going on as of yet, nor do I really think you should have kept this all from your own family, but-"

"Those decisions. The decisions to help Haruhi take care of her and to keep it all a secret from as many people possible, the same ones that apparently caused all my friends to think the end of the world was upon us." A chill went up Fuyumi spine as his tone became slightly more caustic and as he suddenly shot up out of his seat. "But regardless as to however they might perceive me as a person, I didn't realize until only a month before Kyoko was born that they thought of me as being too greedy, manipulative, and self-centered to be capable of loving my own flesh and blood enough to want to be involved in her life. It's also for that same reason that they refuse to acknowledge that I've kept her a secret from everyone else for reasons other than to not get into trouble with our father. Evidently, while you might have a higher opinion of me than they do, you seem to share similar views as them."

Fuyumi nearly spat out her tea in response and briefly started coughing before she could be able to compose herself. She looked up at him to find him actually scowling at her, but he almost immediately turned away from her in irritation, still attempting to get Kyoko to fall asleep. There wasn't a shred of doubt in her mind that he was definitely aggravated with her now (and apparently with his group of friends), even though he was still acting pretty subtle about it and hadn't blown it out of proportion in the slightest. However, she never thought for a second that his own friends would actually be giving him such a hard time about all of this, especially when Haruhi was already so far into her pregnancy, but Kyoya was obviously still holding their words against them. Even worse, she hated that she of all people only further angered him, even though, unlike like these friends of his, she had no intention to sound berating towards him.

"K-Kyoya, I…I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you upset in the least," she said worriedly, attempting to sound comforting as she put her cup down and stood up next to him. She placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch, but he then didn't move an inch, not even to face her as she spoke. "I didn't know your friends were giving you such grief about all of this, but they're obviously just concerned about you, just like I am. For them to say such horrible things about you was very harsh of them and there's absolutely no reason to doubt your abilities in anything you do, but you can't really blame anyone for feeling at least a little disgruntled about all of this. I mean, none of can be easy on you.

"But unfortunately, you have to face facts, Kyoya; you've always been one to look out for number one and anyone would be surprised to see you looking out for Kyoko so diligently. I know that you're trying hard to make this all work out in the best way possible, but by obsessively keeping this a secret, it's not all that surprising that they or anyone else would question your motives. It's clear to me that you do love her a lot, but anyone who knows anything about you knows how much you've devoted yourself to impressing Dad. If your friends are still giving you a hard time or if you're just not happy with them, you need to be a lot more open with your emotions. It might not be natural for you and it might take time before you might start sounding convincing to them, but it's the only way for your friends or anyone else to understand what your incentives are for dealing with all of this in the first place.

At that moment, Fuyumi felt as if time began to stand still. The silence was torturous to her as she awaited some sort of response from her brother. The atmosphere became more and more uncomfortable as the dead silence began settling in. She realized how much she said in that one spiel, so it probably needed time to soak into his head before he could find some suitable answer for her. As she said, it wasn't natural for him to be very openly expressive to others, so that concept was likely foreign to him and something that might not have ever occurred to him before.

However, he now had a daughter for crying out loud, and at only twenty years old with one of his platonic friends no less. He had to be feelings something in regards to all of it. It wasn't healthy for him to just keep it all in, or at least to her it wasn't.

"She's falling asleep now, finally," he said quietly, finally breaking the silence, but not exactly the way she expected (or really wanted). He looked down solemnly at the child to confirm it. His tone was considerably calmer now. "I need to go put her down for her morning nap right now. Please excuse me for a moment and don't move."

When he turned around to begin making his way to what Fuyumi assumed was Kyoko's nursery, which prompted her to slowly remove her hand from his shoulder, she could see the neutral expression he now wore as he briefly glance her way. She almost had to wonder if her words meant anything to him, but she didn't think about it for long as he strode right passed her to go into the nursery. Its door was wide open, but he hastily shut it closed behind him without making too much noise.

Fuyumi sighed to herself as she watched the two of them disappear into the nursery, "As usual, he doesn't seem to like hearing my own opinion if it conflicts with his own. But still…"

She carefully sat back down and began gazing up at the ceiling in deep thought, just as concerned as ever (if not more so now) for her baby brother's sake and for that of her niece.

"Even if he has changed since she was born and is more caring than his own circle of friends perceive him to be, how on Earth is he possibly going to continue on like this for the rest of his life? Even if his intentions are good and he wants to carry on with this arrangement, I don't think it's right for him to be keeping all of this hidden from everyone else, especially his own family. As hard as he's trying to keep it a secret from Dad, I can only imagine that it's merely a matter of time before it's too overbearing to keep such a huge secret…"
________________________________________

'Dammit…what the hell could she possibly understand about our situation? I'm the one who has unsupportive friends and an illegitimate child that Father would disapprove of, not her. I know she means well, but she doesn't know anything. My efforts to get through to those idiots have continued to prove ineffective.'

After shutting the door, Kyoya paced around the room as he pondered his sister's words, examining the pristine white walls and perfectly placed furniture. The room brought back the memories of the day he and others decided to finally furnish and decorate it, but it took some prompting to get them to accept that, ultimately, he had the final word on everything from the room's color scheme to the hypo-allergenic stuffed animals (a suggestion that sounded too much like Kyoya to them). He couldn't resist cracking a small smile as he admired his work on the nursery, especially since it was the nicest room in the whole condo, but it faded when it began to remind him of the members of the now dissolved host club. He couldn't help but scoff to himself as he kept rocking Kyoko in an attempt to make her fall fully asleep.

'I shouldn't be so surprised though, considering how dense they can all be, but it's insulting that even after all I've done, they still doubt me and my reasons for not telling my father about Kyoko. And not that Fuyumi would have any way of knowing, but I've already received that same lecture from Haruhi. Obviously, they've both been wrong so far,' he thought to himself as he carefully sat down in the rocking chair.

As he slowly rocked in the chair, his eyes, which were beginning to look just as tired as his daughter's, soon landed on the dresser next to him, or more specifically, the numerous pictures sitting on top of it, the ones he began arranging before Kyoko was even born. Even though there were so many of them and they began to clutter the available surface of the dresser, he figured that Haruhi would appreciate the nice homey touch it added to the room and he was pleased to learn that she greatly appreciated it. He found himself frowning at them as he scanned each one, each of which brought back a memory, but he could at least admit that each one was a happy one.

The ones that he had initially put there were of the former host between when Haruhi first joined their them to when she and the twins graduated. As expected, several showcased them in some wacky cosplay or formal attire at some club event, usually something that was Tamaki's idea. Compared to recent events, Kyoya could remember those times much more fondly and thought it'd be nice for Kyoko to have pictures of her parents and uncles from their happier years. He thought that the graduation picture of Haruhi with the others after the ceremony had her looking her best, but he felt uncomfortable at the fact that she was likely faking her usually brilliant natural type smile, considering how stressful that specific day had been for her.

Right next to them were ones from over the past year, primarily during Haruhi's pregnancy and when the two of them began spending increasingly more time together. It surprised him when she insisted that they do so, but he couldn't deny it to himself that he genuinely enjoyed their times together. While he still held onto his strong feelings for her, he knew how wrapped up she was with getting ready for their baby that he controlled himself and not allow his emotions to take over. He briefly kept his gaze still on one from when the two of them were alone at the beach when she was about seven months along. He couldn't believe she actually wanted to go, but she insisted on doing it, maybe just to get fresh air and out of that stupid café. He was casually lying on a chaise in only his swim trunks when she, wearing a cute maternity suit the twins claimed to have made just for her, got next to him and quickly took it before he could object. He hated how indifferent he looked in it next to her. However, he would never admit to her how much her smiley expression in that picture made his heart melt, or at least not anytime soon.

Last, but far from least, were finally the pictures of Kyoko herself from literally minutes after she was born. Despite how tired Haruhi looked in one of the pictures, Kyoya, after cautiously getting up out of his seat, walked over to the dresser and picked it up to examine it closely, still thinking about how beautiful she looked anyway. As expected, each former host just had to get the chance to hold her before she was even a couple hours old. It just wouldn't be like them to not make an already eventful (and stress-filled) day even crazier if they had the chance to. He could clearly remember threatening all of them if just one of them dropped her or handled her carelessly, but to Haruhi's relief, no one lost his head that day.

Kyoya could easily recall the joy he had felt that day, but as he scanned over each picture of each of his five "best friends", he could only feel anger, the same anger he had been feeling towards them for he didn't know how long.

'Hikaru…Kaoru…Honey-sempai…Mori-sempai…and even…Tamaki…'

He couldn't help but glare the hardest at the jovial expression he wore as he cradled his "granddaughter/step-daughter". He still couldn't believe he and Haruhi allowed him to touch her after what he did, even though he profusely apologized and explained himself, as well as proving very helpful to both of them in their situation.

'How much more do I have to do to prove to you morons that I'm not the same "Shadow King" that only looks out for himself? I never thought I ever appeared that heartless in front of others. Cold and calculating maybe, but not heartless…but even if so, I just wish they'd have more faith in me.'

As the anger within him began to build up, he found his hand holding the picture of Haruhi gripping it even harder. He gritted his teeth as his eyes glanced back and forth from her picture to those of the others. He hated how much they questioned his motives and, as Fuyumi suggested, had made it as clear as he possibly could that he wasn't just doing this entirely for his own gain, but he knew. He could tell that they were still doubtful and he loathed how much his friends doubted him.

"Damn them all…if Haruhi believes in me, then why can't they?" he snarled as he was nearly ready to slam the picture in his hand back onto the top of the dresser. "Just... dammit!"

However, just as he was ready to annihilate the picture he was clutching, he immediately froze upon hearing a certain two-month-old begin to wail uncontrollably in his arm. Gaping in surprise, he quickly looked down at Kyoko, his eyes widening as he watched her cry with her tears running down her face, flailing her limbs in distress. So much for getting her to take her nap all that easily…

"Oh, God…" he groaned, frowning down at her as he more gingerly placed the picture back down. "That wasn't a very intelligent move on my part, now was it?"

Now cradling her with both of his arms again, he walked back over to and took a seat in the rocking chair, rocking back and forth in an attempt to console his child. He held her against his chest again and affectionately rubbed her back as he whispered comfortingly to her, but she showed absolutely no signs in calming down. He could swear that if his stress levels were measured on a bar graph, they'd be running miles and miles off of the graph by now.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to blow up like that and wake you. I'm sorry..." he sighed, his expression becoming more and more worried the longer she kept crying. "God, look at me…you can't understand a word I'm saying and you're not going to stop just because I'm asking you to, but I feel obligated to apologize to you anyway…"

Choking on his own words, Kyoya exhaled exasperatedly. After a couple more minutes of non-stop wailing, he felt a small wave of relief wash over him when said wailing became reduced to light sniffling. A small smile appearing on his face, he gently lifted her up and held her right in front of him just so he could look at her. As her tears finally came to a halt, he practically started laughing. He was unable to keep in a light chuckle from escaping his lips, which somewhat took him aback, but he figured it must have simply been out of slight hysteria.

As the little girl, now quieted down, stared blankly at her father, he couldn't help but just stare back. She began getting tired again rather quickly and his smile soon vanished as he pursed his lips together tightly, a couple of his own tears running down his face this time.

Swallowing the huge knot in his throat, he softly began speaking again, "Speaking of obligation…I know your uncles all think I'm merely doing this solely out of some "obligation" to your mother and yourself. I also know that they think I'm keeping you a secret from your grandfather only because I'm apparently beyond desperate to succeed him and not let him down. However…"

As he let out another deep sigh, he lovingly cradled Kyoko and brought her closer to him, biting down on his lip as he began choking on his own words again. Gazing down at her as she was beginning to fall asleep again, he felt more confident than ever that the others were completely wrong about what they thought about him. Maybe their perceptions of him were accurate a year ago, but he knew how drastically he had changed since then, and it was thanks to Haruhi and their daughter.

"While that might all still be important to me, I do all this because I honestly love you more than they could ever understand…" Kyoya tried his hardest to stop anymore tears from falling, but on this rare occasion, he realized he had trouble covering up his emotions. "And because if your grandfather found out, he'd disown me immediately and I wouldn't be able to support you financially…or worse…he'd make me put you up for adoption."

If Kyoya wasn't a master of putting up a front like he was, he had a feeling more of his tears would spill out simply because he even thought about the idea of giving up his little girl to someone else.

"I love you, Kyoko..." he whispered as she finally fell completely asleep, lightly kissing her on the top of her head. " When everything and everyone else in my life becomes too much at times, I still have you..."

Description
Having already been married for about five years, Fuyumi bitterly regretted that she and her husband were still childless, despite their desperate efforts at conceiving. At one point, they did go as far as attempting IVF, but to no avail. It was already a necessity that she produce an heir at some point in their marriage, but being the doting, motherly woman she was, it was incredibly heartbreaking above all other feelings. She always loved children and wanted a child more than anything. Even though it was nothing substantial, she was so used to caring for Kyoya when they were younger that she felt more than confident in that it was fully within her ability to care for one as well. She didn't have anything really holding her back, considering that she never worked and was often at home alone and bored out of her mind. (Unlike her brothers, she was never pressured by Yoshio to accomplish anything great or do anything besides marrying well.) The desire just always stuck with her throughout her life, but it just never seemed to become a reality, even when the timing was finally perfect for her.

With such undesirable results, she couldn't help be continuously fret over the obvious worst case scenario, that she was infertile. In a way, it wasn't even an option since it was crucial that she'd produce an heir for her husband eventually. It also didn't seem all that likely since there were no cases of infertility in her family's medical history; both of her older brothers already had two sons each not long after they both got married. Males might have been blatantly more prominent in her family, but there were certainly no traces of infertility. There didn't seem to be any reason she couldn't have children as well.

Suffice to say that it shattered her heart to hear from her doctor that her worst nightmare was, in fact, a reality.

There was never any question that adoption or surrogacy were always viable options and that they wouldn't be difficult considering her family's income, but they weren't things she ever considered before. She always had that picture perfect family image burned in her brain that, though she might not have a choice in the end, she didn't want to deviate from if she could help it. She yearned to have her own child, to carry and give birth to herself. She wanted to full experience. She didn't want it to play out in any other way.

But sadly for her, in the present day, as she sat in the living room of her little brother's friend's condo, she was just past thirty and still as unsuccessful as ever in her endeavor to conceive. For some time, she was able to get those negative thoughts out of her mind and focus on other things in her life, including spending time with said brother that she hadn't seen in well over a year.

Unfortunately, the unexpected discovery of her new niece brought them flooding right back into her mind, though it was hard to dwell on them too much considering the enormity of said discovery. However, to Kyoya's relief, her anger melted away rather quickly once he invited her into the condo…

"Oh, my God, aren't you just the sweetest little angel I've ever seen! I just can't believe how sweet and adorable you are! Yes, you are! Oh, yes, you are! You just might be the cutest niece a woman could ever dream of having!"

Kyoya, coming back into the living room with a small tray that carried two cups of tea, the matching pot, and a freshly heated bottle, felt tempted to roll his eyes as he watched his ever-doting older sister coo in the cutesiest manner to the little girl she cradled carefully in her arms. He knew she was always a sucker for babies and children, but he couldn't help but think that this was her way of dealing with her distress of being unable to have any children of her own. For that, he felt somewhat sorry for her and held back any sarcastic comments he might have had. As sickeningly sweet as it was, he could admit that he was glad that Kyoko seemed to be okay with her aunt fussing over her so much; if anything, she looked like she might have even been enjoying it.

The infant, dressed warmly in light pink footsy pajamas, peered up at her and cooed happily as she was being bounced up and down, which only made Fuyumi fuss over her even more. Fuyumi took notice of her eyes, which were the same beautiful onyx color that ran in their family. As much as she also loved her nephews, Fuyumi didn't think she could possibly imagine a more beautiful baby than Kyoko if she tried.

Kyoya had some difficulty in making his way around the toy- and clothing-littered floor without spilling anything. As busy as she had been recently, he found it hard to believe that Haruhi would allow her home to become as dirty as it was since she was usually so on top of everything in her life. As out of character as it seemed, he somewhat wanted to do her the favor of doing some cleaning around the place, but she would likely give him a hard time about it, insisting that she would've been able to do it herself. In addition to that, he didn't think he'd have the time since he planned on doing some homework while watching Kyoko; his sister's sudden drop-in didn't exactly help his cause either.

"Settle down, sis. You've made it crystal clear how absolutely adorable and precious she is, both things of which I'm very well aware of, but just don't tire her out yet. I can't have her falling asleep before I feed her," Kyoya said matter-of-factly as he set the tray down on the table, giving his sister an unamused look.

For a moment, Fuyumi pouted in her brother's direction, but at the mention of feeding Kyoko, she gasped excitedly and her eyes instantly lighted up like those of a kid on Christmas morning as she looked back and forth from him and the gurgling baby in her arms. She had more than enough practice with her nephews and even Kyoya when he was first born; she already felt more than excited. However, Kyoya took notice of this right away and grimaced at her.

"No, Fuyumi, you can't feed her."

A look of complete despair fell over Fuyumi's previously hopeful expression. She couldn't help but gape dramatically at him. It was just like him to ruin her fun, but it didn't seem fair. Ready to object, she was quickly beat before she could get a single word out.

"I'm sorry, but only Haruhi, her father, and I can ever seem to get her to drink when she needs to. My friends have all tried and she's always difficult with them, not that I'm that surprised. They're just as bad as you are when it comes to fussing over her. But even the nurses could barely get a drop down her throat the first day after she was born. Look, just let me handle it."

As Kyoya sat down next to her and held his arms out insistently, Fuyumi slightly hesitated, but with a look of defeat, complied and carefully passed off the infant to her father, pouting once again. She watched how cordially he cradled her, but she had to admit that, as weird as the image might have appeared in her brain before (not that she ever envisioned it before today), it almost looked natural for him, but that was to be expected, she guessed. According to what he had told her earlier, he spent the entirety of his two weeks of winter break helping Haruhi with Kyoko while she was on maternity leave. It went without saying that he obviously learned a thing or two. Fuyumi knew how her brother always went above and beyond with every challenge he took on, but never could she imagine him being so dedicated to something like this.

As she grabbed one of the cups of tea, she watched him as he simultaneously grabbed the bottle and began using it to feed Kyoko, who quieted down immediately as she began sucking on it without giving Kyoya the slightest bit of a hard time. Fuyumi almost couldn't believe her eyes when she witnessed a slight smile creep upon his face. She had pretty much made the assumption that he was doing all this primarily out of obligation for his daughter, but it seemed as if he was actually enjoying taking care of her. She could barely bring the cup to her lips as she watched them in a mix of amazement and disbelief.

'Is this really the same Kyoya I watched graduate almost two years ago?' she wondered, slowly sipping her tea after getting over the initial shock. She still couldn't take her eyes off the two of them. 'I can understand that having a baby could change a person, but still, this is Kyoya we're talking about here! I would never think that he of all people would actually like taking care of a baby, even if she was his own. I'd only imagine that he'd force all of his parental responsibilities onto Haruhi or at least hire a nanny if he could…'

"Sis, is something the matter or do you just enjoy staring blankly at me?"

Snapping out of her thoughts at the sound of his voice, Fuyumi was a bit startled by the sudden wake up, only to see the puzzled (and still unamused) expression Kyoya was wearing as he kept feeding Kyoko.

"Oh, sorry, Kyoya. I guess I was just spacing out for a moment…though, I have to admit…" she said thoughtfully as she set her cup down on the tray and began refilling it with the teapot. Kyoya just sighed as he turned back to his daughter, who began sucking less as she became sleepier. "While I'm honestly very happy about it, I'm just a bit surprised that you're so dedicated to helping Haruhi take care of your guys' baby. I'd think you of all people would dread having such responsibilities on your hands when you're always working so tirelessly. In fact, I'm surprised that you're even doing any of this to begin with, but I'm proud of you."

Kyoya was unable to hide his surprise when he heard his sister say such a thing. His eyes scarcely widened as he looked back up at her. She could see it in his eyes that he was a bit stunned, but she just resumed sipping her tea as innocently as she could, not really sure what she could say to him. After a slightly awkward stare down between the two of them, she became surprised herself when his face suddenly fell. She didn't think her comment was exactly hurtful; if anything, it was just a simple observation on her part, but he looked upset suddenly. She had an even more difficult time now in believing that this was really Kyoya of all people. Since when did he not to hesitate to show emotion? What happened to keeping a cool front at all times? She could easily recall him even doing so with her at practically every waking moment, so what was different now (other than Kyoko now being a pretty major part of his life)?

"To be honest, you're not exactly the first person to make such a comment about my decisions, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to hear any more about it after I finally scolded my friends about it," he murmured quietly as he set the bottle down, turning away from her again as he began to gently rock the sleepy child he held firmly against his chest. She raised an eyebrow at him in confusion, clearly not understanding what he was referring to.

"Kyoya, what are you talking about when you say "decision"? I was just referring to how you seem to be doing a good job taking care of Kyoko. I don't entirely understand this little…arrangement you and Haruhi have going on as of yet, nor do I really think you should have kept this all from your own family, but-"

"Those decisions. The decisions to help Haruhi take care of her and to keep it all a secret from as many people possible, the same ones that apparently caused all my friends to think the end of the world was upon us." A chill went up Fuyumi spine as his tone became slightly more caustic and as he suddenly shot up out of his seat. "But regardless as to however they might perceive me as a person, I didn't realize until only a month before Kyoko was born that they thought of me as being too greedy, manipulative, and self-centered to be capable of loving my own flesh and blood enough to want to be involved in her life. It's also for that same reason that they refuse to acknowledge that I've kept her a secret from everyone else for reasons other than to not get into trouble with our father. Evidently, while you might have a higher opinion of me than they do, you seem to share similar views as them."

Fuyumi nearly spat out her tea in response and briefly started coughing before she could be able to compose herself. She looked up at him to find him actually scowling at her, but he almost immediately turned away from her in irritation, still attempting to get Kyoko to fall asleep. There wasn't a shred of doubt in her mind that he was definitely aggravated with her now (and apparently with his group of friends), even though he was still acting pretty subtle about it and hadn't blown it out of proportion in the slightest. However, she never thought for a second that his own friends would actually be giving him such a hard time about all of this, especially when Haruhi was already so far into her pregnancy, but Kyoya was obviously still holding their words against them. Even worse, she hated that she of all people only further angered him, even though, unlike like these friends of his, she had no intention to sound berating towards him.

"K-Kyoya, I…I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you upset in the least," she said worriedly, attempting to sound comforting as she put her cup down and stood up next to him. She placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch, but he then didn't move an inch, not even to face her as she spoke. "I didn't know your friends were giving you such grief about all of this, but they're obviously just concerned about you, just like I am. For them to say such horrible things about you was very harsh of them and there's absolutely no reason to doubt your abilities in anything you do, but you can't really blame anyone for feeling at least a little disgruntled about all of this. I mean, none of can be easy on you.

"But unfortunately, you have to face facts, Kyoya; you've always been one to look out for number one and anyone would be surprised to see you looking out for Kyoko so diligently. I know that you're trying hard to make this all work out in the best way possible, but by obsessively keeping this a secret, it's not all that surprising that they or anyone else would question your motives. It's clear to me that you do love her a lot, but anyone who knows anything about you knows how much you've devoted yourself to impressing Dad. If your friends are still giving you a hard time or if you're just not happy with them, you need to be a lot more open with your emotions. It might not be natural for you and it might take time before you might start sounding convincing to them, but it's the only way for your friends or anyone else to understand what your incentives are for dealing with all of this in the first place.

At that moment, Fuyumi felt as if time began to stand still. The silence was torturous to her as she awaited some sort of response from her brother. The atmosphere became more and more uncomfortable as the dead silence began settling in. She realized how much she said in that one spiel, so it probably needed time to soak into his head before he could find some suitable answer for her. As she said, it wasn't natural for him to be very openly expressive to others, so that concept was likely foreign to him and something that might not have ever occurred to him before.

However, he now had a daughter for crying out loud, and at only twenty years old with one of his platonic friends no less. He had to be feelings something in regards to all of it. It wasn't healthy for him to just keep it all in, or at least to her it wasn't.

"She's falling asleep now, finally," he said quietly, finally breaking the silence, but not exactly the way she expected (or really wanted). He looked down solemnly at the child to confirm it. His tone was considerably calmer now. "I need to go put her down for her morning nap right now. Please excuse me for a moment and don't move."

When he turned around to begin making his way to what Fuyumi assumed was Kyoko's nursery, which prompted her to slowly remove her hand from his shoulder, she could see the neutral expression he now wore as he briefly glance her way. She almost had to wonder if her words meant anything to him, but she didn't think about it for long as he strode right passed her to go into the nursery. Its door was wide open, but he hastily shut it closed behind him without making too much noise.

Fuyumi sighed to herself as she watched the two of them disappear into the nursery, "As usual, he doesn't seem to like hearing my own opinion if it conflicts with his own. But still…"

She carefully sat back down and began gazing up at the ceiling in deep thought, just as concerned as ever (if not more so now) for her baby brother's sake and for that of her niece.

"Even if he has changed since she was born and is more caring than his own circle of friends perceive him to be, how on Earth is he possibly going to continue on like this for the rest of his life? Even if his intentions are good and he wants to carry on with this arrangement, I don't think it's right for him to be keeping all of this hidden from everyone else, especially his own family. As hard as he's trying to keep it a secret from Dad, I can only imagine that it's merely a matter of time before it's too overbearing to keep such a huge secret…"
________________________________________

'Dammit…what the hell could she possibly understand about our situation? I'm the one who has unsupportive friends and an illegitimate child that Father would disapprove of, not her. I know she means well, but she doesn't know anything. My efforts to get through to those idiots have continued to prove ineffective.'

After shutting the door, Kyoya paced around the room as he pondered his sister's words, examining the pristine white walls and perfectly placed furniture. The room brought back the memories of the day he and others decided to finally furnish and decorate it, but it took some prompting to get them to accept that, ultimately, he had the final word on everything from the room's color scheme to the hypo-allergenic stuffed animals (a suggestion that sounded too much like Kyoya to them). He couldn't resist cracking a small smile as he admired his work on the nursery, especially since it was the nicest room in the whole condo, but it faded when it began to remind him of the members of the now dissolved host club. He couldn't help but scoff to himself as he kept rocking Kyoko in an attempt to make her fall fully asleep.

'I shouldn't be so surprised though, considering how dense they can all be, but it's insulting that even after all I've done, they still doubt me and my reasons for not telling my father about Kyoko. And not that Fuyumi would have any way of knowing, but I've already received that same lecture from Haruhi. Obviously, they've both been wrong so far,' he thought to himself as he carefully sat down in the rocking chair.

As he slowly rocked in the chair, his eyes, which were beginning to look just as tired as his daughter's, soon landed on the dresser next to him, or more specifically, the numerous pictures sitting on top of it, the ones he began arranging before Kyoko was even born. Even though there were so many of them and they began to clutter the available surface of the dresser, he figured that Haruhi would appreciate the nice homey touch it added to the room and he was pleased to learn that she greatly appreciated it. He found himself frowning at them as he scanned each one, each of which brought back a memory, but he could at least admit that each one was a happy one.

The ones that he had initially put there were of the former host between when Haruhi first joined their them to when she and the twins graduated. As expected, several showcased them in some wacky cosplay or formal attire at some club event, usually something that was Tamaki's idea. Compared to recent events, Kyoya could remember those times much more fondly and thought it'd be nice for Kyoko to have pictures of her parents and uncles from their happier years. He thought that the graduation picture of Haruhi with the others after the ceremony had her looking her best, but he felt uncomfortable at the fact that she was likely faking her usually brilliant natural type smile, considering how stressful that specific day had been for her.

Right next to them were ones from over the past year, primarily during Haruhi's pregnancy and when the two of them began spending increasingly more time together. It surprised him when she insisted that they do so, but he couldn't deny it to himself that he genuinely enjoyed their times together. While he still held onto his strong feelings for her, he knew how wrapped up she was with getting ready for their baby that he controlled himself and not allow his emotions to take over. He briefly kept his gaze still on one from when the two of them were alone at the beach when she was about seven months along. He couldn't believe she actually wanted to go, but she insisted on doing it, maybe just to get fresh air and out of that stupid café. He was casually lying on a chaise in only his swim trunks when she, wearing a cute maternity suit the twins claimed to have made just for her, got next to him and quickly took it before he could object. He hated how indifferent he looked in it next to her. However, he would never admit to her how much her smiley expression in that picture made his heart melt, or at least not anytime soon.

Last, but far from least, were finally the pictures of Kyoko herself from literally minutes after she was born. Despite how tired Haruhi looked in one of the pictures, Kyoya, after cautiously getting up out of his seat, walked over to the dresser and picked it up to examine it closely, still thinking about how beautiful she looked anyway. As expected, each former host just had to get the chance to hold her before she was even a couple hours old. It just wouldn't be like them to not make an already eventful (and stress-filled) day even crazier if they had the chance to. He could clearly remember threatening all of them if just one of them dropped her or handled her carelessly, but to Haruhi's relief, no one lost his head that day.

Kyoya could easily recall the joy he had felt that day, but as he scanned over each picture of each of his five "best friends", he could only feel anger, the same anger he had been feeling towards them for he didn't know how long.

'Hikaru…Kaoru…Honey-sempai…Mori-sempai…and even…Tamaki…'

He couldn't help but glare the hardest at the jovial expression he wore as he cradled his "granddaughter/step-daughter". He still couldn't believe he and Haruhi allowed him to touch her after what he did, even though he profusely apologized and explained himself, as well as proving very helpful to both of them in their situation.

'How much more do I have to do to prove to you morons that I'm not the same "Shadow King" that only looks out for himself? I never thought I ever appeared that heartless in front of others. Cold and calculating maybe, but not heartless…but even if so, I just wish they'd have more faith in me.'

As the anger within him began to build up, he found his hand holding the picture of Haruhi gripping it even harder. He gritted his teeth as his eyes glanced back and forth from her picture to those of the others. He hated how much they questioned his motives and, as Fuyumi suggested, had made it as clear as he possibly could that he wasn't just doing this entirely for his own gain, but he knew. He could tell that they were still doubtful and he loathed how much his friends doubted him.

"Damn them all…if Haruhi believes in me, then why can't they?" he snarled as he was nearly ready to slam the picture in his hand back onto the top of the dresser. "Just... dammit!"

However, just as he was ready to annihilate the picture he was clutching, he immediately froze upon hearing a certain two-month-old begin to wail uncontrollably in his arm. Gaping in surprise, he quickly looked down at Kyoko, his eyes widening as he watched her cry with her tears running down her face, flailing her limbs in distress. So much for getting her to take her nap all that easily…

"Oh, God…" he groaned, frowning down at her as he more gingerly placed the picture back down. "That wasn't a very intelligent move on my part, now was it?"

Now cradling her with both of his arms again, he walked back over to and took a seat in the rocking chair, rocking back and forth in an attempt to console his child. He held her against his chest again and affectionately rubbed her back as he whispered comfortingly to her, but she showed absolutely no signs in calming down. He could swear that if his stress levels were measured on a bar graph, they'd be running miles and miles off of the graph by now.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to blow up like that and wake you. I'm sorry..." he sighed, his expression becoming more and more worried the longer she kept crying. "God, look at me…you can't understand a word I'm saying and you're not going to stop just because I'm asking you to, but I feel obligated to apologize to you anyway…"

Choking on his own words, Kyoya exhaled exasperatedly. After a couple more minutes of non-stop wailing, he felt a small wave of relief wash over him when said wailing became reduced to light sniffling. A small smile appearing on his face, he gently lifted her up and held her right in front of him just so he could look at her. As her tears finally came to a halt, he practically started laughing. He was unable to keep in a light chuckle from escaping his lips, which somewhat took him aback, but he figured it must have simply been out of slight hysteria.

As the little girl, now quieted down, stared blankly at her father, he couldn't help but just stare back. She began getting tired again rather quickly and his smile soon vanished as he pursed his lips together tightly, a couple of his own tears running down his face this time.

Swallowing the huge knot in his throat, he softly began speaking again, "Speaking of obligation…I know your uncles all think I'm merely doing this solely out of some "obligation" to your mother and yourself. I also know that they think I'm keeping you a secret from your grandfather only because I'm apparently beyond desperate to succeed him and not let him down. However…"

As he let out another deep sigh, he lovingly cradled Kyoko and brought her closer to him, biting down on his lip as he began choking on his own words again. Gazing down at her as she was beginning to fall asleep again, he felt more confident than ever that the others were completely wrong about what they thought about him. Maybe their perceptions of him were accurate a year ago, but he knew how drastically he had changed since then, and it was thanks to Haruhi and their daughter.

"While that might all still be important to me, I do all this because I honestly love you more than they could ever understand…" Kyoya tried his hardest to stop anymore tears from falling, but on this rare occasion, he realized he had trouble covering up his emotions. "And because if your grandfather found out, he'd disown me immediately and I wouldn't be able to support you financially…or worse…he'd make me put you up for adoption."

If Kyoya wasn't a master of putting up a front like he was, he had a feeling more of his tears would spill out simply because he even thought about the idea of giving up his little girl to someone else.

"I love you, Kyoko..." he whispered as she finally fell completely asleep, lightly kissing her on the top of her head. " When everything and everyone else in my life becomes too much at times, I still have you..."