Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Haruhi stood at a crossroads in her life, and she knew it.

In her hands were two different letters.

One was an acceptance letter to a very prestigious school right here in Tokyo. It came complete with a scholarship that would cover her tuition and book costs as long as she remained top of her class.

She'd expected to get that letter. She'd studied hard for the exam and she'd looked up the other students applying, none of them were quite as dedicated as she was when it came to studying.

It was the other letter that was the surprise. She'd only applied for it because her father had pressed her.

How in the world had she gotten accepted at a prestigious boarding school in Australia?

This letter informed her that with her scores and interview she'd managed to land their premier scholarship. If she maintained a spot in the top three of her class all of her room, board, tuition, uniform and books would be covered. And, she was even eligible for a free round-trip flight to Japan once a year if she was first in her class. Even if she wasn't the top three, her tuition and room were covered and her books, uniform and board would be covered if she took a part-time job on campus and stayed in the top ten percent of her class.

She cast a sidelong glance at her father snoring loudly on his futon, what would he do without her? How would he eat? But, if she didn't go, and he found out she got in, she'd never hear the end of it…

Haruhi tried to make up her mind.

If she accepted Ouran then she'd be able to stay right here at home and keep an eye on her father, who definitely needed watching.

But, if she went to Brekleys she'd be able to save him money on her food. She'd also be better prepared for a university outside of Japan, if that's what she wanted.

She sat there for a while weighing the pros and cons of the two schools before a loud snore from her father alerted her to the time.

Sighing, Haruhi stuck the letters back in her bag and laid down on her own futon.

Maybe sleeping on it would make it easier.

XXX

Haruhi gripped her suitcase handle tightly and shifted her backpack so it wasn't cutting into her shoulders so badly before moving determinedly through the crowd.

She'd passed customs easily enough. Her visa was in order and due to her status as an unaccompanied minor she'd been escorted through one of the shorter, special lines.

Leaving her dad at Narita International Airport hadn't been easy. He'd of course made a big scene about how he was so proud of his little baby going off to a fancy school. And, while she knew he was proud, she also knew he was scared. He knew she was smart, but he was scared she wasn't smart enough to hold the top slot in her class. They didn't have the money to pay for a return flight to Japan and he didn't want to go years without seeing her again.

She was afraid, too.

Not that being afraid helped at all.

But, what if her English wasn't good enough?

What if she couldn't get the top spot because she was studying in a second language?

And there was no way she'd take a handicap, even if they offered her one.

Haruhi reached the exit for the international arrivals and stopped for a moment. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Mother," she thought, "please, let it all turn out all right."

And with that thought she stepped through the doorway.

It was time to find her contact from Brekleys.

XXX

"We're so excited to have such a promising international student here at Brekleys!" Ms. Stork, her contact, exclaimed.

"I am happy to go to Brekleys," Haruhi stated calmly as she watched the countryside fly by outside the car's window. This woman was so excitable, it wouldn't help to encourage her. Too much like her own father.

"Oh! Of course you are! We're the best in all of Australia, and, possibly, the world! All of our students go on to top universities in whatever country they so choose. Oh! We're almost there! See? There's the school bell tower?"

Haruhi leaned down so she could see the tall brick and wrought iron clock tower that Ms. Stork was pointing at.

It was a beautiful piece of work, and as they rounded a bend in the road Haruhi caught sight of the gate that led to the campus. It had to be five meters tall and was made of wrought iron with small details in brilliantly polished copper. Haruhi knew that copper wasn't expensive, but keeping it polished so nicely probably took lots and lots of work. She hoped that wasn't her part-time job. She'd much rather cook food than polish a silly bit of extravagance.

"Well, what do you think of it?" Ms. Stork asked expectantly.

"It is very beautiful. So many wrought iron, it is very strong looking."

"So much wrought iron, not so many," Ms. Stork corrected absently. All of her attention was on watching the school with this mix of love and awe.

Haruhi wondered what about Brekleys made it worth so much devotion. She'd never felt anything like that for her old school.

Maybe she'd find out.

But, then again, maybe she wouldn't.

Chapter Text

It took Haruhi a few days to become oriented.

She didn't find the English as hard to understand as she'd feared, but that was likely because she'd spent the months between when she decided to come to Brekleys and when she actually departed studying English. Specifically, Australian English, because they didn't talk at all like the American English she'd been learning in middle school.

No, what she did find difficult was her part-time job.

She'd been quite happy to find they'd put her in the kitchen doing prep-work for meals. The good thing about prep-work was that she got to eat with everyone else. The bad thing was that she'd go to eat straight from the kitchen and so everyone knew she was a scholarship student.

Not that Haruhi minded other people knowing, but the fact that she was the most easily identified scholarship student made her a target for bullies.

Not they could really hurt her, but they made life annoying. She had to keep taking random routes to class in order to dodge their attempts to delay her – which left her with less time to study.

And that was criminal.

And so here she was, a month into her first year at Brekleys, skulking through the bushes rather than walking on the nice sidewalks.

"Haruhi, why are you walking through the bushes?" Chiye Koenig asked in Japanese.

Haruhi glanced up in surprise to see one of her roommates staring down at her from one of the trees.

"Probably the same reason you're in a tree?" Haruhi retorted.

A tinkling little laugh came from another tree and Haruhi looked over to see Masaye Koenig sitting on a branch. "Silly Haruhi, we may be international students like you, but we aren't on scholarships, we have no need to hide from the bullies."

"Okay, since you know why I'm here, why are you in trees?" Haruhi retorted in Japanese, getting a little annoyed. She didn't really understand her roommates. They were so obsessed with soccer that she couldn't really comprehend them. Not they had tried to get to know her, despite the fact that the administration put them all together because Haruhi was Japanese and the girls' mother was Japanese. They spent most of their time in the dorm speaking in German, which Haruhi didn't know.

"Because we're also hiding," Chiye said in Japanese.

Haruhi frowned in confusion, "Why are you hiding?"

"Well, you see-"

"-we were getting bored."

"So, we decided to-"

"-duck tape all the furniture in our science lab-"

"-to the ceiling."

"We're afraid-"

"-that we forgot-"

"-to take the security-"

"-cameras into consideration."

"And now they're looking for us," they finished in unison.

Haruhi sighed, why had she thought that she'd had smart roommates?

"You do know that you're just delaying the inevitable, don't you?" Haruhi asked.

"Oh, of course we do," replied Masaye cheerfully.

"But, we figured it would be more of a prank, if we made it hard to find us. After all, if we're going to establish ourselves as the Mischievous Koenig Twins we need to drive up our 'street' cred. Which is a little difficult at the moment because we forgot about the security cameras," said Chiye.

Haruhi understood their logic, but she was still confused. "Why do you want to be known as the Mischievous Koenig Twins?"

"Why not?" Chiye asked.

"It's something to do, we are bored, after all," Masaye added. "Aren't you?"

Haruhi shook her head, "No, I'm not. I need to get the top spot in our grade. So I HAVE to study."

Now it was the Koenig twins' turn to frown in confusion, "Why do you need the top spot? You can quit the part time job if you're one of the top three. Then the bullies will probably lose interest since they won't have the constant reminder of you eating in your work uniform."

"The bullies don't really bother me. They make my life annoying, but they can't hurt me unless I let them. I know they won't get physical. They're too worried that since I'm Japanese I'm a master at karate. Which is stupid, but I'll let them believe that since it only helps me. I need the top spot because I want the round trip ticket to Japan during the summer break. It will break my dad's heart if he doesn't get to see me."

The Koenig twins dropped out of the trees and looked at her in amazement. "Haruhi, that's the most emotion we've ever seen you convey," Masaye said.

"You must really love your father," Chiye added.

"Of course I do, all we have is each other. My mother died when I was younger."

"That's so sad!" Masaye said, tears coming to her eyes.

"Can we help you?" Chiye asked, her eyes holding a fierce determination.

Haruhi blinked in surprise at Chiye's offer, "Why would you help me?"

The Koenig Twins looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Haruhi.

"Because-"

"-you seem like a nice person-"

"-and we haven't-"

"-been very nice-"

"-to you."

"So, you're offering to help me out of pity. No, thank you," Haruhi turned to walk away.

Immediately she found herself grabbed and spun back around to face the twins.

Chiye was the one holding on to her as Masaye came up and shook her head sadly.

"Silly, Haruhi, we aren't offering out of pity. We stopped looking at each other long enough to realize that you, our roommate, is probably just as smart as us, if not smarter. You're also very nice and have a great deal of loyalty to your father. And, we've also come to realize that you're very practical," Masaye stopped to take a breath and looked over at Chiye, who took over.

"You may be a scholarship student now, but you're definitely going places in life. We're also going places, even if we didn't have our parents to give us a head start we'd go places, because that's the type of people we are. So, why shouldn't we try and make friends with someone like us?"

"So, you want to help me and be friends with me because it makes sense?"

The girls grinned and replied together, "We also like you."

Haruhi sighed and shook her head in amusement. Who was she to argue with them?

"Sure, we can be friends. Just don't go duck taping MY things to the ceiling."

The Koenig twins laughed at that, "We promise!"

Chapter Text

"HARUHI!"

All of the air rushed out of Haruhi's lungs as she was swept off her feet and spun around like she was still in preschool by her father.

When he put her down she chuckled, "Hi, dad. I see you're happy to see me."

"Of COURSE I'm happy to see you! My baby girl has come home! And you're all MINE until the end of January! Now, give me your suitcase! I want a nice lunch with you before I have to go to work. And, I want you to tell me EVERYTHING about Brekleys! Hear me? EVERYTHING."

Haruhi couldn't keep the grin off her face as she followed her father out of the airport and to their bus. She shivered as she stepped into the cold winter wind, and, for just a moment, she thought longingly of the nice, warm summer currently occurring in Australia.

But that feeling disappeared as soon as she laid eyes on her excitedly exuberant father. While he may drive her crazy, she loved him so much, and she'd missed him during the past eleven months. She wished it had been possible to visit him during the two month break back in July, but it just hadn't been economically feasible.

They ended up eating lunch at a little hole in the wall with deliciously decadent yakisoba. As Haruhi took her first bite she almost moaned in pleasure. She'd missed real Japanese food so much!

Sadly, her father had to go to work soon after they got back to the apartment, but he promised to spend all of the next day with her, since he had it off.

She spent a good thirty minutes after her father left for work just sitting in the middle of their apartment and looking at everything.  Noticing that while nothing had really changed, it felt different.  Almost as if it wasn't her home anymore, which made her sad.  Then she spent another twenty in front of her mother's shrine.

"Mother, can you believe I've been in Australia for the past year? I can't. It's been such an adventure, but I didn't slack off. I worked hard and got top of my class. Granted, Chiye and Masaye Koenig helped me study. It's not that the material was difficult, but it was all in English and I don't have the same level of fluency in it as they do. They're trilingual, and very, very smart. They're also very nice and funny."

Haruhi picked up her mother's picture and held it.

"When I first got there I was bullied some. They made fun of my eyes and called me names. They also called me a leech since I'm a scholarship student. But they never touched me. They think I'm a karate master. Chiye and Masaye thought this was very funny and so decided to help me make it true. There's no karate teacher at Brekleys, but there is a taekwondo teacher. So I'm taking that. I know taekwondo is Korean, not Japanese, so Dad might not like it, but it's actually really interesting. It involves a lot of kicking and is meant to help smaller opponents. Masaye knows a lot of trivia and she told me it was invented so Korean captives could kick Chinese soldiers off their horses with their hands tied behind their back. They signed up to take the class with me, since kicking is just a little useful in football."

Haruhi chuckled at her own joke and felt a tear trickle down her face, knowing her mother would've chuckled at it also.

"I don't think Dad changed at all while I was gone, I know the apartment didn't. But I feel like I did. The world's so much bigger than I ever realized. But, it some ways it's smaller. Once I got over the language differences and the economic backgrounds I realized that my new classmates and teachers are markedly similar to my old ones. Masaye is teaching me how to study people in order to discover how they think. She says that it will help me be a good lawyer. I believe her, but I wish you were here to confirm what she says. Chiye, on the other hand, is teaching me how to use people to achieve what I want. I don't think this is nice, but a part of me realizes that a good lawyer must be willing to use every tool to achieve what is right. I want to be a good lawyer, so I'll learn, and then decide when I really need to use it."

Haruhi put her mother's picture down and let her hand rest on it for a minute before pulling back.

"I think I'll go see what food Dad has around and decide what to make for dinner. Thank you for listening, Mother. I miss you."

A quick search of the kitchen showed Haruhi that the only thing that was really edible was the 20kg bag of rice, canned soup, and some frozen dumplings.

Her father had not been eating well without her.

Well, she may only be home a month, but she'd make sure he ate well while she was here.

And with that thought she grabbed her purse, took some money from the grocery jar, threw on her jacket, and headed out the door.

It felt so right to walk to the grocery store. Such a mundane thing, and yet she'd missed it so much.

Nothing had changed at the store, and that made Haruhi smile as she walked the familiar aisles for food. The place was more crowded the normal though, which Haruhi knew was due to all of the gift boxes being offered as potential Christmas gifts.

She wasn't a big fan of Christmas; it had no meaning for her. Christmas was for couples and children, she was neither, but it was nice to see children pointing excitedly at toys and hoping that Santa would bring them something.

"OOOOooo! Look at this! A gift box of spam! Who knew common people liked spam so much?"

Haruhi curiously glanced over at a tall blonde boy talking excitedly about all of the different gift boxes. He was surrounded by five boys of assorted sizes and ages, none of them looked the least bit interested in what the boy was saying. One thing they all had in common though was the fact that their clothes were much too nice and fashionable for this grocery store.

Haruhi was frowning and wondering just who they were and what they were doing here when the pair of red-headed twins caught sight of her watching them. As soon as she saw the mischievous expressions appear on her face she knew she needed to get out of there. She'd seen that look on the Koenig Twins too many times.

But it was too late.

As if by magic they were in front of her, trapping her between them and the shelves full of coffee.

"You're such a beautiful girl, what are you doing in such a common place as this?" asked the one who reminded her of Masaye.

Haruhi glared at him, "Shopping."

"Kaoru! How could you ask such a stupid question of such an intelligent girl? Of course she's shopping!" the other one scolded.

Haruhi almost burst out laughing as Kaoru's eyes filled with tears, "Hikaru…how-how can you say such mean things to me? Y-y-you know she's so beautiful that I stopped thinking straight."

Hikaru immediately turned away from Haruhi and touched Kaoru's face, "I'm so sorry Kaoru! Please don't cry! I didn't think! I was just afraid you'd upset such a beautiful and intelligent girl."

Haruhi didn't wait to see how Kaoru responded to this; she rolled her eyes, took a step to the side, and walked away. As she did so she glanced over at the other boys still looking at the gift boxes.

Her eyes caught a pair of piercing black eyes that belonged to a tall boy with black hair and glasses. He gave her a small smirk while raising a slim eyebrow to indicate he'd seen how she'd escaped from the twins.

She gracefully returned his smile before going to pay for her purchases.

What a strange group.

Chapter Text

The next year passed much too quickly for Haruhi.

She didn't know where it went, all she did was take one day at a time and, before she knew it, she was on a plane heading back to Australia after a lovely month home with her father.  She was prepared to start her final year at Brekleys.

In many ways this was the most important year because this was when you had to decide where you were going to go after graduation.  Where you were going to spend the next chapter of your life.

And, with this in mind Haruhi began preparing applications and sending them out all over the world. She sent applications to universities in Australia, Japan, the USA and even the UK. Not that she could apply for them all at once. They all had different start times and deadlines. So, in between applications she continued to practice taekwondo and study, while avoiding the Koenig Twins' more extreme plans and plots.

She managed to get through three months of the school year before trouble found her.

Her rather peaceful existence was interrupted when she rounded the corner of the Foreign Languages building to find Kyle Styles and three of his cronies surrounding a small blonde boy that Haruhi vaguely remembered seeing at of the Freshman football games Chiye and Masaye had dragged her to last year.

"You little French f**! I saw you! I saw you flirting with her! Touching her! She's MINE! Do you understand?!" Kyle yelled.

Haruhi froze where she was, she didn't know what a f &$ was, and from the French boy's expression she didn't think he knew either, but they both knew it wasn't a good word.

That didn't stop the little French boy from widening his stance and tensing his arms as he responded, "First, I wasn't flirting, I was just being nice. Second, even if I was flirting, Danielle isn't your property! She can do what she wants!"

Kyle threw back his head and let out a laugh, the same laugh he used to let out when he bullied Haruhi two years ago. Calling her slant-eyed leech who was no better than a w****. Asking who she had to f*** to get into Brekleys. He'd stopped after she became friends with Chiye and Masaye.  Though that hadn't stopped him from giving her nasty looks.

Apparently he'd only stopped bothering her.

Haruhi wasn't much of a do-gooder. But, she wanted to be a good lawyer, one that helped people. And there was no way she'd turn and walk away from this bully. As Haruhi saw Kyle reach up and slam the French boy hard into the wall as his cronies grabbed the boys arms and held them down her eyes narrowed into slits. Apparently they didn't believe the French boy knew some sort of martial arts, like they had with her.

Taking a big step away from the Haruhi opened her mouth and called out, "Kyle Styles, just what do you think you're doing?"

Kyle stopped his punch just a few centimeters from the French boy's nose and turned to look at Haruhi. "Look what the cat dragged in, the ch*** w****! Does she want what we're going give him? What? Are you his girlfriend or something

Haruhi widened her stance and got into a solid fighting stance. "Kyle, let him go."

Kyle let out another laugh, "I'm not afraid of you, little b**** ! We've been taking wrestling. Tim, Dane, go get her. We'll teach them both a lesson."

Haruhi almost laughed at his boast about wrestling. As long as she made sure they never got to close, which taekwondo encouraged, she'd be safe.

The boy who was just standing there, as well as one of the ones holding the French boy's arms down turned and rushed her.

Haruhi tucked her arms in close to her body and waited. It was over in just a few well-timed kicks.

One of the boys lay on the ground, holding himself between his legs and silently screaming; the other was doubled over, trying to catch his breath. Haruhi stepped around them and walked towards Kyle.

"Let him go Kyle."

Kyle did, but only so he could turn to face all of his attention on Haruhi. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he pulled his fists up in a boxing position.

When the fight started she didn't aim for his torso, rather, she kicked him in his thigh, right over his knee. No bones were broken, but his leg crumpled under him. As he fell she aimed a kick at his stomach, making him double over as he fell.

When she looked up from Kyle to the fourth and last boy she realized that he was long gone. She could see him running away as fast as he could.

The French boy was watching her with such a look of awe on his face that Haruhi felt herself turn bright red in embarrassment.

"That was amazing!"

Haruhi turned even redder, "Whatever, come on, let's get out of here before they get back up."

She started walking off, knowing that he would follow her, and she wasn't wrong.

"Where are we going?"

"To find the nearest teacher."

"What? Why?"

"Because, I just hurt those boys, they're going to try and make up a lie to say I attacked them. We need to tell someone first. Otherwise we'll look guilty."

The French boy was quiet as he thought about what she had said. After a few moments he replied, "That's actually really smart. How'd you know that?"

"I'm going to be a lawyer one day, I need to know how people think. And I know we'll look guilty if we try to hide what we did. By the way, I'm Haruhi Fujioka, what's your name?"

"Oh! I'm Zackarie Roux! Thank you very much for rescuing me back there!"

Haruhi looked at him closely as they went inside the foreign languages building. "You're not angry at me for rescuing me?"

Zackarie frowned, "Why would I be? I wasn't doing a very good job of rescuing myself, was I? Anyways, you have some sort of special training, that I don't have. Anyways, I'm sure I'm better than you at other things, like football or French, right?"

Haruhi chuckled, she liked him, "Right, Masaye and Chiye have given up trying to teach me how to kick a ball, I'm hopeless."

Zackarie's eyes got as wide as saucers. "You're friends with Masaye and Chiye Koenig?! They're amazing players! And, their dad! He's amazing! Only Lionel Messi is better than he is! Can you introduce me to them? Please? I've been trying to figure out how to meet them without looking like a creepy fan!" He paused, and then his eyes somehow got wider, "Wait! No! You can't introduce them to me! Then I will be a creepy fan!"

Haruhi chuckled as she knocked on Ms. Stork's door. "Zackarie, you're okay. Just sit with me at dinner and I'll introduce you. They'll want to meet a guy so chill that he doesn't mind a girl saving him."

Zackarie's eyebrows went up in disbelief at the statement, but he said nothing as Ms. Stork called, "Enter!"

Chapter Text

Once again Haruhi stepped off of a plane and entered a new world. For someone from so poor a background she'd done a lot of world traveling, and she wasn't even twenty yet.

She'd ultimately decided to go to school at Oxford. She'd seen lots of Australia during school breaks with the Koenig twins, they'd insisted on dragging her everywhere with them, not letting her say a thing about money. And arguing with them was like arguing with a force of nature – there was no possible way to win.

Somehow, those trips had left her with a taste for travel. So, the idea of staying in Japan, or even Australia, for university hadn't sounded intriguing at all. She'd set her sights on the USA or the UK, ultimately choosing the UK because it was so close to so many other countries. The Koenig Twins going to school in Germany had had nothing to do with it, nothing at all.

Or, so she told herself.

Haruhi would never admit, especially to herself, how much her friendship with them had made her high school years so much better. She knew that if she admitted it to them that their egos would grow too big to fit in the same room.

Zackarie joining their meals and study sessions hadn't helped their egos; it took him months to see them as real people, and not football superstars. Then, when their dad had come to visit during one of the breaks he'd lost his cool façade completely and stammered like a little kid meeting Santa for the first time.

Another reason for choosing Oxford had been their special relationship with Brekleys and their amazing range of scholarships available for international students.

So, here she was, once again standing in a new country, facing a new school, and knowing no one.

It was scary, but was also thrilling.

She navigated Heathrow with no issues and took the proper trains until she found herself in the Oxford administration building. A no nonsense gentlemen named Mr. Fields got her settled.

"Sign this paper, here. This is your housing agreement. Everything is paid for by your scholarship, this is just your promise to do no damage to our building. Good. Now, here's information for you, including the contact information for our foreign services department. If you look at this paper you'll see directions to student services. They'll set you up with an id card, a meal plan, and show you your dorm room. Your schedule will be emailed to you. Thank you. Have a good day!"

Before he even finished speaking he was typing away at his computer, having completely forgotten about her.

Haruhi had never met anyone like that before.

And she hoped never to again, though, she could see how someone like him could be useful in the right circumstances.

Haruhi followed the map until she reached the student services building. She ended up being helped by fiery red-head that didn't look much older than her.

"Hello! I'm Alianore Roux! I'm a sophomore here at Oxford and I'll be happy to help you get settled!"

She gave Haruhi a broad grin that looked completely genuine.

It was the grin that tipped Haruhi off, after all, the name Roux cold be common in France. Funny, how she never got around to asking Zackarie what his sister's name was during the entire year she'd known him. Not that he'd ever wanted to talk about her, apparently the siblings didn't care for each other.

"Alianore Roux? Are you related to Zackarie Roux?" Haruhi asked?

"Zackarie? You know Zackarie! Oh! Oui! He is my brother! How do you know him?" Alianore asked excitedly.

"I'm Haruhi Fujioka. I went to Brekleys with him. I didn't know his sister went to Oxford."

"Oh! I know who you are! You're the one that rescued him from that nasty bully, aren't you? And, of course he didn't tell you I go to Oxford. That boy probably hopes we never meet. Honestly, he's so embarrassed by his big sister."

Haruhi could sort of see why Zackarie was embarrassed by Alianore, she was a bit overwhelming, but then, so was Haruhi's dad.

"Yes, that's me! It's so nice to meet you. You know, you two have the same smile."

Alianore laughed at that, "We have our father's smile. My mother is always trying to get me to tame it, but I refuse. I shall smile like I mean it I say! And she always sighs and asks what she did to deserve a daughter like me. But, then I say something silly and she's laughing and all is right with the world."

Haruhi felt a twinge of pain at the mention of Mrs. Roux. Truly, it had been so long since her own mother had passed away, it shouldn't hurt to hear about someone else's mother. But it did. Especially when it was about something she'd never been able to experience with her mother, because of her age at the time her mother passed away.

"That's nice. Can you help me though? I just got in from Japan today and I'm very tired," Haruhi said, trying to keep Alianore on track.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Follow me, let's get you all sorted out!"

Alianore did, indeed, get Haruhi all sorted out before exchanging contact information and sending her on her way to her dorm.

Once again the administration had decided to be 'helpful' and put two Japanese students together. Mei Yasumura was a very exuberant girl who had exclaimed over Haruhi's figure and immediately began sketching possible dresses for her as soon as she entered the dorm.

It had only taken Haruhi ten minutes to unpack her things. By that time Mei was holding swatches of fabric up in order to determine the exact right shade of blue.

The idea of being a human mannequin for this strange, over-made-up girl had Haruhi grabbing her purse and mumbling something about buying some necessities before she ran out of the room – barely remembering to take her key with her.

Luckily, Mei didn't follow her.

As Haruhi headed out to look for a pharmacy to buy shampoo and such she had to wonder.  How did she keep ending up with people so unlike herself?  She was perfectly ordinary, despite her unique childhood, so why did she seem to find herself surrounded by those that were far from ordinary?

Chapter Text

"I wonder if we'll see any famous French designers!" Mei exclaimed happily as she practically bounced on her train seat.

"I wouldn't count on it, I never saw any when I was living in Paris," Alianore said from behind her book. She looked like she was ignoring Mei, but Haruhi knew what wasn't true. From the first moment the two of them had met they'd established a rivalry that was only tempered by their friendship with Haruhi.

Though Haruhi had no clue how the two of them had ended up as her friends, or even how this trip to Paris had come about. All she'd done was make the mistake of Skyping with the Koenig Twins while Mei and Alianore were in her dorm and before she knew it they were all scheduled to meet up in Paris between the second and third term.

"Hah! You wouldn't know fashion designer if they walked right up to you and said, 'Bonjour!' Right Haruhi?"

Haruhi's eyes grew wide and she held her hands up in protest, "I'm not getting involved in this."

"Haruhi! You know she's wrong! Right?" Alianore whined.

Haruhi did nothing to respond, it would only encourage them. Yes, it was much safer to ignore them. Much, much safer.

Once the two of them realized that Haruhi wouldn't get involved they both entered into a sulky silence for the duration of the ride. When they finally pulled up to the station in Paris Haruhi couldn't have been happier.

Chiye and Masaye were waiting for them on the platform.

"Haruhi!" they screamed together as they enveloped her in a hug.

She hugged them back as Alianore and Mei followed her off the train, pointedly ignoring each other.

Introductions were made and the five of them headed for the apartment Alianore's family maintained in Paris. Currently the Roux family was in Japan, so it would just be the five of them, which excited all of the girls, except for Haruhi. She was a bit worried when she thought up the trouble these girls could get into.

Well, maybe not a bit.

She was quite worried.

Masaye had done some research and found a rather high class bar not too far from the apartment. And that's where they all ended up after a delicious dinner at one of the many cafes in the neighborhood.

Haruhi's jaw dropped when she walked inside. Though she should've known what to expect, they had forced into a tight little green dress that was much too classy for her, though it meshed well with all the tight little numbers everyone in the group was wearing. The entire bar just screamed money. From the decorations to the people sitting on the elegant chairs. It made Haruhi want to roll her eyes and walk right back out, but she resisted.

She had to remember what Masaye had said the first time she saw Haruhi roll her eyes and mutter, "Rich people."

"Haruhi…you know you're very smart. And you're also very dedicated. One day you'll make lots of money, and even if you give it all away you'll have to work with the people that make lots of money. You'll need to play their games enough to understand them, and then defeat them at their own game. If they know you hate them, you'll get nothing from them."

"Right now, though, I'm just with you and Chiye. I don't need to play those games."

"Yes, you do. You need to practice, Haruhi. You're a naturally honest person, so you need to practice lying. This will be the difference between being a good lawyer and being the best lawyer. Understand?"

With these words in mind Haruhi straightened her back, put a small smile on her face, and followed Chiye into the bar.

The five girls grabbed a booth near the dance floor, a place where they could see and be seen. Haruhi wanted to hunch her shoulders and hide, but a knowing look from Masaye stopped her.

A waiter appeared and they all ordered drinks with side dishes of fruit and some other things that Haruhi didn't know the names.

After about an hour enough alcohol had disappeared that they were all a bit past tipsy, which lead to a discussion of curse words in each of the languages.

Mei was very loudly teaching Alianore some Japanese curse words when a slightly familiar pair of red heads looked over from the booth next to them.

"My, my, Kaoru, one of the ladies over here has QUITE a dirty mouth."

As soon as Haruhi heard the name 'Kaoru' she remembered the incident at the grocery store. What in the world were a pair of rich Japanese boys doing in Paris? That question made her laugh. A better question would be, 'Why was a poor Japanese girl doing in one of the most exclusive bars in Paris?'

Her laughter made the twins turn to look at her, ignoring Mei's very red face.

"Oh, hello beautiful lady, is something amusing? Perhaps your friend's dirty mouth?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi raised one elegantly plucked eyebrow (thanks to Mei) and said, "No, rather, I thought you to be amusing. After all, how often do we see a pair of walking, talking balls of slime? By the way, where are your partners in crime? Still in Japan?"

The twins frowned in confusion as the Koenig Twins' eyes grew wide in recognition before narrowing in amusement. Haruhi had told them once about that grocery store experience. They were intelligent enough to put two and two together.

Kaoru opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by someone clearing his throat. She looked over to see the rest of the boys from the grocery store standing nearby.

"We partners in crime are standing right here, miss," said the dark haired one with glasses. "May I ask how you knew there were more of us?"

After the way he had smiled at her before Haruhi felt a twinge of disappointment at the fact that there was no recognition in his eyes. Well, she did have messy short hair last time, glasses, and common clothes on – while this time she had long straight hair and was was dressed to the nines. It wasn't surprising that none of these boys recognized her. After all, people saw what they expected to see.

"No, you may not," Haruhi stated simply.

Glasses Boy eyes flashed in anger at being defied and he opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the tall blonde boy.

"Alianore?! Is that you?" He spoke in French, so Haruhi wasn't entirely sure that she heard him right, despite the language exchange she'd been doing with Alianore. Though, it wasn't hard to get the gist of what he meant.

Alianore's own gasp of, "Rene?! Rene de Grantaine?!" was confirmation enough for Haruhi. Apparently these two knew each other.

But they didn't know each other very well, because as soon as Rene said, "Oui," Alianore picked up her glass, and threw the contents in his face.

Then, as he was still sputtering, and trying to wipe Sex on the Beach out of his eyes she stood, grabbed her clutch, and said in English, "Girls, I think it's time to find a new bar. One inhabited by actual gentlemen and not cretins masquerading as gentlemen."

The four of them grabbed their own clutches and stood up from the tables as Kaoru asked Rene, "Jeez, Tamaki, what did you say to her?"

"Yeah," put in Hikaru, "Who knew you were such a clumsy fool in your native tongue?"

From their snickers Haruhi guessed that they knew Rene had said nothing wrong – which made their teasing just a bit on the cruel side for her taste. From the way he was currently hiding in a corner of the bar and sobbing she could tell that he was very upset.

As Haruhi reached the door to the bar she realized Glasses Boy was watching her with curiosity, not moving to help his friend at all. There was no grin on his face this time, clearly realizing that he'd been outmaneuvered; even if it was by random circumstances. Haruhi raised an eyebrow at him questionably and gave him a small smile before following Mei through the doorway.

Haruhi wondered if he recognized her now.

Chapter Text

It was a good four years in England.

But Haruhi was glad it was over.

She hadn't had the funds to travel back to Japan once a year, like she had in high school. In fact, she hadn't been back at all – though her father had managed to come visit her between her sophomore and junior year. She'd gotten a part-time job at a local Japanese restaurant, but her father had insisted that she use the funds she made there to tour Europe with her friends. And, since she had the bad habit of making wealthy friends, she'd been able to visit virtually every country in Europe with her meager earnings. Mainly because she'd never had to pay for lodging due to her friends refusing to stay anywhere but the best and then insisting she stay with them.

It had been nice but Haruhi had never enjoyed mooching off of others, even when it forced on her.

Now that she had her bachelor's degree she was finally heading back to Japan. She'd thought about going to the USA for law school, but she'd ultimately decided on Tohoku Law School, since she wanted to practice law in Japan, and their classes would help prepare her for the board exam.

So, here she was, on an Air India flight, with fifteen hours of flight time and a ten hour layover because it was the cheapest flight home.

And she was stuck with Mei the entire way.

"How much longer to Delhi? It feels like we've been traveling for forever," Mei complained.

"Mei, it's only been two hours, we still have almost seven more hours," Haruhi answered.

"Seven hours left?! In these seats?"

"These are the normal seats."

"But, I can't feel my legs anymore! I'm claustrophobic!"

"Mei?"

"Why are planes so small? They're trying to kill us! I know it!"

"MEI!"

Mei jerked in surprise, "What?"

"Mei, look at me."

Mei turned to stare at Haruhi, who took one of her hands.

"Why didn't you tell me you were an anxious flyer? You could've paid more for an emergency exit seat with more leg room."

Mei gulped and took a deep breath. "I always think I've got it beat, but, I never do. It slowly starts, and, well, that's why I never went hope to visit my mom."

"And that's why you wanted to fly with me, right?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Mei, how in the world did you get to Oxford?"

"Um, I drank lots of the little alcohol bottles."

"Does that help?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to go ask for some alcohol for you?"

"Maybe?"

Haruhi unbuckled and began to stand up, but Mei grabbed her arm.

"No! Don't leave! Please."

Haruhi sat back down and instead pushed the call button. She hated doing that, flight attendants weren't servants, but there was no way she could leave Mei alone right now.

"Can I help you?" A young man in a flight attendant uniform asked.

"Yes, my friend here started having a panic attack due to flight anxiety. Can we get some bottles of something alcoholic? We're not picky."

The young man looked at Mei's death grip on Haruhi and nodded, "Sure, I'll be right back."

Mei drank several little bottles of wine until she eventually passed out, only then did her grip on Haruhi's hand let up. Haruhi took the chance to run to the bathroom.

Mei was just beginning to stir again when they landed in Delhi. The two of them proceeded to raid a store for snacks and set up camp in a fairly empty part of the airport. They had about a ten hour layover. The two of them took turns napping, so someone was always watching the bags.

About two hours before takeoff Mei dragged Haruhi over to a bar where they ate some greasy burgers and Mei began to drown herself in alcohol.

By the time they boarded the flight to Japan Mei was past tipsy. After the 'dinner' meal and a few little bottles of wine she passed out, not stirring again for the rest of the eight hour flight.

Haruhi envied her.

She was wide awake from the naps on the plane and she was bored to tears. The plane was an older one and so didn't have a screen for every seat and the movie currently playing was in Hindi with English subtitles that were much too small to read from her seat.

So all she had were her thoughts.

At times like this, when she had too much time to think, she wondered what life would've been like if she hadn't gone to Brekleys, if she'd gone to Ouran instead.

Ouran was one of the most exclusive schools in Japan, which made it likely that those boys went there, since she knew that Tamaki Suoh went there. Alianore had told them all about him and how his family owned Ouran and Suoh Industries.

Which meant Glasses Boy was likely from one of the most prominent families. She wondered which one…

Haruhi shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. She shouldn't be thinking about Glasses Boy. Even if she became the best lawyer in Japan he'd be beyond her. They didn't have the same cultural background, even if they came from the same country. He probably flew first class and had gone to Ouran with his daddy paying every bill. He never had to work a part-time job or go years without seeing Japan because it wasn't practical.

No, he was way beyond her.

Just like Alianore was way beyond an idiot playboy like Tamaki Suoh.

Alianore had told them, after they'd ended up at a less exclusive bar, how she and Tamaki had gone to middle school together. How they'd spent all their free time together. He'd given her her first kiss by lake between their country homes. He'd told her that she was the only one for him.

And then he'd disappeared.

Alianore had gone to their special spot by the lake, but he never came. So she'd gone to his house, but he hadn't been there. In fact, no one had been there at all. Not even the gardener who she had remembered being there long before Tamaki and his mother had arrived.

She'd immediately gone home and tried to email him and call him, but he'd never replied.

So she'd started digging, which is when she learned that his name wasn't even Rene de Grantaine. Or, at least, that wasn't his name anymore. There was no record of a Rene de Grantaine anywhere in the world. She did track his mother to a hospital on the southern coast of France, but there was no sign of Rene. But that was ultimately a dead end, since Anne-Sophie told her, "Rene is as unreachable as the stars," before she broke down crying.

Alianore had never gone to bother Anne-Sophia again. Part of her had feared that Rene was dead, but, if that was so, why hadn't someone told her?

Haruhi still thought the circumstances in which Alianore found out that Rene was still alive and healthy were pretty contrived, but then, weren't some things accomplished in very unlikely circumstances?

Alianore had been killing time on her school's online when some girl named Renge Houshakuji had posted:

'Sorry for the late notice, but I'm in Japan! My soulmate is here! As you can clearly see in the below photo:'

The photo had contained six boys with a title proclaiming them the 'Ouran High School Host Club.' One of those six smiling boys had been Rene.

Alianore had started digging again, only to discover that he was now Tamaki Suoh, heir to one of the most successful conglomerates in all of Japan. He wasn't dead as she had feared, rather, he was happily flirting with girls at a school halfway around the world.

It had broken Alianore's heart.

Haruhi didn't blame her, though, she did wonder, if Tamaki's playboy exterior was hiding something else. The hope that had been in his eyes when he spoke to Alianore, compared to the pain that quickly followed as she left him covered in Sex on the Beach in the middle of that exclusive bar…

Well, it made her wonder, and, if there was something more to it, did Glasses Boy know?

Maybe…

No.

Haruhi shook her head at her own thoughts. It would never work. Anyways, it wasn't like she even knew Glasses Boy.

And she likely never would.

Chapter Text

Haruhi collapsed into a chair at a small café near her Tohoku University.

She was so tired. Exam week had just finished and all she wanted to do was find a flat spot and just sleep. But she'd promised Mei that she'd meet her here for lunch after Mei's interview at Hitachiin International for an internship.

A waitress came over and Haruhi ordered some hot tea before ignoring all the rules of polite society and putting her head down on the table.

Mei could wake her up when she arrived.

The next thing Haruhi knew was the sound of her phone ringing. She stared at her phone for a moment, not comprehending what it was. By the time she woke up enough to grab it, she realized it had stopped ringing.

She immediately hit call back.

"Hello?"

"Dad?"

"Haruhi! There you are! Where are you? You said you'd be home by five so we could have dinner together to celebrate before I go to work. And it's almost six."

"What?" Haruhi pulled her phone away so she could see the time. Her jaw dropped. Why had Mei never shown up? "Oh, I'm sorry dad! Something happened with Mei. Can we do dinner tomorrow? I'm really sorry."

"You sure everything's alright?"

"Yes, Dad, everything is fine. Don't worry."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then. I'm off, so we'll go out for dinner and have a proper celebration. I'm heading to work now."

"Okay, Dad, love you!"

"Love you, too. Have a good evening."

When they hung up Haruhi looked at her phone to see a couple text messages from Mei.

Mei: I'm sorry Haruhi! I need to cancel! They want us to wait here

Mei: OMG! HARUHI! I got the position!

Mei: I just called EVERYONE! Drinks on me at Stars at 8!

Mei: You better be there!

Mei: Hey! Answer me!

Mei: Haruhi!

Haruhi groaned and took a sip of her ice cold tea. Then she sent Mei a message.

Haruhi: I wasn't ignoring you. I fell asleep. In the MIDDLE OF THE CAFÉ, waiting for you.

Haruhi: Sure, I'll come. But I'm going home to change and shower first. So I'll be late.

Mei: OH! I'M SOOOO SORRY! I'll buy you a drink to apologize. See you soon!

Haruhi groaned again and snapped her phone closed as she slumped back onto the table. There was no point in pointing out to Mei that she'd already promised to buy drinks. Sometimes it was painful to be friends with someone like Mei.

"Um, are you okay?"

Haruhi groaned again and looked up to see a rather familiar looking short blonde boy with a very unfamiliar girl in all black.

"Do you need me to curse someone for you?" asked the girl.

"Huh? Oh, sure, you can curse my friend. That is, if you have a curse that will make her think before she acts."

"No, sorry, my curses are a bit more negative than that."

The short boy giggled, "You're funny! What's your name? I'm Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but you can call me Hunny. This is Reiko Kanazuki, my girlfriend."

Reiko sent a glare to Hunny, "I did not yet agree to be your girlfriend!"

Hunny blushed, "Sorry! This is Reiko, my maybe girlfriend."

Reiko smiled and nodded, "That's better."

Haruhi chuckled, "You think I'm funny? I'd say you should look at yourselves." She deliberately didn't say her name, hoping they wouldn't notice. She didn't look like a good lawyer should, and since she'd be interviewing at Tachiki and Sons in a few days, she didn't want anyone to remember her this way. Tachiki and Sons did a lot of business law, it would be bad for someone as well-dressed as this couple to see her like this. Or so Masaye and Mei would say.

Hunny grinned, "Yes, we are. Now, beautiful lady, how may we help you?"

As soon as he called her beautiful lady Haruhi knew where she'd met him before. This was one of the boys who went to Ouran with Tamaki Suoh – one of the boys from Paris. One of those infamous (at least to Alianore and all of those friends with her) Ouran High School Host Club Members.

She narrowed her eyes at them, "Why do you want to help me?"

Hunny shrugged, "Reiko and I came here to eat cake a couple hours ago. You were sleeping then, now you're awake, but you don't look happy. I don't like it when people aren't happy."

Reiko chuckled, "He really doesn't. That's why we were wondering if you needed help."

Haruhi grabbed her wallet and put some money on the table for her tea. Then she smiled up at them, "Thank you for the offer, but no thank you. I was just upset that I fell asleep. I really didn't mean to. I was supposed to meet my friend here, but she had to cancel. By the time she canceled, though, I'd already fallen asleep."

"Aw, well, if you ever need help, here's my card," Hunny said, presenting her with a simple white card with black lettering.

"And here's mine," Reiko added, giving Haruhi a rather morbid looking black and red card.

Haruhi smiled and slipped both in her wallet, "Thank you, very much, goodbye!"

She gave them a quick bow and then headed out of the café as quickly as she could. She didn't want to give them enough time to realize she hadn't given them her card or even told them her name.

How could she? She hadn't had a haircut in months and she was wearing clothes that would make her father faint if he knew she was wearing them in public.

Haruhi chuckled at herself as she hopped on her bus. It was funny how friends could influence you so much. She never used to care about her looks, but ever since Mei had lectured her on how appearances are merely the first weapon in any social, she couldn't help but notice. She noticed how someone with a pleasing exterior was able to accomplish more than someone without.

She didn't think that was right or fair, but, she also recognized that that's the way world was and while she wasn't currently in a position to change it, she might end up in one if she at least attempted to play by the rules.

Which was why she was now heading home with two peoples cards in her wallet, two people that had been nothing but kind to her, and she hadn't been able to at least tell them her name.

Haruhi hung her head in shame.

She felt like a terrible person.

Chapter Text

"Well, Ms. Fukuoka, it's so nice to have you interviewing here at Tachiki and Sons. Now, how about you tell me a bit about yourself? I admit, after reading your resume and accompanying documents I'm a bit curious how a girl from such an unremarkable childhood found herself in your position."

Part of Haruhi was annoyed at him calling her background 'average', but, compared to how he had likely grown up, she supposed her background was average. After all, he was one of the 'Sons' in Tachiki and Sons, so his childhood was likely as different from hers as Glasses Boy's.

So, instead, she merely smiled and began speaking. The words may not have been the exact same as the ones she'd practiced with Masaye and Chiye, but they conveyed the same message.

"Well, I'd have to say that most of my life has been defined by the fact that I lost my mother at a young age. You see, she was also a lawyer and from a very young age I wanted to be just like her, only, I had no one to show me how. So I took matters into my own hands," Haruhi smiled and looked down at her hands demurely, just like Masaye had told her to. After a few seconds she looked back up, "I sent out applications for scholarships to several well-regarded private schools. I ended up accepted at Ouran High School Academy and Brekleys Academy. After careful consideration I decide upon Brekleys."

"Why?"

"At the age of fourteen I may've still been ignorant of many things, but I did realize the importance of English. I also knew that a good lawyer must truly know people. Know how they think and why they do things. I determined the best way for me to truly learn about a wide variety of people was to put myself in a position that required me to leave my comfort zone. So, I accepted Brekleys and turned Ouran down."

"Ah, and what about afterwards? Why did you go to Oxford?"

"For the same reasons I chose Brekleys, though, there were two additional reasons."

"Oh?"

"Yes, you see, when I was at Brekleys I made good friends that I never would've met in Japan. I didn't want to limit myself by going back to what I might view as safe and familiar. So, I decided on an overseas university. Again, the decision came down between two schools – Oxford and Harvard. I ultimately chose Oxford due to its location. I wanted to be able to travel and see new things easily, which cannot be accomplished in the USA without a car."

"So, you can't drive?"

Haruhi shook her head, "No, I'm sorry I gave that impression. Merely, a vehicle ties you down and places limitations on a person's mobility and time. As a full-time student I did not need such an unnecessary asset. I got my license upon returning to Japan for law school."

"Ah, yes, you went to Tohoku University, where you graduated top of your class while still managing to hold a part-time job at Tokyo National Museum working directly with Dr. Miho Koenig. May I ask how you obtained a position with such a prestigious Japanese historian?"

"Oh, yes," Haruhi smiled at him, "When I was at Brekleys I roomed with her daughters, the Koenig Twins. During a dinner at their house one evening their mother discovered my talent for organizing. She asked if I'd be able to assist her for an upcoming exhibition. And, well," Haruhi shrugged, "somehow how I ended up working with her for every exhibition."

Mr. Tachiki's eyebrows had risen quite a bit. "That's quite an impressive connection. Do you have any more that you might feel to be relevant to a young lawyer such as yourself?

Haruhi couldn't believe he'd asked that question, though she should've known he would. After all, every other prediction Masaye and Chiye had made about the interview had come true. So why wouldn't this one? According to Chiye he wanted to determine if was good at socializing with her 'betters' or if she'd just gotten lucky with roommates.

Stupid rich people.

Couldn't it be both?

Haruhi smiled and gave a little head nod. "Possibly. Now, while the Roux Family isn't Japanese, Mr. Roux is the current French ambassador to Japan. I'm good friends with his daughter, Alianore, who I went to school with at Oxford. I also was acquainted with their son Zackarie at Brekleys."

Now his eyebrows were practically one with his hairline. "Well, Ms. Fukuoka, those are some impressive connections. I just have one last question for you."

Haruhi had to fight to keep a frown off her face. Only one question? Didn't he want to know about her classes at Tohoku? Or ask her some difficult questions that gave him some clues about her thoughts on morals and ethics?

"What is the most important thing in your life currently?"

Oh, that was an easy question.

"The most important thing in my life is to achieve my goal of being the best lawyer I can possibly be."

Mr. Tachiki nodded, "Good, and would you be willing to do anything to achieve this goal?"

Haruhi nodded and answered without thinking, "Yes, if it was legal."

He grinned then and stood up. Haruhi quickly rose to her own feet.

"Very good Ms. Fukuoka. Thank you for coming to this interview. You'll receive a call in the next week or two. I hope you have a pleasant day." He gave her a short bow.

Haruhi returned it before leaving the office and making her way out of the building. As soon as she was on the street she called Masaye.

"Hello?"

"How in the world did you know he'd be so impressed by my friendship with you two and Alianore?"

"Wait! Let me put you speakerphone."

There was quiet and a beep before Haruhi heard Chiye say, "Haruhi, is that you?"

"Yes, I just finished my interview at Tachiki and-"

"Oooo! What did they say?!" Mei squealed.

Haruhi hung her head and sighed.

"Mei, you're there too?"

"Of course I am! So is Alianore!"

Haruhi began to get a very bad feeling.

"And, where, exactly are the four of you?"

"Oh! We're at your apartment! Your dad let us in before he left for work!" Alianore said cheerfully.

"Alianore! That was supposed to be a surprise!" Mei whined.

Haruhi heard Alianore snort, "The surprise disappeared as soon as you spoke! Especially after you said I was here too! I'm not even supposed to be in Japan right now! You're the idiot that gave away the surprise!"

"Take that back!" Mei yelled. "We could've still come up with some sort of lie! What if we said we were somewhere else?"

"Mei, you're an idiot! What if Haruhi decided to come meet us at this other place, and then found we weren't there?!"

"Hah! You don't really know, Haruhi, do you? She would-"

Haruhi didn't stay on the phone long enough to find out what she would or would not have done. She hung up and then pointedly turned her phone off. Why had they invaded her home? All she wanted to do was relax after such a potentially stressful interview.

Groaning, she leaned against a wall and just watched people walk by for a few minutes.

It was one of the people walking by that caught her eye, or, rather, it was what this person was wearing. It looked quite a bit like the taekwondo uniforms she'd worn at Brekleys. Curious, and needing something to do while her friends camped out in her house, she followed the person.

He led her down a few side streets until they reached a strip that contained a number of martial arts studios. Just looking down the road she saw signs advertising kendo, karate, taekwondo, kung fu, and judo. Part of her wondered how so many different types of martial arts from different cultures all ended up on the same small street, but she immediately dismissed it. There were odder things than this in Tokyo.

Looking at the Korean writing on the tae kwon do sign Haruhi had the sudden urge to begin studying again. She hadn't done anything beyond basic stretches since she left Brekleys. She'd always seen taekwondo as a requirement than something she did for herself, but now, with all the feelings bothering her about her interview and the idea that she might be hired because of her connections, not her own ability, she really needed an outlet.

And taekwondo sounded like a good one.

Smiling, Haruhi entered the taekwondo studio to sign up for classes. And, as she walked through the doorway, she put her interview behind her.

She'd worry about that when they called her.

Chapter Text

Haruhi was exhausted.

Piles upon piles of papers sat around her and all she could think was, ‘Why hadn’t they made all of this digital?’

Her brain had shut down, something which, in the only corner of her brain that was still functioning enough to keep her alive, surprised her since not in all her years of studying had she encountered such a predicament.

Why had she accepted this job?

She’d been here for almost two years and the most meaningful thing she’d done was fetch coffee for one of the partners trying to put a child murderer away for life.  And, while putting a child murderer away for life was something to be proud of, fetching coffee for the person that did that duty was not.

She wanted to do things!  She wanted to help people!  Not work long hours shifting paperwork because she’d been hired only due to her connections.

She couldn’t believe that.

She’d been straight up hired, they hadn’t even made her do an internship.  That, of course, had made her no friends with her peers.  Despite the fact that the only difference between them and her was the fact that she got paid.

Actually, now that she thought about it, that was quite a big difference.  Though she did put in more hours than them – most of them left promptly at five, while she was often at work past eight.

Abruptly the lights turned off, cutting off her thoughts.

Haruhi sat up quickly and called out, “Excuse me!  There’s still someone here!”

Just as abruptly the lights came back on and a soft voice called out, “Oh!  I’m so sorry!  I thought it was empty.”

A small man with a round, friendly face appeared in the entryway to her cubicle.  Haruhi recognized him instantly – Mamoru Tachiki, Mr. Tachiki’s youngest son and most recent addition to Tachiki and Sons.  He’d only been here for a month.

“Hello! I’m Mamoru Tachiki, but you probably know that.  You’re Haruhi Fujioka, aren’t you?  My brother, Kenichi, was very impressed with you.  He’s been very angry at my father for not utilizing you properly.  Did you know that?  No, you probably didn’t.  Anyways, they’re setting up a staff for me and Kenichi suggested that you’d be perfect to head it, but Father’s being stubborn.  I’m sure you know how fathers can be, right?  I’m so glad I got to meet you!  Now that I’ve met you I’ll second Kenichi’s recommendation.  That will make Father back down, he can never say no to both of us.  I think he feels guilty for spending so much time here when we were growing up, but I’m no mind reader, so he may just be very susceptible to family pressure.  Oh!  It’s almost nine, are you leaving?”

Haruhi found herself blinking owlishly at this motor-mouth.  Not even Alianore could say quite this much in such a short period time.

“Well?  Are you leaving?” he asked again.

“Um, yes, yes I am.  I hadn’t realized what time it was.”

Mamoru frowned and leaned over so he could see what was on her desk.

“Really?  Are tax returns from twenty years ago that intriguing?  Why are you looking at them anyways?  Kenichi told me they had all of the old files digitized three years ago.”

“What?!?”

“Oh, yeah, they had a surplus of interns that year, so Kenichi had them spend most of the year digitizing everything.”  Now he frowned, “You didn’t know, did you?  Who told you to look at these?”

“Mr. Tachiki, your father.”

Mamoru’s frown turned into a scowl, “Father…That doesn’t surprise me.  I bet he’s done this a lot to you over the past two years.  How come you never said anything to Kenichi?  He’s the one that hired you.”

Haruhi shrugged noncommittally, her position wasn’t as secure as Mamoru’s, she wasn’t related to the boss, she couldn’t complain about him.

“Hmph, well, it’s Friday night, let’s get out of here.  Hey!  I have an idea!  How about we go grab I drink?  We should probably get to know each other some since you’re going to be leading my staff.  Or maybe I’ll be leading yours?” He chuckled, “You know, I never wanted to be a lawyer?  I wanted to travel the world and write about the grand adventures I had, but father vetoed that.  So, here I am, doing a job I hate for a man I love.”

Haruhi tried to imagine her father vetoing any of her choices in life and just couldn’t picture it.  He’d never been able to deny her anything.  And while he sometimes acted like a big baby when she did something he didn’t like, he never truly tried to stop her.  Haruhi smiled, she really had an amazing father.

As for working with Mamoru, she had the feeling that Mr. Tachiki would not like it.

And it was for that reason that Haruhi said, “Sure, I can grab a drink with you.”

“Great!  Let’s go!”

Within an hour Haruhi found herself comfortably ensconced in a small bar not too far from her tae kwon do studio.  It was a place she’d passed by three times a week for the past two years, but she’d never once thought about entering. 

Mamoru ordered them both 300cc of the Kirin on tap and neither of them spoke until they’d take a sip.  Haruhi watched in amazement as Mamoru actually groaned in pleasure.

He saw her expression and chuckled.

“I’ve been in England for the past few years, the only Japanese beer I could get there was canned.”

“Ah, I know what you mean,” said Haruhi.  “I went to Oxford for my bachelors.  My friends did get me to develop a taste for good, German beer though.  The stuff they don’t export because it would go bad too fast.”

“Really?  You went to Oxford?!  So did I!  In fact, one of my old buddies is in town for a few weeks.  Mind if I invite him to join us?  We can have a little Oxford reunion on the streets of Tokyo!”  He grinned widely at this idea.

Haruhi couldn’t help but grin back, his grins were infectious.  “Sure!  But, do you mind if I invite a couple of my old Oxford friends?”

“Sure!  The more the merrier!”

Alianore agreed to come right away.  Apparently her brother was driving her crazy and all she wanted to do was get out of the house.  Mei agreed to come, but only after Haruhi told her it was okay to bring the guy she was currently hanging out with.  Masaye and Chiye politely declined.  Apparently their mother was hosting a dinner with some rather big names and they couldn’t easily escape.

They ordered another couple of beers while they waited for everyone and reminisced about their time at Oxford.  Though it was Mamoru who did most of the talking, Haruhi didn’t know how anyone could talk so much.

It was Mei and her date that were the first to arrive, about an hour after she’d been called.

“HARUHI!!!  Oooo, who’s this cutie pie?” she asked, looking Mamoru up and down.

Mamoru turned a rather bright red and Haruhi laughed, feeling something inside of her begin to crack as the beer began to make her unwind.  “This is Mamoru.  He works with me. I just found out he went to Oxford also.”

“Oooo, really!?!  That’s so exciting!”

Haruhi laughed even harder.  Apparently Mei had already been drinking. 

“I’m so glad to meet you Mamoru!  Oh!  This is Umehito Nekozawa!”

Haruhi put her hands over her ears, “Mei!  Stop shouting or they’re going to make us leave.”

“Oh! Sorry!” she might’ve turned red; it was hard to tell under all the makeup.

Haruhi glanced over at the bartender to see him glaring at them.  She smiled politely at him and then turned back to the group.

“How about we go wait outside for everyone else?  And then find somewhere else to go?”

Mamoru glanced over at the bartender and then nodded his agreement, “That sounds like a smart idea.”

Mei and Umehito followed Mamoru and Haruhi out of the bar.  As soon as they got outside Mei started telling them about the dresses she was designing at Hitachiin International as they waited.

It didn’t take too long for Haruhi to spot Alianore walking down the street.

“My friend’s here,” she said, interrupting Mei.

“So is mine,” Mamoru said.

Haruhi turned to see where Mamoru was looking, and then she burst out laughing.

There, coming up the street, from the opposite direction, was Zackarie, Alianore’s little brother.

She started laughing even harder when Zackarie and Alianore caught sight of each other.  They immediately pointed at each other and yelled, “Tu!”

And then they began yelling at each other in French, much too fast for Haruhi, so she just kept laughing at the entire situation.  And, as she laughed she felt all of the stress from the past two years leak out of her until she was empty and ready to face her job again.  After all, it was just a job; it couldn’t keep her down – especially when she had such amazing friends.

Chapter Text

Haruhi had to fight to hold back a yawn as she began stretching.  Last night had been an adventure that hadn’t ended until well past midnight, which meant she’d barely dragged herself out of bed in time for her Saturday morning tae kwon do class.

Luckily she didn’t have a hangover, but she was probably the only one.  Everyone else had kept drinking long after Haruhi had switched to water – which had led to some rather shocking events.

Or, perhaps, not so shocking.

There had Umehito’s little cat puppet, who had regaled them all with rather bawdy stories.  So bawdy in fact, that even Mei had begun blushing through all of her makeup.  Haruhi didn’t think there was enough bleach in all of Japan to get those stories out of her head.

Then there had been Alianore and Zackarie, who, after a number of shots, had admitted that they really did respect and love each other.  This had surprised no one except the two siblings, who had broken down into happy, drunken sobs as they hugged each other.  Though, that hadn’t stopped them from arguing later on about who was better at charming boys. 

It was Mei who had suggested that the only way to prove who was the best was to have them test their skills.

Umehito’s naughty little puppet had them suggested they use Mamoru for the test.

All Haruhi could do was watch in mild amusement as her drunken friends tried to charm her drunken coworker/boss, who had quickly turned a bright red before turning both of the Roux siblings down.

Haruhi stopped reminiscing about the previous evening as soon as the door opened.  Out of curiosity she looked over to see a familiar face. 

Standing in the entryway to the studio was Mitsukuni Haninozuka, or Hunny, as he’d told her to call him.  Standing right behind Hunny was a very tall and muscular man that Haruhi remembered from her two previous run-ins with the Ouran Host Club.

“Ah!  Mr. Haninozuka!  And Mr. Morinozuka! I’m so glad you were able to make it!” Haruhi’s teacher, Mr. Tsuda, said as he gave them a welcoming bow.

Hunny grinned cheerfully, “Anything for you Mr. Tsuda!”

Mr. Tsuda turned about to Haruhi and the rest of the class.  They had all stopped stretching by now to focus on their teacher and these newcomers.  Haruhi saw recognition and awe on a couple of her classmates faces and she wondered just what these two were famous for.  She already knew they were rich and well-connected, so it didn’t really surprise her that they were fairly well-known either.  The question was, what were they known for?

“Class, I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Mr. Takashi Morinozuka.  Mr. Haninozuka is a master martial artist.  His specialization is the Haninozuka style, which was created by his family.  He is currently undefeated in every contest he has taken part in.  Mr. Morinozuka is also an accomplished martial artist, he is a national champion in kendo and also very skilled in karate.”

Hunny and Mr. Morinozuka gave small head bobs in acknowledgement of what Mr. Tsuda was saying.

Mr. Tsuda continued to talk about their accomplishments, but Haruhi wasn’t paying attention.  Rather, she was staring in shock at tiny little Hunny.

This little guy was a master martial artist?

Possibly the best in the country?

It did not compute.

“-and that’s why I’d like Ms. Fujioka, as one of our more advanced students, to do a demonstration of the forms required for the black belt.”

Haruhi’s eyes whipped over to Mr. Tsuda and she blinked owlishly at him, her sleepy brain not comprehending what she’d just heard.

Hunny spoke up, “Only if it’s okay with Ms. Fujioka.  Are you okay with showing us some things?”  He walked over and looked up at her, smiling cutely. Haruhi heard several of the other girls in the class squeal at how adorable he was.  “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t like.”

As Haruhi looked down at big baby-like eyes she felt her shock depart.  She smiled cheerfully at him and said, “I’d be happy to demonstrate.”

He grinned back at her from ear to ear and in that moment, Haruhi knew that he recognized her.  She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew it as surely as her own name.

That didn’t stop her from going to the front of the room and moving through all of the black belt forms.  She’d wonder what his recognizing her meant after the class was over.  Tae Kwon Do was her escape from her worries about her career and all the social ‘rules’ Masaye and Chiye had been dumping on her since high school.

After Haruhi finished her demonstration Hunny showed them how his family had taken some of the tae kwon do moves and incorporated them into Haninozuka style.  While Haruhi was very good at the forms she’d studied – she’d expect nothing less from herself – she wasn’t big on the ‘art’ of martial arts.  Tae Kwon Do was a means of escape and peace for her, as well as a way to keep herself and her friends safe.  She never forgot how it had helped her save Zackarie and herself from Kyle Styles and his buddies. 

She still found a modicum of satisfaction that he’d been thrown out of Brekleys once his misdeeds had come to light.  It was one of her first experiences with seeing how rules and a justice system truly helped people.

Once Hunny’s demonstrations were over he and Mr. Morinozuka joined the class and Mr. Tsuda took them through a variety of exercises.  And then class was over.

Considering how tired she was, Haruhi was not sad that they hadn’t done any sparring.

When she stepped out of the studio after showering and changing she found Hunny and his tall friend waiting for her.

She wasn’t surprised.

As soon as Hunny saw her he bounded up to her, grabbed her hand in his and smiled up at her. 

“It’s so nice to see you again!  Reiko and I were so sad you never contacted us!  You seem like such a nice person.”

Haruhi felt her face turn pink and she tried to extract her hand from his, but his grip was much too strong.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that.  I started a new job and got very busy,” Haruhi said quietly.  She really didn’t want to lie to this man.  He seemed much too nice.

Hunny began to pull her down the small street.  “That’s okay!  I’ll forgive you if you come have cake with me.”

Since he had a death grip on her hand and Mr. Morinozuka was now towering over her as he walked behind her and Hunny she could only say, “That would be nice.”

It didn’t really feel like a situation from which she could extract herself.

The three of them came to the end of the small side street where a very nice car was waiting.  Hunny pulled Haruhi into the back seat with him as Mr. Morinozuka got into the passenger’s seat.

As soon as they were moving Hunny turned to Haruhi and smiled cheerfully.  Actually, now that Haruhi thought about it, she realized that he always seemed to be smiling. 

“Now, I know your family name is Fujioka, so what’s your first name?”

“You can call me Haruhi,” she replied honestly.  There didn’t seem to be any point in hiding her identity now.  There wasn’t much this small man could do to affect her goal.  Not with Mr. Tachiki trying to sabotage her at every turn.  Though, from what Mamoru said last night, she wondered if things might start to look up soon at work.

“Haruhi,” he seemed to contemplate her name for a minute.  His face becoming more serious than she thought it ever could.  Then he abruptly grinned, “I like it!  It suites you very much!  I’m so glad I found you again.  I don’t know why, but it felt like we’re supposed to be friends.  Mori disagreed with me, he said I was being silly, but he’d never met you.”

Haruhi frowned, “Mori?  Who’s Mori?”

A deep, rich voice from the front of the car spoke and Haruhi jumped in surprise.  She’d begun to think that Mr. Morinozuka was mute.

“I’m Mori.”

 Haruhi smiled politely at Mori as he turned in his seat to look at her, “Nice to meet you Mr. Morinozuka.”

“Call me Mori,” he said, a corner of his mouth twitching up.

The rest of the car drive was taken up by Hunny asking her about tae kwon do and how long she’d studied and if she’d ever had to use it.  She’d tried to dodge that question, but he hadn’t let her get away with that this time.  So she soon found herself telling him about her rescue of Zackarie.

His eyes were wide and filled with respect as he made her walk him through every move she’d made in that fight.  And, for some reason, she knew that his respect was completely genuine, despite the fact that he was probably one of the best martial artists in the world.  That made her feel nice, but also a bit uncomfortable.  If people were going to look at her with awe she wanted them to do so because of her skill in a courtroom battle, not a street fight.  It just didn’t seem right.

When she had finished going over the fight Mori turned around in his seat again and Haruhi could see respect in his eyes as he spoke.

“You did a good job.”

“He’s right!” Hunny exclaimed. “That was amazing for someone that had only been studying for a few years.  You should come and study at my family’s dojo.  Haninozuka style is very good for shorter people.  I think you’d enjoy it.”

“He’s right,” Mori chipped in.

Haruhi shook her head, “No, thank you.  I study tae kwon do to relax and enjoy myself.  I’m not a very athletic person.”

Haruhi realized her mistake at turning Hunny down right away.

His eyes got very big and she thought she saw tears appear as he said, “Haru-chan, please come to just one class.  I promise it will be fun and relaxing!  Pretty, please?”

Haruhi could only hold contact with those eyes for a minute before she sighed and said, “Okay, one class.”

“Hooray!” Hunny shouted as the car pulled through a gate and into the largest private compound she’d ever seen.

Haruhi had forcefully stop herself from muttering, “Rich bastards,” as they pulled up to one of the many beautiful and traditional residences.

What was she getting herself into?

Chapter Text

“Rei-chan!!!  I’m home!!!”  Hunny yelled as he bounded into his home.

Immediately a glaring Reiko stuck her head out of one of the doorways.  “Hunny, if you wake up Genji or Fusao I will curse you!” she hissed.

“Does that mean they’re asleep?  Can we have cake then?” he whispered.

Reiko’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Hunny and Haruhi began to wonder if she would get to witness a cursing when Reiko caught sight of her.

“Who are you?  And why do I recognize you?”

Hunny bounded up to Reiko, pulling Haruhi behind him, with Mori quietly following them.  “Rei-chan!  This is Haru-chan!  Don’t you remember?  We met her two years ago in Antique Bakery.  She was that girl who slept all afternoon.”

Reiko’s eyes moved up and down Haruhi for several moments before she nodded, “Ah, yes, I remember you.  You look much different now.”

Haruhi shrugged, “Well, things change in two years.”

Reiko glanced down at her left hand before looking back up at Haruhi and giving her a small smile, “Indeed they do.”

Hunny turned to look at Mori, who’d been silently watching them, “Mori, will you eat cake with his.”

Mori shook his head, “I need to see Satoshi.”

“Okay!  Have fun and see you tomorrow!”

Mori gave them a small bow, “Goodbye, it was nice meeting you Ms. Fujioka.”

Haruhi smiled at this quiet, seemingly gentle giant, “It was nice meeting you, too.  And please call me Haruhi.”

Mori smiled at that before turning and leaving the house.  She watched him go before turning back to Reiko and Hunny, who were staring at her in shock for some reason.

She frowned, “Is something wrong?”

“He smiled at you,” Reiko whispered, “and he almost never smiles.”

Hunny shook the shock off his face and grinned again, “I was right!  We’re going to be great friends!”

An hour later Haruhi found herself ensconced at a small table filled with cake and tea.  Hunny was quickly devouring cake and in-between bites he was informing her of all the different types of cakes it was possible to make. 

Haruhi and Reiko had long ago given up trying to keep up with him, though Reiko obediently leaned forward to take a bite of cake whenever Hunny offered her one.

Haruhi couldn’t help but smile as she watched the two of them interact, they obviously loved each other very much.  It reminded Haruhi of how her parents used to look at each other.

This pleasant afternoon tea was abruptly interrupted by the door to the parlor banging open and a loud wailing voice calling out, “HUNNY!!!!!! Help me!!!!!!!!!”

All three of them jerked, Haruhi barely avoiding spilling hot tea on her lap, and looked at the doorway.

Tamaki Suoh stood there with tears streaming down his face as he panted for breath.  He opened his mouth to speak again when a loud wail broke through the air, quickly followed by another one.

Reiko scowled and stood up quickly, “Tamaki Suoh!  I curse you with all the powers instilled in me by the spirits of motherhood!  How DARE you wake them!” A small piece of paper flew across the room and hit Tamaki square in the middle of his forehead.  His eyes immediately rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor.  Haruhi could’ve sworn that little birds started flying around his head, but that could’ve been a trick of the light.

“Hmph!” Reiko snorted as she stepped over Tamaki and swept out of the room, heading towards the crying babies.

Haruhi sat frozen in her chair, unsure of if she should stay with Hunny or follow Reiko to help with the babies.  It only took a minute for her to decide to stay put.  She knew absolutely nothing about babies.

Hunny sighed and shook his head before hopping off of his seat and going to Tamaki.  He whispered something and then pulled the small piece of paper off of Tamaki’s forehead.  Immediately Tamaki sat up, rubbing his forehead.

“Well, Tamaki, what is it this time?  Did Kyoya call you an idiot again?”  Hunny asked in a very calm and serious manner.  Haruhi couldn’t quite equate this Hunny with the one that had been happily going on about angel food cakes as he feed Reiko bites.

Tamaki shook his head to clear it and then looked up at Hunny from his space on the floor, tears were once again pouring from his eyes.  “It’s so much worse than that Hunny!  I-I-I need your help!”

Hunny sighed and sat down on the floor next to Tamaki.  “What do you need my help with?”

“How…How did you get Reiko to stop hating you?” he said between sobs.

Hunny smiled softly, “Silly Tamaki, she never hated me.  She just didn’t know what love was.  She thought I’d stolen her heart, she didn’t realize that she’d given it to me, or that I would happily give her mine once I got to know her.”

Somehow, Tamaki started sobbing harder, “Then I’m doomed!”

Haruhi vaguely noted that the babies had stopped crying.  Most of her attention was focused on the two blonde men sitting on the floor.  This sobbing Tamaki was nothing like the boy Alianore had told them about.  Was it possible she’d misjudged him?  Was something else going on?

“Tamaki, why are you doomed?” Hunny asked calmly.

“It’s…It’s Alianore!  She hates me!  She won’t even listen to me when I try to explain!”

Haruhi sat there for a moment, watching Tamaki sob as Hunny patted him on the back.  She quickly ran through every conversation she’d had with Alianore about Tamaki.  What Alianore had told her did not match up with this sobbing man on the floor.  This piece of evidence, combined with Haruhi’s innate desire to discover the truth and see justice done, made her get up from her chair.  She walked over to the two men and sat down herself.

Tamaki jerked in shock when she reached out and touched his shoulder.  Haruhi didn’t think he’d even realized she was in the room.

“Who…who are you?” he asked, his shock momentarily stopping his sobs, though he was still breathing hard.

“I’m Haruhi Fujioka.”  She smiled comfortingly at him, “What did you mean by explain?”

Tamaki studied her face for a moment, searching for something.  After a moment he relaxed and began to speak. 

“I need her to know that I never meant to leave her.  One day a man showed up.  He took my mother and me.  He told me that if I wanted her to get better I had to come with him to Japan and give up everything in France.  I tried to refuse, I didn’t think she was that sick, but then he showed me her health records.”  He began to cry again, albeit softly, “She only had months to live if she didn’t get special, expensive treatment.  So, I agreed.  I signed a paper that made me swear off all contact with anyone in France until I came of age.  If I was found breaking this agreement than all treatment for my mother would immediately cease, even if it meant her death.”  He shrugged sadly, “There was nothing I could do.  I was just a kid and my mom was sick.  So, I came to Japan and made the best of things.  I promised myself that I’d go back to France when I came of age and tell Alianore the truth,” he hung his head and continued to cry softly.

All sorts of things were beginning to make sense in Haruhi’s head, but she needed one more piece of evidence before she presented the evidence to the only jury that mattered – Alianore.

“Tamaki, were you of age when she threw that drink at you in Paris?”

Tamaki’s head jerked up and he stared at her in shock, “How-how do you know about that?!?”

Haruhi opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Hunny.

“You were one of the girls with Alianore weren’t you?  That’s why you wouldn’t tell me your name in the Antique Bakery two years ago!”  He frowned in thought, searching his memories.  “You were the one that made Kyoya so angry!”

“Kyoya?  You mean Glasses Boy?”

Tamaki started to chuckle, wiping away some of his tears absently, “You call him Glasses Boy?  I like it!”

“His real name is Kyoya Ootori,” Hunny said, handing Tamaki a handkerchief.

“Ah, well, yes, that was me.”  She looked Tamaki firmly in the eyes, “I’m good friends with Alianore – have been since we went to Oxford together. If everything you said today is true I’ll talk to her and see if she’ll meet with you, to let her explain in person.”

Tamaki’s eyes began to sparkle and he smiled, looking much more like the boy she’d meet in Paris years ago.  “Really?  You’ll do that for me beautiful lady?  Oh!  I shall be forever in your debt.  Alianore is the only one for me, if only she’ll let me prove that I never stopped loving her.”

“Really?  You can help Tama-chan?” Hunny asked, immediately reverting back to his cute self.

Haruhi smiled, “All I can do is tell Alianore what Tamaki told me today.  We’ll see if that’s enough to get her to listen.”

“Thank you,” Tamaki exclaimed, jumping to his feet, all traces of crying now gone from his face.  “And no need to be modest.  You succeeded in making Kyoya angry, and on a first meeting, too!  I know you’ll succeed in getting Alianore to at least give me a chance to explain!”

Haruhi hoped his faith in her was not misplaced.  She had the feeling that convincing Alianore might just involve copious amounts of alcohol and possibly a rope – so as to hold her down long enough to hear Haruhi out.  Since the last time Tamaki’s name had been mentioned near her, she’d become so angry that Haruhi was fairly sure there were still feelings there.  So, it was her goal to help her friends be happy, if she was able to.

And, to achieve this goal she’d probably need the help of Masaye and Chiye.

They were the most devious people she knew.

Chapter Text

It took a week for Haruhi to arrange what Mei quickly dubbed, “Operation Forbidden Love.”  Though it had only taken her Sunday to do some digging and confirm what he had told her.  She also hadn’t been surprised that forcing a minor to make such a deal was illegal in both France and Japan.  All sorts of things changed in her life during that week.

On Monday she was sent an email by Mr. Tachiki’s secretary.  It informed her that she’d be working directly under Mamoru Tachiki, the youngest son. 

The rest of the week she was busy helping Mamoru get setup in his office and helping put the rest of his support staff together.  No one would’ve known from looking at them that the two of them were becoming fast friends.  They maintained a very professional relationship at work.

They’d even grabbed dinner and a beer after work on Friday.  This time only Zackarie had joined them.  So, Haruhi had decided to bring both guys in on ‘Operation Forbidden Love’, since they still needed someone else to make the plan go off perfectly.  And, of course, to bring Zackarie in, she had to tell them everything that Tamaki had told her, since Zackarie had known Tamaki back in France.

“You’re trying to WHAT?” Zackarie exclaimed.  “Haruhi!  That’s so unlike you!”

Mamoru nodded in agreement, “I’ve only known you for a week and it does seem against your character.”

Haruhi shrugged, “It is against my natural inclinations, but I thought through all of the different ways I could make Alianore listen, and this is the one most likely to succeed.  Besides, it’s about time I put to use all of the lessons in deception Chiye and Masaye taught me.”

“If you say so, what do you need me to do?” Zackarie asked.

“Is there any I can help also?”  Mamoru asked, “I miss having adventures.”

Haruhi smiled, “Sure, Mamoru, you can help.  Here’s what I need you to do…”

Carefully she explained everything.  By the time they left the restaurant everything was set.  The plan would unfold the next evening.

XXX

Haruhi met everyone at a shabu shabu restaurant.  Haruhi took over the cooking of the meat.  Soon enough the sake was flowing and Mei challenged them all to a few drinking games.

Naturally, or perhaps not so naturally, Alianore lost them all.

By the time they left the restaurant, Alianore was practically asleep on her feet.  The girls had trouble getting het to walk properly, which made them all extremely happy to see Mamoru and Zackarie walk past the restaurant.

“Mamoru!  Zackarie!” Mei called out, “Could you lend us a hand?  I’m afraid Alianore had a bit too much sake.”

“Of course!  We’ll always help maidens in distress!” Zackarie said with a very extravagant bow, which made the Koenig twins snicker and Alianore roll her eyes.

“Zack, you’re such a dork,” Alianore said, slurring her words.

Zackarie chuckled as he and Mamoru took over supporting Alianore.  “Whatever, sis, you’ll thank me later.”

“When pigs fly,” she muttered.

Mamoru chuckled, “You two are amusing.  Follow me, my car is this way.”  He pointed down the street and everyone followed him.  About halfway to the car Alianore began letting out a quiet snore. 

Chiye and Haruhi fell back behind everyone else.

“Do you still need Masaye and me?  A couple of guys just messaged us; they’ve been trying to get us to agree to a date for forever and they’re in the area.  We can test the waters and decide if we want to go on a real date with them.”

“You guys are going on a date together?” Haruhi asked.

Chiye shrugged, “Masaye and I, we’re close, you know that.  We need anyone we date to understand that.”

“Chiye, I’ve never known either of you to date anyone.”

She shrugged, “Well, we’ve just never found anyone that understands.  This time will probably be no different, but Masaye wants to try, she thinks one of them is cute.”

Haruhi looked at Alianore slumped between Mamoru and Zackarie.  Between the two guys, Mei, and herself, they should be able to pull off the rest of the plan.

“Sure, I think we can manage.  I’ll call if we need you.”

“Great!  Masaye, let’s go!”

Masaye grinned, grabbed her twin’s hand and the two of them turned and went back the way they had come.  Haruhi felt a bit sorry for the two boys they were going to meet.  She had the feeling that they’d need it.

Alianore never woke as they deposited her in the car and drove to Mamoru’s apartment.  He was the only one living alone.

Mamoru put his sailing skills to good use and carefully tied Alianore to the only chair in apartment.   He then poured Haruhi a glass of ice water.

She put the glass up to Alianore’s neck.  She quickly began mumbling and stirring.  Then Haruhi put the glass to Alianore’s lips, where she drank quickly, so quickly that she started coughing, she tried to raise her hand to her mouth and found it wouldn’t move.

Alianore’s eyes immediately flew open and looked around her quickly.  She visibly relaxed when she saw Mei and Haruhi standing in front of her.

“Girls, what are you doing?  Why am I tied up?  Is this some sort of joke?”

Mei shook her head, “Nope, we just needed you to sit still long enough for us to talk to you.”

Alianore frowned, her brain still foggy, “Talk to me?  About what?  What’s going on?”

“We need to talk about Tamaki Suoh,” Haruhi said in her calm, lawyer voice.

Alianore’s eyes widened, “TAMAKI?!!?!?”

Haruhi nodded, “Yes, you see, I ran into him last week.”

Immediately Alianore’s eyes narrowed again, “What did that scumbag say?”

Haruhi sighed, “Alianore, he was sobbing.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so upset before.”

“Hmph!  Serves him right!  Trying to talk to me after the way he treated me!”

“Alianore, have you ever stopped to listen to what he has to say?”

“Listen?  Why should I listen to him?  He’ll just pull that host club crap of his and try to get me to forgive him.”

“Why must you be so stubborn?”

Zackarie chuckled from his seat behind Alianore, “She’s the Queen of Stubborn, that’s why?”

“ZACK?!?!?  What the HELL are you doing here?!?!  Untie me at once!  As your big sister I command it!  You know what Tamaki did!  You know everything!”

“Sorry sister, but I already listened to what Haruhi had to say, and I trust her.  She doesn’t misjudge people.  I think you should give Tamaki a chance to explain.  Plus, she did some research to verify what he told her.”

Alianore closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slowly released it.

“Okay, Haruhi, if you verified his story, I’ll listen, but I make no promises to forgive.”

Haruhi smiled, “Do you want me to tell you?  Or do you want me to arrange a meeting so he can tell you?”

“I think–”

She was interrupted by a doorbell.

Haruhi frowned and looked at the door, “Who…”

“Um…I’ll get it!” Zackarie said quickly, jumping up and running over to the doorway.

He opened the door a crack and Haruhi could just make him out as he hissed, “I told you to wait downstairs!”

“I couldn’t wait any longer!” a very familiar voice whined. 

Haruhi sighed, “Mamoru, Mei, untie her.  Alianore, I’m sorry, but it looks like your idiot brother took the decision out of your hands.  Do you want me to make him go away?”

Alianore glared at her brother, who was still whispering heatedly with Tamaki. 

“No, I’ll handle them.”

And, once she was untied, she did handle them.

She stormed over to the door, grabbed the back of Zackarie’s shirt and forcibly removed him, while at the same time grabbing the door handle and swinging it open. 

On the other side of the doorway stood Tamaki Suoh, backed by the two redheaded twins Haruhi had encountered twice before.

Zackarie was smart enough to back away from Alianore once he regained his balance.  Haruhi found it rather interesting that he ended up hiding behind Mamoru, who was just relaxing on the far side of the room, watching everything with an expression of mild amusement.

“Well, Tamaki, I’m listening,” Alianore said coldly.

Tamaki opened his mouth to speak, but no sound emerged.  It was Kaoru who spoke instead.

“Uh, boss, do you need us to do something?”

“Yeah, boss,” Hikaru added, “this situation does not look terribly safe.”  His eyes seemed fixed on the way Alianore’s curly hair was beginning to move around her head, like a tornado was brewing in that mass of curls.

Tamaki closed his mouth, gulped, and then opened it again.  This time sound emerged, “Uh, no, I’m fine.  I-I need to talk to Alianore.”  He glanced around the apartment, at all the people watching him.  He gulped again, “Um, Alianore, can we, um, go somewhere else?”

She glanced over her shoulder and took in the four pairs of eyes watching them before turning to look at the twins.  “Okay, but those two don’t come.”

“Of course!” Tamaki said as he grabbed Alianore’s hand and pulled her past the twins and out of Haruhi’s sight.

“Well, do you think she’ll really listen?” Mei asked.

“I think she will, she’ll realize that things won’t add up if she doesn’t.  She’s smart,” Haruhi said.

“I agree,” Zackarie said, “but, in the meantime, what do we do with those two?”  He pointed at the twins, who were looking down the hallway after Tamaki and Alianore, twin expressions of mischief on their faces.

Haruhi’s eyes narrowed, these two troublemakers weren’t going to mess up her plan, not if she had anything to say about it!

“Mei?” Haruhi asked.

“Yes?”

“Operation Distract Twins.”

Mei grinned, “One.”

“Two,” Haruhi said.

“Three,” they said together as they moved forwards.  They each managed to grab one of the arms of the twins just as they turned to move down the hallway.

Before the boys knew what had happened they were yanked into the apartment, with two girls between them and the only exit.

“HEY!  What did you do that for?  That really hurt!” Hikaru said as he rubbed the arm that Haruhi had grabbed.

Haruhi snorted, “Oh, stop being such a baby, Hikaru.”

The twins froze and looked at her in shock, “How do you know our names?” they said together.

Haruhi rolled her eyes, what was it with twins?  “Your names?  As far as I know you each have your own name.  You’re Hikaru,” she said pointing, “and you’re Kaoru.  Now, come sit, we’re not letting you go anywhere until Tamaki and Alianore have talked.”

She moved to go sit next to Mei, who’d taken a seat next to Zackarie and Mamoru.  When the twins didn’t follow she turned to face them and put her hands on her hips.

“Come on!  I know the rest of your partners in crime aren’t here, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourselves.”

Their eyes grew even wider.

“P-p-partners in crime?” Kaoru stuttered.

Haruhi rolled her eyes at them.  How were these people friends with someone as smart and complicated as Hunny, or someone as serious and strong as Mori?

“Yes, partners in crime – the rest of your Ouran Host Club.  If you want I can call and ask Hunny to come, but I doubt that Reiko would like it.  She’d probably curse me.  Now, Mori might come.  Especially if we told him that you’re trying to hurt the reconciliation of Tamaki and Alianore.”

The twins abruptly sat on the floor where they’d been standing, still staring at her in shock.

“Wait, Haruhi, their names are Kaoru and Hikaru?” Mei asked.

Haruhi nodded, taking a seat and taking the cola Mamoru handed her.

Mei’s eyes grew really wide.

“Then-then that means….they’re my bosses sons!  The Hitachiin Twins!!!”

Haruhi looked over at the two shell-shocked redheads and then back at Mei, “So?”

“So, that means you can’t just say things to them!  They’re extremely well-connected and powerful!  You’ll lose your job if they say so!”

Mamoru started laughing at that.

Mei scowled at him, “What?”

“Mei, don’t you know my name?”

She frowned at him, “Why is your name important?”

“I’m Mamoru Tachiki.”

Mei’s eyes widened as she realized what his name meant when combined with the fact that he was sitting on the floor of his apartment with Haruhi and her friends.

“Oooo, well, then go right ahead, Haruhi.  From what Mrs. Hitachiin says, these two boys need to be taken down a peg or two.”

“Well, if anyone can take a pair of annoying twins down a few pegs it would be Haruhi,” Zackarie said.

Haruhi looked at the twins and shook her head, “But what if I don’t want to take them down a few pegs?”

Everyone laughed, but it was Mei that said, “Doesn’t matter if you want to or not, you can’t help yourself.”

“You really can’t,” put in Zackarie.

Haruhi sighed and stared at the twins, she supposed they were right.  She really couldn’t help it.

Chapter Text

Haruhi left work on Monday smiling.   Working with Mamoru was a real treat.  He was very smart and clear-headed, despite his bad habit of talking uncontrollably when excited or nervous.  Actually looking forward to work was such a novelty to her.  She’d dreaded Monday so much over the past two years, it was nice not to wake up with a heavy heart that she had to carefully hide from her father.

The smile disappeared off of her face as soon as she walked out of the revolving door. 

Leaning against one of the columns outside were the Hitachiin Twins.  Haruhi barely had time to wonder what they were doing here before they were right in front of her.

“Yes?” she asked.

Hikaru smiled, “Well, lovely lady, we’re here to court you and unravel your mysteries.”

Haruhi’s brows rose, she looked over at Kaoru, who she judged to be the saner of the two from her limited experience with them, “And you agree with this ridiculous plan?”

Kaoru grinned and nodded.

She sighed, “You two do realize that I have no mysteries, right?”

The two of them snickered.  “Of course you have mysteries, everyone has mysteries,” Kaoru said.

Haruhi shook her head, “You’re wrong.  Anyways, what’s this nonsense about courting me?  There are two of you and only one of me.”

Hikaru gave her a sly grin, “Oh, sweet Haruhi, don’t you realize that we share everything?”

“Besides,” said Kaoru, tears coming to his eyes, “I could never live without Hikaru.”

“That doesn’t mean you two need to share one girl,” Haruhi said flatly.  She had the feeling they were about to try the brotherly love act that she’d witnessed ten years previously.

“Oh, but it does!” said Hikaru.  “You see,” he reached over and pulled Kaoru close to him, “I could never let anyone touch my beloved brother without me there.”

“Do-do you mean that Hikaru,” Kaoru said in a stage whisper.

“Of course I do!  You know how jealous I am!”

“How-how could I forget?” said Kaoru breathlessly.

The two of them were so busy staring into each other’s eyes that they didn’t notice her roll her own before walking away. 

By the time they realized she wasn’t watching their show she was already in her tae kwon do studio, warming up.

That didn’t stop them from trying to corner her again the next day.  Luckily this was the day she was supposed to try Haninozuka style, so Hunny appeared mere seconds after the twins cornered her.  He got her out of there mere seconds after that.

The twins were not happy.

On Wednesday she went out through one of the service entrances, making her way to the subway unmolested.

On Thursday she took the service entrance again, only to find Hikaru already there, scowling at her.

“You, Haruhi Fujioka, are one slippery fish,” he said as he pushed something on his phone.

“Oh, put a sock in it, Hikaru.  Can’t you tell I’m not interested?”

He just scowled harder, “How do you DO that?!?”

“Do what?”

“Tell us apart!” he practically shouted, making several people turn to look at them.

Haruhi turned red, she quickly grabbed Hikaru’s arm and dragged him away from her place of work.

Once they stopped walking she turned to him and hissed, “What’s so special about me telling you apart?  You two are different people.  That’s easy enough to see.”

“It’s special, because no one, and we mean NO ONE, has been able to tell us apart before,” said Kaoru as he walked up behind them.

Haruhi could only assume that he’d been waiting at the front entrance.  She should’ve known that a side entrance would only work once.

Haruhi frowned, “Really?  But it’s not hard.  You’re both very different people.”

“Oh?  How so?” asked Kaoru.

Haruhi rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to tell you what you already know.  You both know that you’re not the same.  Why do you need me to tell you?”

She turned to walk away, but found her path blocked by Hikaru.

She almost groaned.

“Fine.  Hikaru, you’re impulsive and you carry your emotions for all to see.  While, you, Kaoru, like to think before you act.  You prefer to hide your emotions, letting Hikaru take the lead.  Even though you both know that all you have to do is cry a real tear and Hikaru will do whatever you want.”

Their stunned silence allowed Haruhi to get away and disappear into the crowd.  As she entered her tae kwon do studio she wondered just what she was getting into with these two.

They didn’t appear on Friday, but that might’ve been because Mamoru helped her sneak out early for a meeting with Alianore.

“Well, how’s this week been?” Haruhi asked as she took the seat across from Alianore.

Alianore grinned at her, “Well, I’ve felt like a new person all week.  It’s so strange not having this gloomy cloud hanging around, waiting to attack.”

Haruhi smiled back at her, “I’m glad you’re doing well.  I was pretty sure you still had feelings for Tamaki, but,” she shrugged, “I could’ve been wrong.”

Alianore laughed at that, “Really, Haruhi, you, wrong?  I think the only time you got close to being wrong was when you tried to get Mei and I to leave you alone.  After all, we’re amazing.  So not being our friend would be incredibly stupid of you.”

Haruhi laughed at that, “Alianore, you’re so full of yourself!”

“Of course I am!  After all, if I wasn’t, who would be?”

Haruhi laughed at that.  Truly, how did she get so lucky to get such amazing friends?  They were the best, even if they were a little odd.

XXX

On Sunday Haruhi grabbed her purse and headed out the door to the grocery store.  Upon reaching the street she froze.

Two very, very familiar red-heads were getting out of an extremely expensive looking car.  Haruhi frowned at them.

“How did you find out where I live?” she demanded.

Hikaru flashed her a grin, while Kaoru just looked sheepish.

“We have connections,” Hikaru said.

Haruhi rolled her eyes at that, of course they had connections.

She took a deep breath and turned away from them to head down the street to the grocery store.

Within seconds they were on either side of her.

“So, Haruhi, where are you going?” Kaoru asked conversationally.

“Shopping.”

“Oh, what are you shopping for?” he asked.

“Food.”

“Are you going to cook for us?” Hikaru asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“I cook for guests, not talking balls of slime,” she said, bringing back her words from France.  Maybe the shock would hit them so hard she could get away.

It didn’t work.

“Balls of slime…where have I heard that before?” Hikaru asked.

“I do believe someone called us that once in Paris,” Kaoru said.

Hikaru frowned, “That’s right.  Now, when was it...oh!  I remember!  It was when Tamaki got that drink thrown at him!”

“You’re right!” Kaoru said, “You see, Haruhi, we don’t often get called balls of slime.  What made you pick that lovely term?”

Haruhi rolled her eyes at them, she’d miscalculated.  Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

“Because, it suited you then and it still suits you now.”

“Suited us…” Kaoru said, confused.

“Wait a minute!” Hikaru exclaimed as he grabbed her arm and yanked her to a stop.

Haruhi did not like getting dragged around.

She quickly broke his hold and landed a nice kick on his thigh, sending him stumbling backwards.

“Hikaru Hitachiin, don’t you DARE touch me again.”

His eyes narrowed at her, “You’re the one from Paris!   How did you know about our friends?  Kyoya was trying to figure that out for months.  You had no connection at all to Ouran!”

“I’m psychic,” she said, turning and resuming her walk to the store.

Kaoru joined her, leaving Hikaru standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

“You know,” he said, “you didn’t have to kick him.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because, from what I can tell, Hikaru needs something memorable to think about when learning a lesson.”

“And what lesson was he learning?”

“Not to touch people without their permission.”

“Ahhh….”

They continued their walk to the grocery story, eventually Hikaru caught up to them, but he said nothing.  Although, he did keep side-eyeing her.

Hikaru and Kaoru looked around in mild curiosity as they followed Haruhi around the grocery store.

“Kaoru, remember that time Tamaki dragged us to one of these places?”

Kaoru chuckled, “Yeah, do you remember the girl that gave us the slip?  One second we were courting her, the next we were staring at a wall of coff–”

Haruhi glanced at Kaoru to see him staring at shock.  She then looked down at the packet of instant coffee in her hand and her eyes widened.

Hikaru frowned, “Kaoru, what’s wrong?”

“Hikaru…look at Haruhi.”

Hikaru frowned, “What about her?”

“Picture her in casual athletic clothes and glasses, with messy short hair.”

Hikaru stared at her for a moment and then his eyes widened, too.

“Haruhi!  That was you?!?”

She wanted to walk away, but decided to stand her ground.  They’d already proven that she couldn’t get away from them.

“Maybe.”

“What’re the odds?” Kaoru whispered.

Haruhi didn't know, but she figured they were pretty low.

Chapter Text

Usually Haruhi was a very good judge of people.  It was something that came fairly naturally to her, and she had continued to cultivate it once she realized how important it was to being a lawyer.

But, sometimes, Haruhi did not understand people at all.  Or, should she say, she did not understand certain people.

“You want me to WHAT?” Haruhi exclaimed.

“We want you to model a Hitachiin Original at the Hitachiin International Extravaganza.” Mei said again, as if this was the most reasonable request in the world.

“Really, it looks like it was made for you.  Mom had one of her ‘dreams’ and then created it.  It really doesn’t fit our typical models,” Kaoru said calmly.

Haruhi shook her head, “No, I am not some dress-up doll.  I am a lawyer.  One who works for a very high profile law office.  I will not be seen modeling at some sort of party.  For one thing, if Mr. Tachiki saw me he’d fire me on the spot – no matter what Mamoru said.”

“I disagree,” said Hikaru.  “You see, if he recognizes you and asks we’ll say you did as a personal favor to us.  He won’t run the risk of losing Hitachiin International as clients.”

“Besides,” said Kaoru, “you’ve helped Mamoru win several big cases and settle dozens of others outside of court over the past year.  He’s not going to fire you.”

“Oh?  And what do I say when one of the Tachiki clients recognizes me and then dismisses me as an airhead due to the fact I was modeling?  Do you know how hard it is to be respected as a female lawyer in Japan?”

“Hm, that does present a problem,” said Mei.

Haruhi grinned triumphantly, “Yes, it does, doesn’t it?”

The three up and coming fashion designers grew quiet for a moment.  Haruhi began to grow a bit apprehensive.  All three of them were capable of being quite devious when the occasion called for it.

“I know!” said Mei.  “We can have the models wear-“

“MASKS!!!” all three of them shouted as they grinned like the evil relations to the Cheshire Cat that they were.

Haruhi put her head in her hands and sighed.  She knew that she could continue to argue with them, but she’d ultimately lose.  There was no way she’d win against all three of them.  They were a very, very scary united front.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

XXX

The only good thing about agreeing to model the dress was that they were all extremely nice to her.  So, when she told them to get lost, they did.

With no one around to bother her, Haruhi headed to her old, college haunt – The Antique Bakery.

She wasn’t much of a sweets fan, but one of Yusuke’s pastries combined with a coffee, well, it made her relax.

Which is exactly what she was doing when Hunny plopped himself into the chair across from her.

“Hello, Haru-chan!”

Well if she had to be interrupted, then Hunny was a sight better than Tamaki, Mei, or either set of twins.

“Hello, Hunny,” she said, smiling.

It was hard not to smile when Hunny was around.

His eyes narrowed and he studied her, “Haru-chan, what’s wrong?”

“Kaoru, Hikaru, and Mei talked me into modeling at the Hitachiin International Extravaganza.”

He looked puzzled, “But, don’t they realize that some of your clients will be there?”

She shrugged, “That’s what I said, so they decided all models would wear masks.”

“But you don’t want to, do you?”

“Not particularly.”

“Want Mori and me to talk to them?”

She smiled at him, “No, I’ll be okay.  But thank you.”  She looked around the café, “By the way, where is Mori?”

“Oh, he’s watching Genji and Fusao.  Reiko is out of the country for the next week.  Some sort of big convention in San Diego.  Mori offered to watch them for an afternoon.”  He shuddered, “They’ve started walking.”

“Sounds like trouble.”

“Oh, it is, but, do you know what?”

She shook her head.

“I wouldn’t give it up for anything else in the world.”

“My dad always says the same thing.”

Hunny chuckled, “Ranka’s a very smart person.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

He grinned and took a bite of his cake.

The two of them ate in pleasant silence.

It was a very nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

XXX

“Mei, you are NOT doing Haruhi’s makeup,” declared Chiye.

“But, I’m the best!” Mei said.

“Sorry, Mei, but you aren’t,” Masaye said calmly, “or, at least you’re not the best for Haruhi.  She needs a very light touch – especially with that dress.  Too much makeup would ruin the affect, you’re a designer, you should see that.”

Mei crossed her arms and pouted, but she didn’t argue.

“I don’t see why I even need to wear makeup,” Haruhi said for the millionth time since she’d agreed to this insanity.  “I’ll be wearing a mask.”

“The mask only covers half your face,” said Masaye as she adjusted the angle of Haruhi’s head and began to apply foundation.

“And with this mask your eyes will be very visible, you need good eye makeup especially,” added Chiye.

Haruhi sighed in defeat; she just couldn’t win when it came to this stupid Extravaganza.

By the time Masaye finished, Haruhi didn’t recognize herself.  She was more made-up, and yet more natural than she’d ever been in her entire life.

The girls helped her into the dress and then she just stared at herself in the mirror, feelings of shock and awe coursing through her veins.

With the mask on no one would be able to tell that this sophisticated model was Haruhi, the queen of business suits and a no-nonsense appearance.

The dress was very simply cut, and yet, it felt so sophisticated.  The straps were wide and loose as they fell off of her shoulder and onto her upper arms.  The cut of the chased showed off her pale neck, while still leaving much to the imagination.  The rest of the dress fit her like a glove until it reached the hips, where it flowed out like water.  The turquoise fabric shimmered as she moved.  She’d never felt so unlike herself in her entire life.

“Breathtaking,” whispered Chiye.

“Just as I imagined it!  You look like a porcelain doll!” proclaimed a strong voice Haruhi hadn’t heard before.

Turning, she saw it belonged to a gorgeous older woman.  She turned away from the mirror and smiled at Haruhi, “You must be Miss Haruhi Fujioka.  I am Yuzuha Hitachiin, now stand up straight please.”

She put her hands on Haruhi’s shoulder and waist, physically forcing her to stand up straight. 

“Very good!  Now, follow Mei, she’ll take you to the rest of the models.  Your dresses’ names will be called and you’ll descend the staircase, modeling the dress.  Once every girl is at the bottom I want you to mingle with the guests.  Let them see the dresses in action!  Also, be sure to dance, to show how the dress looks as it moves.  You’ll be the last girl out the door since your dress is my crown jewel, I want nothing to outshine it!  Understand?”  She looked Haruhi in the eyes, “You and that dress are the belle of my ball.”

Haruhi nodded, “Yes, Mrs. Hitachiin, I understand.”

“Wonderful!  Have a lovely time!”

And with those words she swept from the room.

The four girls stared after her for a moment, trying to catch their breath.

“So,” said Chiye to Mei, “that’s your boss?”

Mei smiled dreamily, “Yes, isn’t she amazing?”

Haruhi sighed, “Mei, she won’t be so amazing if we don’t follow her orders.”

“Oh! Right!  Masaye, Chiye, I’ll see you in the ballroom.  I need to show Haruhi where to go.  And remind the boys, we’re calling her Princess tonight.  I’m sure they’ve forgotten.”

“Will do!  Good luck, Haruhi!” said the Koenig twins together before heading out.

Haruhi sighed and watched them go.  She wished she was going with them.  Standing at the top of a giant staircase while everyone watched her did not sound fun. 

Not at all.

Chapter Text

The doors opened and the girl in front of Haruhi glided right through, they silently closed behind her.

Haruhi took a deep breath and adjusted her mask.  She didn’t think she’d ever felt this nervous before in her life.  She was used to people paying attention her.  You couldn’t walk around with her friends and not get noticed.  None of them exactly faded into the background, except maybe Mamoru, and then, only if he wanted to.

Still, there was a difference between people paying attention to her due to the group she was with, and being the center of attention.

And, she was certain that she would be the center of attention.  The twins had gotten their flair for the dramatic from someone, and Mrs. Hitachiin seemed like the most likely candidate – if Mei’s stories were anything to go by.

The doors opened and Haruhi took a deep breath and strode forward.  She hesitated on the landing, very aware of the hundreds of eyes on her, but then she found her friends.  They were standing together smiling and giving her a thumbs up.  Haruhi smiled and kept her eyes focused on them as she made her way down the stairs; she ignored everyone else as Mrs. Hitachiin spoke about the dress.

Haruhi reached the models and took her spot at the center of the line.  When Mrs. Hitachiin stopped speaking they all performed a curtsey.  It took all of Haruhi’s concentration to not tip over.  Bowing was much easier than curtseying. 

A hush fell over the ballroom as everyone looked at the dresses.

To Haruhi it felt like it lasted an eternity, but then the music started and the spell was broken.

Everyone started speaking at once and the models drifted off through the crowd to socialize and show off the dress.

Haruhi hadn’t taken two steps before she was assaulted by Tamaki.

“Oh!  The little princess is all grown up!  Doesn’t she look amazing, Alianore?”  He turned to ask his fiancée, not removing his arms from Haruhi.

Alianore nodded as she tried to control the grin threatening to take over her face. 

Haruhi sent her the deadliest glare in her repertoire.

All it did was make Alianore start snickering.

“Tamaki Suoh, get your hands off of her!” Mei shouted, running up.  “You’ll ruin the dress!”

“But…” Tamaki started.

“Boss, you really should remove your hands,” said Hikaru.

Haruhi found it interesting that Masaye was holding onto Hikaru’s arm.  That was worth investigating later.  Especially since Chiye was being escorted by Kaoru.

“You really should.  If Mom sees you manhandling any of her models, especially her crown jewel, we’ll never find the pieces,” Kaoru added dryly.

Tamaki immediately jerked away from Haruhi and began looking around in fear.  They all laughed at him until his expression changed to one of joy.

“KYOYA!!!!” he shouted as he bounded away from them until he was hugging a tall man with glasses.  The recipient of Tamaki’s hug looked as welcoming of it as Haruhi had been.

Haruhi watched as Kyoya untangled himself from Tamaki quite handily.  She found herself envying that.  Escaping Tamaki was never an easy task, even though she’d been practicing for the last year.

“I wonder why Kyoya never told us he was back,” said Hunny as he walked up with a fairly pregnant Reiko, Mori and his date, Chelsea, were following them.

Kaoru shrugged, “You know how the Shadow King is.  He never shares anything unless it gets him ahead.”

“That’s not true,” Mori said.

Hikaru snorted, “Okay, there are some exceptions, but for the most part, Kyoya works only for Kyoya.”

“There was the time he pulled strings and got Tamaki and his grandmother to actually talk,” Hunny said.

“Point,” Kaoru acknowledged.

“Or when he helped Kassanoda get his family’s business clean,” Hunny said.

“Okay, two points,” Hikaru grumbled.

“Or how he keeps sending Tamaki pictures of his cat, Noel, thus keeping the friendship alive.  A friendship that doesn’t seem to rely on what they can get from each other, but rather, what they can give,” Alianore said.

“Fine, three points,” Kaoru said.

“I guess the Shadow King isn't all bad,” Hikaru muttered.

“Of course he isn't,” Mori said.

“He wouldn’t be our friend if he was!” said Hunny.

Haruhi watched Kyoya and Tamaki talk together.  There really was some bond between them, she could see that.  It was clearly evident in the way they moved and talked to each other.  Even in the way Kyoya actually returned Tamaki’s smile.  Haruhi had felt intrigued by Kyoya from the first time he had smirked at her in her neighborhood grocery store.  She’d been even more intrigued by the few words they’d shared in Paris.

And now, here he was, and she was in a position to actually talk to him this time.  And because of Mei and the Hitachiin twins’ genius she was in no danger of him recognizing her from the previous two encounters.  And, she grinned, if she messed up he’d never know the ‘princess’ from the extravaganza was the very serious lawyer Haruhi Fujioka.

Maybe all this nonsense wasn’t so bad after all.

XXX

Kyoya couldn’t help but smile a bit as Tamaki rambled on about…something.  He’d never admit it to anyone, but he really had missed Tamaki and all of the trouble he caused.

Now that he was back in Japan he couldn’t help but wonder how he’d stayed away for so long.  It all felt strangely surreal, being surrounded by Japanese again.  He stopped at a café to get an Americano before meeting with his father earlier and just sitting at a table and being able to understand every word of every conversation around him was...odd. 

Despite the past six years in the States he still thought in Japanese, which made tuning out conversations in English very easy.  So having to work to tune someone out was a bit frustrating.

Not that he had to work to tune Tamaki out – that was an innate skill.

He returned the full focus of his attention to Tamaki as soon as his arm was grabbed.

“C’mon Kyoya!  You have to come meet Alianore!  Oh!  And you must meet the princess!”

Kyoya frowned, “Princess?”

Tamaki grinned from ear to ear, “Yes!  She’s amazing!  There are also more new people for you to meet!  There are the Koenig twins, Masaye and Chiye, and there’s Mrs. Hitachiin’s assistant, Mei Yasumura.  She wears too much makeup and is sometimes scary, but she’s very nice.”

Tamaki continued to ramble, but Kyoya had stopped listening.  All of his attention was fixed on the intriguing woman in turquoise.  He’d been in the ballroom when she’d come down the stairs and she’d drawn his attention then.  She hadn’t glided like the others; rather, she’d walked with a grace that Kyoya had only seen on Mori and Hunny.

She didn't glide, she prowled.

It was obvious to him that she was no career model – which only made him more curious as to how Mrs. Hitachiin had gotten her to model that dress.

Upon reaching the group of young people Kyoya felt as if he was back in high school.  They were all smiling and acting like they hadn’t been apart for so many years.  It was relaxing to be around people that weren’t trying to get something from him.

Tamaki introduced all of the girls to Kyoya.  Though, when he got to the girl in turquoise he merely introduced her as, “Princess.”

“I assume you have a real name, Princess,” Kyoya said.

Princess smiled, “Of course I do.”

“Well, then what is it?”

“Oh, I could never give my name out to a stranger,” she smiled slyly at him.

Kyoya was intrigued.

“If we danced, would we still be strangers?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“Your dancing skills.”

“Oh, never fear, Princess, my dancing skills are extraordinary.”

“And so is your ego,” she muttered.

He actually grinned, “It has to be, how else could I be friends with these idiots?” He gestured at the other Ouran Host Club members.

She chuckled, “Point.”

The music changed as a new dance began.

He extended his hand and gave a short bow, straight out of his host club days, “Well, Princess, will you honor me with this dance?”

She put her hand in his, “I do believe I will.”

When the two of them were safely on the dance floor Tamaki began laughing.  The others looked at him in curiosity.

“Can’t you see?” he said.  “I do believe the Shadow King might’ve just met his match.”

Hunny grinned, “About time.”

Everyone laughed at that.

"Ah, but does he know he's met her before?" Alianore asked.

Everyone turned their heads to study the two dancers for a few moments.  

"I don't think he does..." Tamaki said, surprise evident in his voice.

"Then, shouldn't we tell him?" Mei asked.

All the men's heads turned to stare at her.  The Hitachiin Twins' jaws had dropped.

She looked at them in confusion, "What?  Isn't that the right thing to do?"

All five men shook their heads to some degree. 

"Mei, you don't seem to understand," Hunny said.

"What don't we understand?" Alianore asked.

Tamaki looked down at his fiance, incredulously.

"Darling, don't you know, we don't tell Kyoya ANYTHING."

Chiye frowned, "How can you be friends if you don't tell him anything?"

"Because," Kaoru said with a shrug, "we never have to."

Hikaru nodded vigorously, "The Shadow King knows all."

"Except this," Mori stated, his eyes going back to the dancing couple.

"Well, I think telling him is the nice thing to do," Masaye said.

Hikaru and Kaoru chuckled.

Hikaru said, "It may be the nice thing, but we're not going to do it."

"But what if-" Mei started.

"Mei," Hunny cut in, "it's better to let Kyoya find things out on his own."

"Definitely," the other men said together.

XXX

Haruhi didn’t know where the evening had gone.  It seemed like one minute she was going to dance with Kyoya and the next she was excusing herself to go to the bathroom.

Which was, of course, a lie.

Rather, she met Mei in the dressing room and quickly changed out of the princess dress and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. 

“Well, did you enjoy yourself?” Mei asked as she began unpinning Haruhi’s hair.

Haruhi smiled, “Do you know what?  I think I did.”

“You spent every moment with Kyoya Ootori.   Mrs. Hitachiin was shooting you daggers until I pointed out that holding an Ootori’s undivided attention was drawing more eyes than anything else could ever do.”

“Well, he was interesting.”

“Yeah, sure, just like I found Kassanoda interesting at Reiko’s baby shower last week.”

“I thought it was his flower arrangements you found interesting,” Haruhi pointed out.

“Well, yes, but he must have a truly beautiful heart to make such beautiful arrangements.”

“Mei, you do realize that Kassanoda is the leader of a very powerful yakuza group?”

“He Was the leader of a yakuza.  Kyoya made his family legitimate.  Now he owns a darling flower shop.  No yakuza leader could own a flower shop.  Besides, Kyoya is the heir to a zaibatsu.  Some people claim they’re as bad as a yakuza.”

“Some people don’t study economics.”

“And some people need to admit when they’re romantically interested,” Mei said, pulling the last pin out of Haruhi’s hair.

Haruhi immediately stood up and pulled her hair into a neat ponytail.

“And some people need to stop worrying so much about others.”

“What?  It’s okay for you to worry and meddle with Alianore, but we can’t meddle with you?”

“That’s not what I–” Haruhi stopped and sighed.  “Okay, you’re right.  Turn around is fair play.  But, remember, Alianore and Tamaki had been pining for almost a decade.  I only officially met him tonight.  Give me some time before any of you meddle.  Please?”

She stared at Mei until the girl sighed, “Fine.  We’ll give you a few months.  I’ll make sure the others back down.  But, I’m warning you,” she waggled her finger in Haruhi’s face, “if you two start acting like idiots, we WILL step in.”

“Fine, just keep Tamaki and the twins under control.”

Mei grinned, “Oh, don’t worry.  I’ll talk to Masaye, Chiye, and Alianore.  They’ll keep those boys so busy that they won’t have time to even think about you and Kyoya.”

Haruhi smiled at that and grabbed her purse, heading for home.

It was time to put away ‘Princess’ and go back to being Haruhi Fujioka, up and coming lawyer.

Chapter Text

“Well, how was the Extravaganza?” Mamoru asked her on Monday morning.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Haruhi said as she settled herself at her desk.

“Zackarie was telling me that you were the belle of the ball,” he said, propping himself against her desk and taking a sip of his coffee.

“Oh?  And how would he know?  He wasn’t there either,” she said as she pointedly turned away from him.

“Well, you see, Zackarie has this rather nice sister who just LOVES to talk.”

“Alianore should learn to mind her own business.”

“And you, Haruhi Fujioka, should learn to relax a bit.”

“I do relax.”

“Sure, when you’re practicing your martial arts or sleeping.  You need to relax more around people.”

“Mamoru Tachiki, I am very relaxed around my friends.  That’s how you lot get me into so much trouble.  Like the time you put that–”

“Okay! Okay!”  He held up his hands, “You said you’d never speak of that at work!”

“Then leave my personal life outside of work.  If you really want to discuss it than we can do so AFTER work, not during.”

He grinned and slid off of her desk, “Sounds like a plan.”  He turned to walk away and then stopped and turned back around, “Oh!  I almost forgot.  Father has put me in charge of a very high profile case.  I want you to handle the meetings with our client.”

Haruhi frowned, Mamoru let her do a lot more than Mr. Tachiki wanted her to do, but he’d never let her lead a meeting with a client.

“What’s going on?  If this is so high-profile your father will not be happy to discover that I’m handling the meetings.  Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Yes, you see, I’m absolutely terrified of this client.”

Haruhi scoffed, “You?  Terrified?  What, are we working with a mass murderer?”

“Worse.”

Her eyes grew wide, “Worse?  How can they be worse than a mass murder?”

“You’ll see.”

XXX

As soon as Haruhi walked into the meeting room she realized her career as a lawyer was going to be destroyed, all because she had the incredible desire to go find Mamoru and kill him.

She was sure Mr. Tachiki wouldn’t approve of that.

Sitting at the table, writing something on a tablet, was none other than Kyoya Ootori. 

Haruhi took a deep breath and walked over to the table, taking the seat across from him.  He looked up only when she spoke.

“Hello, Mr. Ootori.  I’m Ms. Fujioka and I’ll be working closely with you so as to achieve your goals.”

He looked her up and down, his face unreadable.

“And, pray tell, where is Mr. Tachiki?”

“Well, Mr. Tachiki is out of the country at the moment.  Mr. Kenichi Tachiki is currently working with a client, as is Mr. Mamoru Tachiki.”

Kyoya abruptly closed his tablet case, stood up and gave her a bow.  “I’m sorry to take up your time Ms. Fujioka.  I’ll come back when Mr. Tachiki or one of his sons can meet with me personally, rather than with an assistant.”

Haruhi had to fight to keep a scowl off of her face. 

“Mr. Ootori, I am no one’s assistant,” she quibbled, she was more of a silent partner with Mamoru than an assistant, after all.  “I graduated top of my class from Tohoku Law School.  I hold a Bachelors from Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.  I also studied abroad during high school at Brekleys Academy in Australia.  I am highly qualified and able to assist you, even if my last name is not Tachiki.”

Kyoya had been halfway to the door when she had started talking, and it was there that he had stopped once she had begun.

Now he turned to face her, raising one delicate eyebrow, “Well, well, Ms. Fujioka, that is quite an ego.”

“No, it is not an ego.  I am a lawyer and so must understand my own skills and limitations perfectly so as to best achieve my client’s goals.”  She opened her binder and unlocked the small tablet contained within.  Then she looked over at him, still standing there watching her curiously.  “Now, Mr. Ootori, are we going to discuss your issue?  Or should I inform Mr. Tachiki that you no longer want our services?”

His other eyebrow rose to meet the first, and then he smirked.  “I don’t think Mr. Tachiki will like losing my family’s business.  If I walk out right now you will lose your job.”

Haruhi smiled coolly at him, “I don’t think so.”

He studied her for a moment.  The silence stretched between them.

She sure hoped he took her bluff.  She thought he would.  She felt like she knew him quite well after all their physical and verbal dancing on the past Saturday.

Not that he knew it was her.  Nothing at all about her appearance gave away her charade as ‘Princess’.

And then he smiled, “Ms. Fujioka I do believe you and I will work quite well together.”

Haruhi smiled pleasantly back at him as he resumed his seat, “I do hope so, Mr. Ootori.  Now, how about we discuss the issue?  Since you were unable to give any information prior to this meeting.”

Kyoya nodded and opened his tablet back up.  He then proceeded to tell her, in great detail, about how the government was trying to break up all zaibatsus, since they viewed all of that power in the hands of a single family as very threatening. 

Haruhi, as someone who had grown up in an ‘average’ family could sort of understand where the government was coming from.  The less powerful, but equally successful keiretsu was arguably a better system.  But, she also understood that destroying the zaibatsus would cause thousands of people to lose their jobs, just like it had back in the 1940s, when the US had started destroying them.  In many ways a zaibatsu was like a constitutional monarchy, albeit, with the monarch holding a lot of power.  This allowed zaibatsus like the Ootori Group to take greater risks because they weren’t at risk of being hurt by their shareholders.

She’d done her reading up on Kyoya’s family, she knew the Ootori Group was responsible for many of the advances in modern medicine; much of this was because they had the funds to invest in research that wouldn’t pay off for a long, long time.

“So, Ms. Fujioka, you can see how stopping this benefits more than just the Ootori Group,” he said as he showed the projected consequences such a dissolution would cause.

“I can’t help but see it, Mr. Ootori.  And, don’t worry, we here at Tachiki and Sons will ensure that this never happens.”

He smiled at her, “Of course you will, that is what my family is paying you for, is it not?”

“You’re also paying us to protect you from any and all malpractice suits.  Oh, and to settle all legal needs when you procure new technology or property.  Am I not right?”

His smile disappeared, “Ms. Fujioka, despite your competency, you need to watch that tongue of yours.  It will get you into trouble one day.”

 “It usually gets me out of trouble, not into it.”  She smiled at him, as she stood up and closed her binder.  “Now, Mr. Ootori, I’ll review everything we went over today, as well as the documents you emailed me.  Once I’ve done some research I’ll be in touch.  It should be but a day or two before you hear from me.”

“Good day, Ms. Fujioka.  Here’s my card, please call my personal cell.”

He handed her a very simple card, she tucked it into her binder and then escorted him to the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors closed she turned and stormed down the hallway.  People jumped out of their way when they saw her expression.

She was going to KILL Mamoru.

Or at least kick him around a bit.

Chapter Text

Kyoya woke before the sun had even peeked over the horizon.  He frowned in annoyance at the clock and rolled over, trying to fall back asleep.

It didn’t work.

This was why he hadn’t come back to Japan for so many years.  He hated waking up early and that ridiculous thing called jet lag messed him up so much.

He moved onto his stomach and closed his eyes, relaxing his whole body.

It didn’t work.

He tried several other positions, but nothing worked.

Scowling, he threw back the blankets and got out of bed.  If he was stuck awake this early he might as well get some work done. 

Grabbing a towel he headed into the bathroom.

His father better not renege, Kyoya didn’t quite know what he’d do if that happened, but he had several potential ideas.

He couldn’t believe at his good luck at getting this opportunity.  His eldest brother, Yuuichi had been stupid enough to insult some very important people.  Albeit, he’d done it unintentionally, but as the heir to a powerful zaibatsu he should know better than to put derogatory comments about powerful people in writing.

From what his father had said Kyoya knew that Akito had been offered the chance to fix the mess Yuuichi had created, but he had declined, with the same promised incentive.  Kyoya didn’t know how someone as smart and talented as Akito could be so lacking in ambition. 

Well, that just meant this lovely opportunity had fallen on him.  If he succeeded in saving the zaibatsu his father had promised to name him as heir.

Kyoya grinned and stepped into the shower.

With such a determined lawyer as Ms. Fujioka working with him, how could he lose?

XXX

By the time the sun was starting to rise over the horizon Kyoya had gotten all the work done that he’d failed to finish before falling asleep the night before.

He really hated jetlag.

By the time the sun had finished rising he’d gotten enough work done that he felt good enough to take a break.

Standing and stretching he walked over to the window and looked down on the lands surrounding his family’s home. 

To think, if he and Ms. Fujioka succeeded in saving the family this would all be his one day.  His brothers would work for him.

He grinned, and to think, it had been Tamaki who had first asked him why he seemed so content as the third son.  Only Tamaki had realized just how not content he was. 

Grabbing his tablet he headed down for breakfast, he’d double check what Ms. Fujioka had told him about her credentials.  He doubted she’d lie to him, she’d know how easy it would be for him to fact check her, which was why he hadn’t bothered researching her before he’d passed out the night before.

But he had time now.  After all, it was a bit hard to type emails when eating miso and rice. 

Sitting down at the dining room table he grinned at the food set before.  He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed a good Japanese breakfast until he’d come back.  It was amazing how many things you forgot or adjusted to while spending years abroad.

It didn’t take very long for him to find information on one Haruhi Fujioka.  He’d naturally started by looking at the law office’s site, where he discovered she wasn’t even a junior partner yet.  Though, he frowned, she was only a year younger than him and had been working there for three years.  She was still too new to be made a partner, even a junior one.  They must be planning on making her one though, assigning her to him and the rest of the Ootori Group.  They wouldn’t give such a high profile client to just anyone.

It wasn’t too difficult for him to find out about her past life in school.  That mildly surprised him.  Usually he had to do some digging to find someone’s class ranking, but, as number one, her rank was proudly on display.

She’d been number one at every school she’d attended, all the way back to Grade 1.

Well, well, well.

He was intrigued. 

In many ways her high honors and numerous scholarships were much more intriguing than ‘Princess’.

Kyoya stopped reading and scowled down at his miso.  Why had he thought of her?  She was just a model, albeit a very unique one.  She’d lied to him.  He’d danced with her, talked with her, gotten to know her fairly well for one evening, and then she’d said she had to visit the facilities.  He’d watched her disappear in the direction of the bathrooms.

That had been the last time he’d seen her.

She’d disappeared completely.

And when he asked his friends if they knew who she was they’d all shrugged and said they only knew her as Princess.  When he’d asked how they’d even known her Hikaru had spoken up to inform him that since she was a new model his mother had wanted them to keep an eye on her.

Leaving his friends in disgust he’d searched out Mrs. Hitachiin, only to have her refuse to tell him the girl’s real name.

He’d approached the other models, but they had never met her before.  Claiming they hadn’t even seen her before they’d all lined up to enter the ballroom.

He hadn’t even been able to find a paper trail.

So, it was best to put ‘Princess’ out of his mind.  Even if she was the most fascinating woman he’d ever met.

In some ways Ms. Haruhi Fujioka was a pale substitute, but in others....

Well, she certainly fit much better into his world.

Kyoya gave his head a shake.

Fit into his world?

What was he thinking?  He didn't want anyone in his world.

Not an up and coming lawyer nor a model who was not a model.

‘Princess’ must’ve been hiding for a reason, one that would undoubtedly cause him issues.  He'd been burned once, he'd be stupid to open himself to it again.

Ms. Fujioka so far appeared to be a very honest and up front person, which helped make him willing to trust her and her work.  And, from the meeting yesterday she didn’t seem at all overly impressed with him or his position.  Nor did she seem like the type of person to use others for personal gain.  In fact, judging from her academic history she preferred to rely on herself, which made him feel good.

Not that he was looking for anyone.

Never that.

Shaking his head at that thought he continued looking up Haruhi’s past.

She’d come a long way from her single-parent home in a lower-income area.  He wondered how much her mother’s death had shaped her life.  Probably quite a bit since her mother had been a lawyer, though only a mildly successful one, by his standards.

If her past was anything to go by, her future was going to be very, very successful.

Kyoya grinned, it looked like his decision to stay yesterday had been a good one.  He hoped she lived up to her potential. 

He was going to be the Ootori Group heir; no one was going to stand in his way.

No one.

Even if they were rather captivating.

He wondered if her smiles were ever anything other than cool or polite?

Smiling at that nonsensical question, he shook his head and set to finishing up his breakfast.  Oh, Ms. Haruhi Fujioka was something else, and he had the suspicion that she knew it, but didn’t care.  And that, in his mind, made her all the more intriguing.

Speaking of not caring…

Kyoya pulled out his phone and read the dozens of messages from Tamaki he’d been ignoring over the past two days.

He supposed that he couldn’t ignore his best friend for long, even if he was very busy.  Otherwise Tamaki would come looking for him at what might possibly be the worst possible moment.

That, of course, was how Tamaki worked.

Taking a last sip of his coffee he stood up from the table and left the room, dialing Tamaki as he went.

It was better to get it over with.

Tamaki, in his opinion, was a friend best met with when he controlled the situation.

He’d learned that lesson during the Ouran Host Club.

And he’d learned it well.

Chapter Text

“Really, Haruhi, I don’t know why you’re so worried,” Mamoru said.

Haruhi glared at him over the papers she was reading.  “If your father finds out you’re barely involved in this case then I’ll be out on the streets looking for a new job.”

He shook his head, “Father’s out of the country for two months.  You’ll have this wrapped up by the time he comes back.”

“And what if someone decides to tell him about this?”

Mamoru quirked an eyebrow at her, “And who, exactly, would tell him?  Most of the people that work here really like you and just want to see you succeed.”

“And everyone else?”

He flashed her the most devilish grin she’d ever seen him give, “Well, let’s just say that they’ve come to realize that my father won’t always be in charge here.”

“You and Kenichi threatened them, didn’t you?”

“Threaten is such a nasty word.  Rather, we made sure they knew all the facts.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever you want to call it,” she muttered, glancing up at the clock.

“Kyoya should be here soon, he always arrives five minutes early.”

“Oh, Kyoya is it?” he said with a smile as he began gathering his things to leave the conference room.

She gritted her teeth, “Mr. Ootori will be here very soon.”

Mamoru laughed all the way out the door.

Haruhi had barely concealed her annoyance at Mamoru and his teasing when Kyoya walked in.

She immediately stood up, smiled, and gave him a welcoming bow.

“Hello, Mr. Ootori, I hope you’re having a good afternoon.”

He smiled pleasantly back at her, “It’s been reasonably successful.  I hope you have information for me that will make it even better.”

He took a seat across from her and Haruhi started talking.

“I certainly hope so.  I’ve been doing research and I’ve had people here fact checking over the past three days.  With all of that information I believe I have a solution to your family’s issue.”

“That’s good to hear, what is it?”

“Well, in my personal opinion, it is of the highest imperative that we solve this before any news of it reaches the public.  While we here at Tachiki and Sons are of the opinion that zaibatsus are still looked at favorably by the general population, too much attention will cause a very loud minority to voice their opinions.  This would give your family’s enemies ammunition that we can’t let them gain.  So we need to stop it before it gets any bigger.”

Kyoya nodded in agreement, “And how do you plan to stop this from occurring?”

“First, to prepare for the worst, the Ootori Group should do some things to get good press coverage.  Charity events, discounts on necessary medicine for a time, basically anything that will make people think fondly of the Ootori Group.”

“Sounds like a good plan so far, please continue.”

“The second part involves creating a series of presentations, each one completely honest, but tailored to fit the person or group the presentation is aimed at.  In these presentations we’ll highlight all of the positive and negative effects a zaibatsu has on the economy.  And then be sure to point out that the positive outweighs the negative, in both the short and long term.”

“Why do you want to mention the negative?”

“We’re doing that so it is obvious that the positives outweigh the negatives.  We’ll be sure to point out the fact that every economical system has their flaws, but that when it comes to Japanese society the zaibatsu has not outlived its usefulness.”

He nodded and stared down at the surface, Haruhi could tell that he was thinking deeply.

She let him have a few minutes to think while she checked over her notes to make sure she hadn’t missed anything pertinent.

“Will you be doing all of the presentations?”

She shook her head, “No, at the moment I’m currently compiling a list of everyone we need to speak with and examining the information that we have on them.  I’ll be doing most of the presentations, but we believe that some of the people will respond better to either Mamoru Tachiki or you doing the presentation.  I’ll have the list completed and emailed to you before close of business hours today.”

“That sounds very reasonable and I’ll be fine with doing some of the presentations.” He pulled out his tablet and opened it up, “May I ask when you believe the first presentation will be?”

Haruhi pulled up her calendar, “It’s scheduled for ten in the morning next Monday.”

His eyebrows rose, “Next Monday?  You’re moving quickly, may I ask who the meeting is with?”

Haruhi smiled at him, “We’re meeting with Mr. Toshimitsu Motegi, Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry.”

“So, you’re choosing to go for the most important ones first.  May I ask why?”

“Because, we’ll know by the end of the day on Monday if this plan has a chance of succeeding.”

He grinned at her, “You were that sure of me saying yes to your plan?”

She put on her best Chiye smirk, “How could you say no?  It is the best plan possible.”

He threw his head back and laughed.

Haruhi watched him, wondering if she would ever stop wanting to be around him.

XXX

Over the next several weeks Haruhi spent lots of time with Kyoya.  She prepped him for his presentations and was there to assist him when he did them.  He was also there when she presented quite often, since his presence showed how serious the Ootori Group took this situation.

Prepping for these presentations required long hours of going over every detail and making sure that everything was perfect.  Haruhi couldn’t remember how often they’d poured over files together, completely forgetting about the food they’d ordered until it was long cold.

Not that that stopped her from eating it.

The only time they actually ate when the food arrived was when he ordered sushi and sashimi.  Even then, they were pouring over notes in between stuffing pieces of fish in their mouths.

She'd just stuffed a particularly large piece of tuna in her mouth when she'd glanced across the table at him.  He'd been watching her with the most adorable little wrinkle on his brow.  She'd raised her eyebrows and given him a questioning look, half wondering if she had soy sauce dribbling down her chin.  

She almost didn't catch it, but he drew back a fraction of a centimeter and gave his head a minuscule shake as the wrinkle disappeared from his brow.  Then he turned to look back at his laptop, as if he hadn't just been staring intently at her.

Her eyes narrowed.  No, he wasn't going to look at her like that and then pretend nothing had happened.  She hurriedly chewed the delicious tuna and swallowed.

"Mr. Ootori, is there something on my face?"

He froze for a half-second and then looked up at her, his eyes moving over her face and then settling for a long moment on her lips.  Haruhi had the to fight the urge to bite her lip.  She felt her heartbeat speed up and the room definitely got a few degrees warmer as his eyes lingered.  She felt as if her own eyes were drawn to his lips.  She wondered what it would be like to kiss him.  They'd moved so beautifully together when they'd danced, surely kissing would've been just as magical.  Maybe if she hadn't left that night she would've found out.  But she hadn't had a choice.  The longer she stayed the more likely it was that someone would recognize her.  And while she had no problem with Kyoya learning she had modeled that night, one had only to look at his friends to realize how decent a human being he was, he would likely lose confidence in her as a lawyer.  

And that would never do.  She had a zaibatsu to protect.

That thought drew her away from his lips and she focused her eyes on his before clearing her throat.

"Mr. Ootori?"

He blinked and then jerked his eyes up until they locked with hers.

"Oh, I apologize Ms. Fujioka.  My mind was a million miles away."

She almost snorted, that was a lie, his mind was just focused on something else, just like hers had been.

"And, no, you don't have anything on your face.  I just have a bad habit of staring off into the distance when I think."

That was a lie, and she desperately wanted to call him on it.  But now wasn't the time.  Maybe later, when the zaibatsu was saved and she knew she wouldn't be out of a job for doing this...

Grabbing another piece of tuna she smiled at him, "That's good.  And don't worry, we all have our little quirks."

She quickly stuffed the tuna in her mouth and turned back to her work.  Determined not to think too much about the very unforgettable man across the table from her.

XXX

Before Haruhi knew it, all the presentations were done and all they could do was wait.

Haruhi did not like the waiting; especially since they’d been waiting for three weeks for confirmation that all plans to dismantle the Ootori Zaibatsu were set aside. 

It didn’t help that this waiting meant that she was no longer spending hours in Kyoya’s company.  She came to miss the way he pushed his glasses up or wrinkled his brow when he was thinking hard.  Unless they were talking about the presentations they hadn’t said much, but just being in the same room as him, working together, was nice.

So, while she waited to hear some of the most important news of her career, she was also pinning for a guy that had only shown interest in her as a lawyer.

Well, except for the interest he’d shown in her when she was ‘Princess’.

And, to make matters worse, Mr. Tachiki was due back any day.

She heard a throat clear behind her, turning she found Mamoru standing there.

“Yes?”

He grinned at her, “Guess what Haruhi?”

“You finally asked Zackarie out?”

His eyes bugged out, “NO!  Why would you…” he blushed.

She giggled, “Okay, Mamoru, what is it?”

“Kyoya Ootori just called the office.  Apparently his father had some meetings today and got confirmation that everything had been settled.”

“Really?” she smiled.

“Yep!  And Kyoya would like to take us to dinner on Friday as a thank you celebration.  I already accepted for both of us.”

Haruhi rolled her eyes, “Of course you did.”

He turned to go, but stopped and looked over his shoulder, “Haruhi, wear a dress.”

“Mamoru, it’s a business dinner, I’ll be in a suit.”

He grinned, “Oh, no, you won’t.”

Before she could respond he turned and walked away.

There was no way she was wearing a dress to a business dinner!  Hadn’t Mei drilled her on what outfits to wear during certain occasions?  She wasn’t going to screw that up just because her friend was trying to play matchmaker.

Nope, no dresses for her.

XXX

Haruhi glared down at the frothy pink confection that Mei had forced on her.  This is why she didn’t really care about the rules of when you were supposed to wear something. 

The rules kept changing!  And they made no sense, or, rather, they made less sense then they had before.

‘Only business suits during business meals,’ Mei said years ago.

‘Of course you’re wearing a dress to this dinner!’ she’d said just hours ago.

Sometimes Haruhi really wondered how she’d been friends with Mei for close to seven years.

But, at other times…well, Mei was a great friend - if a bit too exuberant at times.

The taxi came to a stop in front of Chez Matsuo Shoto and Haruhi paid him before getting out.

That was another thing that annoyed her.  Because of this dress she’d been unable to take the subway.  She was much too worried about getting it dirty, when it wasn’t even hers. 

Rather, it was a dress Mei had ‘borrowed’ with the twins help from Ms. Hitachiin.

Haruhi took a deep breath and then headed for the door of the restaurant.  A nicely dressed gentleman opened the door for her and Haruhi walked inside.

The restaurant wasn’t much brighter than it had been outside, in fact…

Haruhi looked around as she approached the maître d.  This restaurant was rather romantic, not at all like what she’d expect for a business dinner.

“May I help you, miss?” asked the maître d.

“Yes, I’m here to meet Kyoya Ootori and Mamoru Tachiki.”

He smiled at her, “Ah, you must be Miss Fujioka, please follow me.”

He led her to a small table in a very romantically lit courtyard.  Haruhi was beginning to think Mei and Mamoru were planning something.  And when she’d told them not to!  She should’ve known better than to trust them not to interfere.

Kyoya stood up as she approached. 

Mamoru was nowhere in sight.

Kyoya’s smile was rather interesting.  There was a bit of surprise in it, as if he couldn’t believe she could look like this.

Haruhi smiled back at him, well, maybe Mei was right, wearing a dress was the right choice. 

The look on Kyoya’s face told her that he was off center.  She supposed he was trying to fit the current image he had of her in with the extremely professional lawyer he’d spent the last two months working with.

 “Good evening, Ms. Fujioka.  That’s quite the dress.  It looks to be a Hitachiin,” Kyoya said.

Haruhi smiled at him, “It is a Hitachiin.  A friend of mine is obsessed with their dresses.  She lent me this for the evening.”

“Really?  It looks like it was made for you?  In fact…”

He leaned over and studied her closely.

“I do believe I’ve seen you in a Hitachiin dress before.”

Haruhi’s heart sped up and she had to use all of her practiced skills to keep the wrong emotions from showing on her face.

Personally, Haruhi thought honesty was the best approach, but now didn't seem like the time.  Also, though she didn't want to admit it, she was feeling a bit panicked.  This was not how she'd intended to reveal that they'd met before.  She wanted to wring her friends necks for putting her in this position.

“I don’t see how that’s possible.  You see, I’m not much into dressing up.  I greatly prefer my business suits.”

He quirked an eyebrow, “Is that so?  Because I could’ve sworn I’d seen you in a gorgeous turquoise dress.  I do believe we danced.  I’m surprised you don’t remember.”

Haruhi looked at him with the most confused expression she could manage.  She didn’t quite know why she wanted to keep this a secret from him, but, for some reason, it seemed like a good idea.

“I don’t–”

She was abruptly cut off by a phone ringing. 

Kyoya pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it with a quick, “One moment, please.”

“Hello?”

“Oh, what happened?”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.  But, of course you need to stay with him.  Don’t worry, Ms. Fujioka is here.”

Kyoya chuckled, “Don’t worry, your absence won’t stop us.”

“Alright, have a good weekend.  I’ll see you on Monday.”

Haruhi watched as Kyoya slipped his phone back into his pocket.

Kyoya smirked at her, his glasses glinting in the candlelight.

“Now, where were we, Princess?”

Chapter Text

Haruhi’s heart sped up, but she forced herself to relax.  So, he’d figured out it was her, what was he going to do about it?  She’d just helped him save his family’s zaibatsu.  And, from what she’d heard through the grapevine Kyoya was going to be named heir to the Ootori Group because of that.

Why should he be angry with her?

She breathed in deeply through her and then released it slowly as she smiled at him, “So, I see you figured it out.  I was surprised you didn’t recognize me on the first day.  Everyone says you’re very observant.”

He leaned back in his chair and studied her through his flashing spectacles, not saying a word.  She raised one eyebrow in question.

“I’m trying to decide exactly what you hoped to achieve by deceiving me.”

Her other eyebrow went up, “Achieve?  What exactly could I achieve?  It was my job to help you with this situation.  What does the Hitachiin Extravaganza have to do with that?”

“You see, I’m wondering that too,” he leaned forward to look her in the eyes “since, you see, there’s only one reason you would try to play me like that.”

Haruhi thought she saw a flicker of pain flash through his eyes, but it was gone so quickly she couldn’t be sure.

“You’re trying to grab power, you wanted to seduce me, possibly entrap me in marriage.”

Haruhi’s jaw dropped.

“Excuse me?”

He crossed his arms and leaned back again. 

“You heard me.  You scoped me out at the Hitachiin Extravaganza, though that meeting was likely by accident.  I suspect that you were originally after one of my friends.  I suppose it was one of the Hitachiin twins or Takashi Morinozuka, since they aren’t married or engaged.  But, then you saw me, and decided I’d fit your bill much better.  You likely planned to ‘meet’ me again later and give yourself away, purely by accident of course.  But, then you realized your luck when I came to Tachiki and Sons on Monday.  You convinced your ‘friend’ Mamoru Tachiki to let you take over the meeting, despite the fact that you’re merely his assistant.  And then, today, you deliberately wore a Hitachiin dress again and had Mamoru help you by canceling last minute.  You even had him recommend this restaurant, which is rather romantic, is it not?”

He gestured at the candlelit tables separated by leafy potted plants and set in an open air courtyard.

Haruhi could only stare at this man and wonder what had happened to the calm, logical man she’d gotten to know over the past two months.  How in the world did he see her as such a femme fatale?  Hadn’t all those hours pouring over presentations or rehearsing taught him anything about her?  And did he really think she controlled Mamoru?  Honestly!

“Everything you just said is nonsense.”

His eyes narrowed and he sat up straight, now it was his turn to say, “Excuse me?” 

“You heard me.  That was all pure nonsense based on unsubstantiated delusions you’ve pulled out of…somewhere.  Honestly, Kyoya Ootori, that is not like you.”

“We’re not discussing me, we’re discussing you.   Oh, yes, I know all about you Miss Haruhi Fujioka.  Your mother died when you were young and you were raised by your crossdressing fa–”

Haruhi saw red.

“Leave my father out of this ‘discussion’.”

“Oh?  Then should I skip ahead to where you put a boy in the hospital in high school? Or–”

Haruhi stood up, “I’m done here.”

She was not going to sit here and listen to him tear apart whatever little parts of her past were open to the public and dissect them. 

He stood up too, “I’m not.”

His voice was tightly laced with anger, but she didn’t care, so she ignored him and turned to walk out.  How had she found this man so fascinating?  Had she really had butterflies in her stomach about this dinner?  Her?  The girl that wasn’t fazed by anything?

She’d only taken a few steps when he grabbed her wrist.

“I’m warning you, Ms. Fujioka, I don’t ever want to see you anywhere around my friends again.”

“Let. Me. Go.”

“No,” he tugged until she was facing him.

She narrowed her eyes at him, “I’ll count to three.”

He ignored her, “I don’t know what you were planning before you set your sights on them.”

“One.”

“All I can think is that you got tired of waiting to climb up the ladder.”

“Two.”

“But, don’t worry, I’ll be calling Mr. Tachiki, you won’t have a ladder to climb up when I’m done.”

“Three.”

“Do you–”

She didn’t stop to listen to the rest of his sentence.  She was so angry.  She didn’t know where this Kyoya had come from, because it certainly wasn’t the man she’d spent the last two months working with.  Nor was it the man that the other boys in the Host Club talked about.  And right now all she wanted to do was get away from him and go home.

When she finished her dress had a small tear at the hem and Kyoya was lying on the floor, groaning. 

She turned and swept out of the restaurant, the eyes of every patron and wait staff on her.  None of them were stupid enough to stop her from leaving the restaurant and getting in the taxi that the doorman hurriedly summoned.

She told the driver the address for the small apartment she shared with her father.  She didn’t know what she was going to do when she got home, but she was sure she’d figure it out.  She had thirteen hours to figure out what to do as Mr. Tachiki was currently on a plane over the continental USA.

She knew Mamoru didn’t have enough pull with his father to save her job if the Ootori Group wanted her gone.  He’d already be angry enough about her taking over the Ootori case. 

That meant she needed a new game plan. 

She had quite a bit of money in savings.  Between the money her father had set aside for her education that she hadn't needed and all of the money she’d saved and carefully invested over the past three years she had a very substantial nest egg. 

If she dressed the right way, spoke the right words, and got lucky she might be able to get a few loans. 

Between her nest egg, her loans, and the connections her friends had spent the last three years forcing her to make she might be able to set up her own law office and actually make a real go of it.

Haruhi found herself smiling as she paid the driver and slipped quietly into the apartment. 

Yes, she could do it.  After all, if she could leave everything she knew at the tender age of fifteen to go to Australia she could certainly do this.

She wasn’t alone, she had her friends, she had her father. 

And she was never, ever, letting them put her in a Hitachiin gown again.

Especially when they had devious plans in mind.

A Hitachiin suit might be acceptable though.

She chuckled silently as she stepped around her father and headed into the bathroom.  If Mei and the Hitachiin twins had their way she’d be the best dressed lawyer in all of Japan.

Chapter Text

Kyoya groaned.

He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help it.

Everything hurt.

He didn’t think he’d ever felt so much physical pain before in his life.  Not that he’d been alive for very long, at least when you thought about the average age of death for men in Japan.  And that was 82, the second highest average age of death in the world, only beaten by Monaco, which had an average age of 85.

Though, now that he thought about it, three years was a very large age gap, what made men in Monaco live so much longer than Japan, which was number two?

Maybe it was due to Monaco’s small size?  Or was it the clean Mediterranean Sea air.   No, that didn’t make sense.  Italy was on the same sea, and it had an average age of 80.4.   Spain and France were even worse at 79.5 and 79.4, respectfully.  Hmm, this bore further investigation.  Those extra three years could make a big difference when it came to achieving his goals.  Though, that was just an average, he had a good chance of beating it since his grandfather had lived to be 87 and he hadn’t been known for living a healthy lifestyle.  Yes, this held definite possi-

“Um, excuse me?”

Kyoya blinked, startled.  He drew his eyes away from the stars above him to the young waiter leaning over him with a very concerned expression.

Just how long had he been laying here, thinking about…he scowled.  Why in the world had he been thinking about average life expectancies of men around the world?  Had he hit his head that badly when she knocked him to the floor?

He hadn’t thought so.

“Sir?  Do you need us to call an ambulance?”

Kyoya scowled harder, “No, just some ice.”

The waiter quickly scurried off to get ice.

Kyoya tried to sit up and groaned again.  It hurt so much!  How had he not known she was an accomplished martial artist?  Sure, he’d seen that she took it in high school and had even put a boy in the hospital when he attacked her, but that had been years ago!  He’d found no evidence to show that she’d continued to practice it once she left Australia.  He’d spent too much time with Hunny and Mori, he knew her skills weren’t rusty from almost ten years of no practice, she was very, very good.  And she must practice very regularly.

In fact, he could’ve sworn he’d seen a kick in there that Hunny had once used on Mori when he had a toothache.  Did she study Haninozuka style?  Or did his eyes deceive him because he was the target of the kick this time, not just an observer?

Kyoya had managed to sit up all the way and was trying to devise a way to get his aching legs to put his feet under him when he heard someone snicker.

Turning his head as swiftly as he was able, he glared at the source of the snicker.

Standing in the entryway to the courtyard stood his older brother, Akito.

“Well, well, I never thought the poor sap being beaten up by a small girl in a frilly dress was my baby brother.”

“Oh, shut it.  What are you doing here?”

Akito snickered again, “Me?  I’m on a date with a lovely lady from the Kuze family.  I believe you went to school with her cousin.”

Kyoya ground his teeth, “That still doesn’t explain why you are standing HERE, in front of me.”

“Well, I am a doctor, unlike you.  So, when I heard that someone had been beaten up, I offered to come take a look.”

Kyoya closed his eyes and tried to stand up, but failed.

Akito rolled his eyes, “Idiot.” 

He immediately came over and helped Kyoya stand up and slowly move to a chair.  Once Kyoya was in a fairly upright position Akito pulled out his phone and began typing.

“I'm sending for some pain medication, it should be here in a minute or two.  Now, what did you do to make that girl so mad, and who was she?”

“She is Ms. Haruhi Fujioka and I accused her of trying to manipulate me into marriage.”

Akito snickered again.  Kyoya really hated his snickers.  “You?  Be manipulated into marriage?  What, did your brain stay in the US?”

Kyoya frowned, he did not want to think about manipulation and marriage right now.  Two close calls was two too many.  “Put a sock in it Akito.  My head hurts too much to spar with you.”

“Of course it does.  Only an idiot would antagonize Haruhi Fujioka,” said a new voice.

Kyoya looked over to see a very beautiful young lady in a very well appointed dress.

“And you are?”

“This is Miss Natsuko Kuze, my lovely date.  Miss Kuze, this is my baby brother, Kyoya Ootori.”

Kyoya inclined his head, “Nice to meet you Miss Kuze.  May I ask how you know Ms. Fujioka?”

“Oh, I met her once when I was out drinking with some friends.  She was wearing this gorgeous little outfit, designed by Hikaru Hitachiin.  I was so jealous.  She was with Mamoru Tachiki and a French boy I think was Alianore Rouh's brother.  We all ended up going to karaoke together.  It was loads of fun until I started getting a headache.  So after karaoke I decided to call it a night.  The rest of the girls did as well.  Tachiki and his friend went to grab another drink.  Haruhi walked with my friends and me towards a main road so we could call for our cars.  On a small street a couple of big foreign guys came out of nowhere and started hitting on us and making us uncomfortable.  She told them to go away in English, they just laughed.  That’s when one of them grabbed Kimi.  The other one went to grab Ms. Fujioka.  I turned to run for help, but my heels made me trip.  I lay on the ground with a sprained ankle and scrapped up legs.  I was scrabbling for my phone when I heard a solid thunk.  That’s when I looked behind me to see Ms. Fujioka laying those two men flat.  Thanks to her my sprained ankle was the worst injury among the three of us.”

Akito whistled, “She must be pretty tough.  Did she say where she learned to do that?”

“Apparently she’s been studying taekwondo since she was in high school and started studying Haninozuka style a few years ago.”

Akito snickered, “No wonder she laid you flat Kyoya!  You barely survived father’s mandatory five years of karate.”

Kyoya grunted and forced himself to his feet, “Sure, like you did any better.”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, but who’s the one that got beat up by their date?  Not me.”

“Whatever, I’m going home.”

He pulled a couple of ten thousand Yen notes out of his wallet and dropped them on the table before striding out the restaurant.  That was more than enough to cover the bottle of wine he’d ordered, as well as the minimal damage caused during Miss Fujioka’s attack on him.

He really wanted to be angry at her for beating him up, but he couldn’t quite manage that.  Rather, he felt rather impressed.

It wasn’t often someone got the drop on him, physically or mentally.  And, somehow, this intriguing, scheming woman had done both.

Kyoya sighed and slipped into his waiting car.  He was tired of falling for lying, scheming women.  Though this time at least, he caught her before she dug her claws into deeply.

Last time…

Last time he’d already given his heart and was a second away from throwing away his chance at the zaibatsu. 

He’d first seen her from the window of Music Room #3.  She’d been sitting quietly by the fountain reading a book.  His interest had been piqued, which had never happened before.  It had taken less than an hour to learn she was the new scholarship student.  It had then taken less than a day to put himself in her path. 

He hadn’t been disappointed.

After a few moments of conversation he’d invited her back to the Host Club and that had been the start of it all. 

She’d become friends with them all, but she and Kyoya had always had something special.  He hadn’t been surprised that, when they were in Ouran University their friendship had blossomed into something stronger.  She’d been everything he thought he needed.  She’d been intelligent enough to run circles around him if he wasn’t paying attention, and, sometimes, even when he was.  She was beautiful enough to hold her own among anyone.  She was also extremely ambitious, talking of her plans to go into politics and change the world.

When he’d told his father of his plans to marry he’d been firmly told that if he went through with it he’d have no chance of ever being part of the zaibatsu. No unknown and unproven commoner was going to be married to the heir of the Ootori Group.

But Kyoya had thought that she was worth it.  He made plans to go his own way after University, making sure they’d be financially setup so she could make a real difference in politics.  He’d been all ready to propose to her and screw his chances of inheriting when it had all fallen apart.

He’d decided to surprise her on her walk home from the bus stop.  He was going to whisk her off on a romantic date and propose.  He even planned to tell her about all of his plans for the future. 

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he’d heard what he wasn’t supposed.

Kyoya slipped out of the car and moved over behind one of the ancient trees in the park near her house.  He’d walked with her enough to know she always took this path.  She’d just said goodbye to him less than an hour ago at the university.  She wasn’t going to expect this.

He grinned.  He couldn’t believe he was going to propose.  It felt like they had always been together, even while he remembered the first time he had seen her like it was yesterday.

A familiar voice came from down the path and he pulled farther back behind the tree.  She was likely speaking with her old elementary school friend; he had watched them board the bus together.

“So, has he popped the question yet?”

“You know I’d tell you if he had.”

Kyoya grinned again.  Apparently they were on the same page.

“I know, but it’s been so long.  I still can’t believe you’re going to pull it off.”

The grin slipped off his face.  Pull it off?  Was she planning to go against tradition and propose to him?

“Ryo, it’s not been that long.  We only started officially dating during my first year at university.  We’re still in university, he hasn’t even graduated yet.”

“Nana, you set your sights on a rich boy as soon as you decided to go to Ouran.  That was back in our second year of middle school.  That is a long time.”

“Well, yes, but I was just a silly girl and didn’t really know any rich boys.”

Kyoya didn’t quite know what to think.  His brain said she was smart for aiming for a rich husband, especially since she wanted to go into politics and that required connections and money, but he still felt a bit hurt.

“That didn’t stop you from setting your sights on one of the top six as soon as you started at Ouran.  That was about six years ago.  You usually get what you want faster than that.”

He wanted to step out from behind the tree, but a part of him felt frozen.  She set her sights on the top six?  Did she mean that any of them would do?  Or had she thought that before actually meeting them?  Maybe she had changed?  After all, he wasn’t the same person he had been during his first year of high school.

“Ryo, marriage is for life.  I had to scope out all of the boys and then pick the one that would make the best husband.  Those twins were too much trouble while Haninozuka was way too cute to think of ever marrying, Morinozuka was the exact opposite.”

“Then what about Suoh?”

“I considered him; he would be fairly easy to control.  I even made a few overtures, but he was completely captivated by some girl he knew back in France.  He told me he was going to win her back as soon as he graduated.  It would be too much trouble to compete with a childhood sweetheart.”

“But-”

“Enough, Ryo, we’ve talked about this.  I’ll be married to Ootori before I graduate and eventually I’ll be married to the Ootori Group’s leader.  Don’t worry, you’ll get your reward for helping me pass all those tests and stay number one at Ouran.  You won’t work another day in your life.  I’ll even help you find your own rich husband.”

He hadn’t been able to move.  Every muscle was locked in place as his heart plummeted.  How could he have been so wrong?  And it wasn’t just him.  She’d tricked all of them.  They’d accepted her into their group and made her one of them.  And she’d merely been fishing for a wealthy husband.

Well, she’d just failed.

He’d thought about breaking up with her in person.  But he’d decided against it.  Rather, he’d typed up a very short and curt letter plaining why he was breaking off. 

Then he’d transferred to Harvard and never looked back.

Until Princess, or should he say, Ms. Fujioka, had come into his life and started tying him into knots.

What was it about him that made him so susceptible to intelligent women?

Maybe he should give up the idea of finding his own wife and look into an arranged marriage, like Yuuichi had done.

Not that there was any rush.  He wasn’t even thirty yet, and he did expect to live to be 82.  Unless he could figure out how to get those extra three years they had in Monaco.

Wait, Monaco again? 

Just what was in those pills Akito gave him?

Chapter Text

Haruhi got to the office early to pack up the few things she’d used to personalize her desk.  When she finished she realized that everything fit in one small box.  You would think there would be more after having worked here for over three years. 

Maybe she should thank Kyoya.  True, he’d said some horrible things to her, but those horrible things were what prompted her to pull herself out of this rut she was trapped in.  Strange how the destruction of one dream allowed her to discover and fulfill another one.

“Miss Fujioka?”

Haruhi turned away from her box to look at Miss Watanabe, Mr. Tachiki’s personal secretary. 

“Yes?”

“Mr. Tachiki is here and he’d like to speak with you.”

Well, that hadn’t taken long.  Kyoya sure worked fast.

“Thank you.”

She stood up and followed Miss Watanabe through the office, memorizing every detail.  She never wanted to forget this place or the lessons she’d learned here.

The solid oak door shut quietly right after Haruhi stepped into the office.  She walked up to the massively opposing desk and stood waiting in front of it.  There were two very plush leather chairs but Haruhi knew that those were meant for clients, not junior lawyers.

Mr. Tachiki was leaning over his tablet reading something and completely ignoring her.  It appeared that he didn’t realize she was there, but she knew better.  It was a power game of his, trying to force her to speak first and put herself at a disadvantage.

She let him get away with it for a minute before deciding that enough was enough. 

She wasn’t going to play by anyone else’s rules anymore.  She’d tried that, and it hadn’t gotten her as far as she wanted.

Carefully, keeping her face impassive, she pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and took a seat in one of the chairs, which was even more comfortable than it looked. 

Her eyes were focused on her phone, but she watched him.  He tried to pretend indifference, but there was a slight tightening around his jaw that gave away his feelings about her audacity.

She smirked on the inside and sent out a quick group SMS to all of her friends.

Haruhi: Anyone know of any offices for rent?

Alianore: Why do you need an office for rent?

Hunny: Haruhi, is something wrong?

Mamoru: What did my father do?

Mori: I know of one.

Zackarie: You need a new office?  Can I decorate it?

Chiye: What did you do?

Masaye: Didn’t the Ootori Group give you a good review?

Tamaki: Chiye!  Haruhi couldn’t have done anything!  I blame Mamoru’s dad.

Mamoru: Sadly, I agree with Tamaki.  My father isn’t exactly the nicest person.

Mei: I can’t really believe you’re related to him.

Zackarie: Yes, you’re much too sweet.

Alianore: Zack!  Stop flirting in a group chat!

Mamoru: Ali, he’s not flirting.  That’s just him.

Mori: He’s flirting.

Hikaru: You two are so blind.

Kaoru: Aren’t they?

Chiye: I’m glad you two aren’t as blind as them.

Masaye: Definitely.

Hunny: Um, can we focus on why Haruhi needs a new office?

Reiko: Yes, please.  I already got my daily dose of sweetness.  Too much will make me sick.

Haruhi had to fight a smile, she really loved her friends.

Haruhi: I’m currently in Mr. Tachiki’s office.

Mei: WHAT?!?!

Tamaki: I’m coming to rescue you!

Mamoru: Wait.  How are you on your phone?

Haruhi: He called me here and decided to ignore me.  So I sat down and decided to get on my phone, since he’s on his tablet.

Zackarie: I think I know who will win this standoff.

Chiye: Poor Mr. Tachiki.  He’s seriously underestimated you.

Masaye: Why has he underestimated you?  I know he isn’t very nice, but isn’t he very smart?

Mamoru: My father is a misogamist.  And Haruhi’s been hiding her talents.

Mei: That explains it.  I’m so glad I have such an awesome boss.

Hikaru: Yeah, our mom really is the best.

Kaoru: Even if she has trouble telling us apart.

Chiye: You mean you two don’t realize the truth?

Masaye: Don’t you know that’s her way of teasing?

Hikaru: WHAT?!?

Kaoru: But…

Tamaki: They’re right.

Haruhi: Mori, you know of an office?  I want to get started on opening my own law firm today.

Mori: Yes, I can show you it after lunch.  My girlfriend, Chelsea, is good friends with the building manager.

Hikaru: Mori, that was a speech!

Chiye: Hunny, did you steal his phone to type that?

Reiko: Mori can talk quite a bit when he feels the need.

Hunny: Anyways, Reiko and I are in the country visiting her parents.  Mori is in Tokyo.

Mamoru: Haruhi, do you need a partner?

Haruhi: Mamoru!  I can’t ask you to leave your family business!  What would Kenichi do without you?

Mamoru: He’d be just fine.  I’m not really the best lawyer anyways.  I’m much better behind the scenes.  Isn’t that why we work so well together?  Anyways, Fujioka and Tachiki has a nice ring to it.

A noise came from the desk and Haruhi observed Mr. Tachiki putting his tablet down and turning his attention to her.  She refused to look up at him and continued to look at her phone.

Zackarie: You two are a good pair.  Almost makes me jealous.

Alianore: Zack, would you just ask him out already?

Zackarie: I don’t know what you mean.

Alianore: Sure, and pigs fly.

Zackarie: *sigh* It’s not like he goes that way.  But if it makes you happy.

Zackarie:  Mamoru, want to grab dinner on Friday?

Mamoru: What do you mean?

Zackarie: I mean we get all dressed up and go eat somewhere romantic.  Then maybe go see a movie or take a walk in a park.

Mamoru: Yes

Zackarie: What, really?

Chiye: Finally!

Hikaru: About time!

Tamaki: That’s so sweet!

Reiko: Sweetness overdose!

Mamoru: Yes, and what do you mean I don’t go that way?

Zackarie: I’ve never seen you date a guy.

Mamoru: Zack, you’ve never seen me date anyone.  My last boyfriend was in high school.  I just never met a guy that swung that way that was interesting.  Anyways, I’ve only seen you date girls.

Zackarie: Yeah, well, it’s a sliding scale.  I lean more towards girls, but I’m interested in guys too.

Alianore: Could you two have this talk privately?

Mei: Please, we need to focus on Haruhi right now.

Mr. Tachiki cleared his throat rather loudly.  Haruhi looked up and blinked at him innocently.

“Yes, Mr. Tachiki?”

“Miss Fujioka, just what do you think you’re doing?”

She locked her phone and slipped it back into her pocket.

“Well, you looked busy.  So I decided to wait for you to finish.”

His round, wrinkled face grew red. 

“So you pulled out your phone and sat down without permission?”

She smiled politely, “Of course.”

“And just why did you think you could do that?”

“Well, that’s because I don’t work for you anymore.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Interesting, I don’t remember firing you.  Though your little escapade into corporate law made me consider it, I ultimately decided a pay cut and a demotion would be better.  That is, if you apologized nicely.”

“Oh, that’s so nice of you, but, you see, I don’t feel I can accept.  In fact,” she pulled an envelope out of her suit pocket, “I’m tendering my resignation.”  She stood up and laid the envelope on his desk.

He looked down at the envelope and then looked up at her.  Anger burned in his eyes.

“You’re not getting a reference.  In fact, I’ll make sure you’re blacklisted for pulling this stunt.”

Haruhi started to smirk.

“You do that.”

He stood up, shoving his chair back angrily.  “You’ll never work again!  I’ll ruin you!  You put my entire firm in jeopardy!  You’re nothing but a trumped up commoner!  You’ll be nothing without Tachiki and Sons!”

She continued to smirk and even raised one eyebrow.

“Funny, I don’t remember Tachiki and Sons doing much for me.  In fact, I do believe you’ve been holding me back.  Have a good day.”

She turned smartly and walked to the door.

When she was almost there she turned back around and looked at the furious, red-faced old man leaning over a desk that was much too big for him.

For just a moment she felt pity for him.  How sad it must be to be so stuck in your ways and unable to change.  All it took was a quiet reminder of him ordering Miss Watanabe to wear shorter skirts to work to destroy that pity.

That reminder was what prompted her to say, “Mamoru was right, Fujioka and Tachiki does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“WHAT?!?!!” he exploded.

Her lips twisted into the first genuine smile she’d ever given him before pulling her phone back out and heading out the door.

Haruhi: Mori, Mamoru, meet at one o’clock?  Fujioka and Tachiki really does sound nice.

Zackarie: Hey!  I want to come too!  Someone needs to make the place look nice.

Haruhi: Okay, you can come, too.

Mamoru: One works for me.  Just need to empty out my office and talk to my father.  Haruhi, can you go wait by my car?  I’ll be out in thirty.

Haruhi: Okay

She made a quick stop at her desk and grabbed her purse and box of things before heading to the elevator.

Mori: See you at one at the Abe Building.

Tamaki: I’m so excited for you!

Chiye: Go Haruhi!

Hikaru: I hope there’s a recording of that meeting.

Kaoru: We can probably ask Kyoya to get one.

Haruhi: Don’t do that.

Masaye: Why not?  Didn’t you have a good date?

Alianore: Yeah, you never did tell us how it went.

Mei: I’d almost say you were avoiding us this weekend.

Haruhi took a deep breath and pushed the elevator button.  Well, there was no time like the present to dash all of their hopes.

Haruhi: He’s the reason I had to do this.  He made some nasty allegations and then promised to give Mr. Tachiki a bad review of me.  It didn’t help that he grabbed me and I had to give him a few well-placed kicks in order to get away.

Hunny: No!

Tamaki: That’s not like Kyoya!

Haruhi: I’m sorry Tamaki, but I think your old friend has changed.  He called me some really revolting things.

Kaoru: Wait a minute.

Kaoru: Wow, someone filmed you, here’s a link to the video: ********

 There was silence on her phone as Haruhi rode the elevator to the parking garage and walked to Mamoru’s car.  She quickly punched in the door code and put her box of things on the back seat before getting in and pulling out her phone again.

It only took another minute for everyone to start reacting to the video.

Chiye: That @$$!

Reiko: Let me go prepare a curse.

Alianore: But…Tamaki how can you be friends with someone like that?

Hikaru: Huh, you didn’t give me a warning before you kicked me.

Kaoru: What happened to Kyoya?  It’s like he’s possessed.  Reiko can you perform an exorcism?

Reiko: Possibly.

Masaye: What a pig!

Hunny: Good use of the Haninozuka style.

Mori: You’ve gotten very proficient.

Mei: Just let me at him!

Mamoru: Oh, Haruhi…I’m so sorry.

Zackarie: To think, he misjudged you so badly…

Tamaki: No…this…this can’t be Kyoya.  He would’ve never acted like this.

Haruhi: Tamaki, maybe all those years in America changed him.

Tamaki: No!  I refuse to believe it!  There has to be another reason!

Haruhi: If you say so, but I don’t want to talk about him anymore. 

The phone was silent for a few minutes.

Mori: See you at one.

Zackarie: I’ll meet you at Mamoru’s house with lunch in an hour.

Mamoru: About to come down, just finished talking to Kenichi.  He’s fine with it, and he said to tell you he’s sorry, Haruhi.  I’m going to talk to my father.  I’ll only be a minute.

Haruhi sighed and locked her phone before leaning back and closing her eyes.

She really, really didn’t want to talk about him anymore, so why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

Chapter Text

He picked up the phone dozens of times over the weekend, determined to call Mr. Tachiki and ruin Haruhi Fujioka, but every time he ended up putting the phone right back down. He gave up entirely after he saw the recording of the argument on the internet.  He really hadn't made his best showing with Ms. Fujioka.  

Somehow it just didn’t seem right to screw her over.  After all, she hadn’t actually succeeded in hurting him and she had helped him save the Ootori Group.  It just wasn’t right to throw her under the bus.  

After some careful thought he decided that the score actually put him ahead.  He’d succeeded in becoming the heir to the Ootori Group and she hadn’t managed to deceive him.  All she’d gotten was a successful case on her record.

When he awoke on Monday morning he was determined to put her out of his mind and focus on work.  He considered working to remove the Ootori Group from Tachiki and Sons’ client list, but ultimately decided that this would be a breach of trust, especially after they helped save the zaibatsu. 

At about ten thirty he got a call from Tamaki, but chose to ignore it.  He didn’t feel like dealing with his positive, optimistic friend.  Not when he was feeling so hurt and empty. 

Over the course of the next few weeks he got numerous calls and texts from Tamaki, as well as the other Host Club members, but he ignored them all.  He hadn’t told them about Her, and he didn’t plan to tell them about Princess either.  He’d taken care of Her by threatening her with ruin if she ever interacted with the Host Club again.  Last he’d heard she’d moved to Fukuoka and married a local businessman, which was fine with him.  He’d deal with Princess in a similar manner, but first he needed some time to heal and build up his defenses.

And that meant avoiding all thoughts about her.  Even if he wondered how she knew Haninozuka style.  Or how she managed to look so amazing in both feminine dresses and strong business suits.  Or why she nibbled on her lip when she was thinking.

He gave his head a shake and turned off his car.

Why couldn’t he keep her out of his thoughts?  It had been much easier to stop thinking about Her than it was about Princess.

If he could help it he wouldn’t even be here at Tachiki and Sons, but he really needed to sign some paperwork and didn’t have time to have them come to him.  Even if it meant possibly running into her.

He wondered if she’d been rewarded for helping the Ootori Group.

Probably, she seemed good at landing on her feet.  And at least she wasn’t just looking for a wealthy husband, she did want to be a good lawyer, too.

He walked into the office and smiled his Host Club smile at the secretary, a Miss Watanabe. 

“Hello.  I’m here to pick up and sign some papers.”

She smiled at him, “Ah!  Mr. Ootori, it’s nice to see you again.  Just a moment.”

She picked up her phone and paged someone.  While she did that Kyoya couldn’t help but look around the office, half hoping to catch sight of Princess.

He only wanted to convince himself that she was the gold-digger he knew she was, of course.

Right?

“Are you looking for someone, Mr. Ootori?”

He stopped looking around the office and focused his attention on Ms. Watanabe.

“Oh, well, I worked closely with Mr. Mamoru Tachiki and Miss Fujioka before.  I was going to say hello if I saw them.”

Miss Watanabe’s face froze and a careful mask slipped over it.

“You won’t be able to see them, I’m sorry to say.”

Kyoya frowned a little, “Why is that?”

She looked around furtively and then leaned forward and began to whisper, “A few weeks ago Miss Fujioka came into Mr. Tachiki’s office, there was some shouting, and then she quit and walked out.  A few minutes later Mr. Mamoru Tachiki also resigned.”

“Really?”

“Yes.  Apparently Miss Fujioka was tired of having her talents wasted.  She went and started her own firm with Mr. Mamoru Tachiki, called Fujioka and Tachiki.  At first Mr. Tachiki was angry, but then he began laughing saying they’d be out of business in a week.”

“And are they?”

“Oh, no.  You see, many of our top clients, both Japanese and foreign are leaving us to go to Fujioka and Tachiki.  Mr. Tachiki is almost apoplectic.  I’m glad you’re here, just seeing that Ootori Group is still loyal will calm him some.”

That didn’t sound good.  Maybe it was time to find a new law firm.

“What companies and families left Tachiki and Sons?”

She reached over and grabbed a notebook, flipping through it until she found a certain page, she then quietly listed them off.

“Hitachiin International, Morinozuka, Haninozuka, Suoh Industries, Kasanoda, Roux, and Koenig are the big ones.  A number of other, smaller families and businesses that were private clients of Mr. Mamoru also left.  About thirty percent of our clients, but a good eighty percent of our most powerful.”

Kyoya had to stop himself from whistling.

Just how had Haru- no, Princess, and Mamoru done that?

“Ms. Watanabe, you’re probably not supposed to share this with me.  I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Oh, that’s alright.  I’m starting work at Fujioka and Tachiki on Monday.  I just need to get through the next three days.  I’m tired of being treated like a second class citizen.  Miss Fujioka is hiring me as her office manager.”

Kyoya’s left eyebrow rose a little, “A second class citizen?”

“Yes, Mr. Tachiki doesn’t believe women can do as well as men in law and business.  He’s terribly old-fashioned.  Even my grandfather is more modern.”

“Well then, Miss Watanabe, I wish you the best.” He flashed her his Host Club smile.  “Here comes Mr. Kenichi Tachiki.”

“Have a nice day, Mr. Ootori.”

A few minutes later Kyoya was comfortably ensconced on the plush couch in Mr. Kenichi’s office with a hot cup of tea sitting in front of him.

“It’s nice to see you again Mr. Ootori.  I’m sorry I wasn’t available to assist you during your previous situation.”

“I understand you’re a very busy person.  Anyways, your brother and Miss Fujioka did an amazing job assisting me.  In fact, I’d say Ootori Group would now be history if it wasn’t for Miss Fujioka.”

Mr. Kenishi smiled sadly, “Yes, I’m sure she played a big part in saving your zaibatsu.  She’s a very talented young woman.  I’m sorry to say though that she’s no longer with us.  She’s chosen to try and go her own way.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, she wasn’t getting the recognition she deserved for her skills.”

Kyoya felt a twinge of guilt at that.  True, she’d tried to trick and deceive him, but she HAD been instrumental in saving his zaibatsu.  He hadn’t said anything negative about her work, but should he have said something positive?  He didn’t like doubting himself, it was something he did rarely, but right now he found himself doing it.

It wasn’t a pleasant sensation.

“Would she have received proper recognition if a client had spoken up?”

Mr. Kenichi took a deep breath and thought for a moment.  Then he shook his head. 

“No, and even if it had, it would’ve died off quickly.  I’m sorry to say it, but my father just can’t imagine a woman being as good of a lawyer as a man - even if the evidence is flashing in neon letters right in front of him.”

That made Kyoya feel a bit better.  He still had questions though. Such as why Mamoru Tachiki had left the family business to go start a new law firm with an unknown commoner.  Was he really that wrapped around Princess’ finger?

“And what about your brother?”

“My brother does what he wants and tries to achieve his own goals.  He worked here to make our parents happy, but now he has a different goal.”

“Would it be presumptuous of me to ask what that goal is?”

Kenichi stared at him for a moment, reading him, before he replied.

And when he did, Kyoya found himself surprised by the answer.

XXX

Tamaki wasn’t what most would call level-headed.  In fact, to many the outsider he looked like a roller-coaster, always up or down.  But, as those who really knew him knew, he was not nearly as given to extremes as he appeared to be.  Rather, he had a flair for the dramatics and enjoyed being the center of attention.

Many times he took to the corner of woe because he wanted everyone to know he was upset, even if he knew he could easily push past that upset if he had too.

The past few weeks had been different though.

At first he hadn’t believed Haruhi.  After all, Kyoya was his best and his oldest friend, not counting Alianore, while he’d only known Haruhi for a few years.

But then there had been the video.  Whoever had taken it must’ve had a very good cellphone because the audio was crystal clear, as was the video.

The Kyoya in the video was not the same as the Kyoya he remembered.  True, they hadn’t spent much time together since Kyoya left for America, but no one changed that much, did they?

These thoughts had gotten him wondering, for the first time, why Kyoya had left so abruptly for America.  He knew there had been some sort of falling out between Kyoya and Nana, but he’d always assumed it was just a peaceful separation. 

Now he wondered.

And when Tamaki wondered, he discovered.

And that explained what he was doing in Fukuoka, tracking down Nana Ito, a woman who’d disappeared from their lives at the same time Kyoya had.

Tamaki wanted answers.

And he was going to get them.

XXX

Kyoya turned off the water and stepped out of the shower; grabbing a towel he patted himself dry before tossing it in the hamper.

Then he headed into his bedroom, where he’d accidently left his house clothes laying on the bed.

“You’ve put on some muscle.”

Kyoya jumped and looked at the origin of the voice.  He didn’t have his glasses on, so he couldn’t really see more than a blurry shape, but the voice was unmistakable.

“What else has changed about you?”

Kyoya ground his teeth and stomped over to his bed, quickly throwing on his clothes.

“Oh, don’t cover up for my sake.  It isn’t like we haven’t seen each other naked many times.  There was even that time we all went to the hot spring.  Do you remember that?  Poor Nana was all by herself since we didn’t invite any of the other ladies.”

Kyoya grabbed his glasses and jammed them on his nose.

“Tamaki, what the HELL are you doing in my bedroom?”

Tamaki quirked an eyebrow at him and barred his teeth in a semblance of a grin.

“I’m getting answers to questions I should’ve asked long ago.”

“Questions?”

“Yes, questions.  Like, what happened to make you and Nana break up?  Why did she disappear so completely from our lives?  Why did you run away and refuse to come back?”

“She and I had a difference of opinions.  That happens.  People grow up and change.”

Tamaki shook his head sadly, “Kyoya, I’m your best friend.  Why are you lying to me?”

Kyoya crossed his arms and stared at his oldest friends, “I’m not lying.”

Tamaki snorted, “Okay, maybe you’re not lying, but you’re leaving out a lot of the truth.  Such as what, exactly, that difference of opinion was.”

“It wasn’t important.”

“Kyoya, you’re still lying.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I just came back from Fukuoka, after having a very informative lunch with Nana.  Oh, she wanted me to tell you she was sorry.  She did honestly have feelings for you, they just weren’t as important as her goals.”

Pain hit Kyoya’s chest.  She had really cared for him?  Then how could she have said such cold, uncaring things to her friend?

“Kyoya, why didn’t you tell me about what happened?  I’m your best friend.  Best friends are there for each other, through thick and thin.  You were there for me after Alianore threw that drink at me, even though you wanted to pursue that girl you stayed with me.  Because we’re friends,” Tamaki looked at him, tears shimmering in his eyes, “aren’t we?”

Kyoya stared into those hurt eyes for as long as he could, but they broke him.

He sat on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. 

“We are.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

And, for the first time in his life Kyoya uttered the phrase, “I don’t know.”

There was silence in the room.  The quiet began to stretch to the point that it was painful, but Kyoya ignored it, refusing to look up, half wondering if he’d just lost his best friend.

Still, he wasn’t surprised when the bed dipped next to him and Tamaki’s arm went around his shoulder.

“I understand.  It hurts to have your heart broken.  We lose a part of ourselves when that happens.  I was lucky enough to get Alianore back, because our broken hearts were due to misunderstandings and outside interference.  But for you, it was different.”

“Yes.”

“There’s something I’ve learned about broken hearts though.  And that’s that they need to be repaired.  Sometimes that only takes time, but other times it takes more.  Take mine for example.  It took me breaking down entirely and sharing my deepest feelings with a stranger to get the opportunity to explain everything to Alianore.”

“Tamaki.  I’m not going to get back with Nana.  What we had wasn’t as real as I thought it was.  Even if I know now that she had genuine feelings for me, she’s happily married.  That ship has sailed.”

Tamaki shook his head, “I wasn’t talking about Nana.  I was talking about Haruhi Fujioka.”

Kyoya pulled back in surprise and looked at his friend.  “How do you know Haruhi?  You said you just met Princess!”

Now it was Tamaki’s turn to look surprised, “What do you mean how do I know Haruhi?  Didn’t you read all those emails I sent you over the past few years?”

“I read some of them, but they got rather repetitive.”

Tamaki rolled his eyes, “Kyoya!  Then you don’t know anything!  No wonder you misjudged her!  That, combined with your past heartbreak, explains everything!”

“Actually, it doesn’t, because I’m very confused.”

“Oh!  Kyoya!  Just wait!  We’ll explain everything!”

Kyoya felt very uneasy.

“We?”

“Yes!  Just wait right here!”

Kyoya proceeded to watch in mild confusion as Tamaki bounded happily around the room, typing messages into his phone the entire time.

He had a feeling that he’d made a very big mistake.

He just couldn’t quite place where he’d made that crucial mistake.

Chapter Text

Haruhi leaned back her chair and allowed a smile to grace her face as she looked around her office.  Every morning she walked in here and every morning it felt like she was walking into a dream.

Physically, the office looked amazing.  Zackarie did a great job of mixing calming, neutral tones with cozy, dark woods.  The large picture window situated to the left of her desk illuminated everything wonderfully while giving a gorgeous view of the Tokyo skyline. 

She still felt guilty for taking advantage of her friendships to finance this venture, but, truth to tell, she hadn’t had much choice. 

Mamoru had insisted on being a full partner, and even after being cut off from his father he was ridiculously wealthy.  He’d been his grandmother’s favorite and she’d been a prudent investor.

That, combined with Suoh Industries and Hitachiin International signing onto her client list before she went to get any loans, meant that she’d received amazing amounts of money at an insanely low interest rate.

Most of the money had been put into making sure they had the best technology to ensure the success of their cases and the security of their clients.  Haruhi expected them to be able to pay it all back within the year, and that was if their income stayed at its current level.  They could pay it back faster if they got more clients or had any big cases.

A knock on the door drew Haruhi out of her musings.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Miss Watanabe stuck her head in.

“Do you need anything else Miss Fujioka?  I’m about to head out.”

“No, I can’t think of anything that can’t wait until Monday.  Have a good weekend Miss Watanabe.”

Miss Watanabe gave her a smile and a bow, “You too, Miss Fujioka.  Thank you again for hiring me.”

Haruhi smiled back, “How could I not?  You have an amazing talent for organizing and managing.  Besides, those skirts looked cold.”

Miss Watanabe glanced down at her nice pin-striped dress slacks, “They were, these are much warmer.”

“I would think so. Have a good weekend.”

“Good night, Miss Fujioka.”

After Miss Watanabe had gone out and shut the door Haruhi turned off her own computer and began packing up her things.  With Miss Watanabe gone there was no one else in the office.  Mamoru had gone to an afternoon meeting with a client across town.  He didn’t plan to come back to the office as he and Zackarie had a weekend trip planned to Okinawa. 

Maybe one day they’d have interns, secretaries, and junior lawyers, but for now, it was just the three of them. 

No matter how big they got, Haruhi wanted to make sure that they stayed as comfortable and close knit as they were now.  She didn’t want this to become another Tachiki and Sons.

Her bag packed, she stood up and headed to the door.  There, she paused and looked back around the room, she still couldn’t believe it was all hers. 

It was extraordinary that her plan, brought about by pain and hopelessness, was becoming such a strong, beautiful thing.

“I really should thank Kyoya.”

“Why should you thank me?”

Haruhi jumped and turned around.  Standing in the small lobby of the office was Kyoya Ootori, impeccably dressed in a navy blue three piece suit, complete with gold cuff links.

“Why are you here?”

“I asked you a question first.”

“True, but that was a question made to a comment that was not meant to be overheard by anyone.”

“But, it was overheard, so my question deserves to be answered.”

“I doubt you’ll care for the answer.”

“I don’t care for many things, but that doesn’t mean I prefer ignorance of those things.”

“Really?  You could’ve fooled me.”

She turned off her office light and pulled the door shut before walking across the lobby to him.

He quirked an eyebrow at her, “I do admit that many things I said before were in ignorance.  I regret to say that past actions by someone influenced my thoughts on you, thus causing me to make accusations without evidence.”

“Is that an apology?  Because if it is, it sure doesn’t sound like one.”

“An Ootori doesn’t apologize.  We just rectify accidental mistakes.”

“Then I do believe this conversation is finished,” Haruhi stepped around him and pulled open the office door, gesturing for him to leave.

He moved to exit, but paused in the doorway.  He was less than a foot from her, and he leaned a little closer.  She could smell his shampoo, a musky, cinnamon-scented concoction that reminded her of all those evenings spent working together, planning the campaign to save his zaibatsu.

“You know you don’t want it to be finished.”

She deliberately didn’t move and locked eyes with him.

“That may be true, but I also know that everything must finish eventually.”

He quirked an eyebrow, “That doesn’t mean it has to finish now.”

“Yes, it does.  You insulted me and you said some nasty things about my father.  That deserves a sincere apology.  Otherwise this is the end.”

She continued to stare into his eyes.  She could see thoughts and emotions flickering through them. She wondered how someone that appeared so impassive could have such expressive eyes.  Was it because he was used to his glasses hiding them?

A minute ticked by and Haruhi sighed. 

Well, so much for that.

She opened her mouth to tell him to get out, but then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes again and started speaking.

“I will say that it was wrong of me to mention anything about your father.  I honestly have no issue with him dressing in a gender that’s different from his physical body.  His actions and choices had no influence on our argument.  I wasn’t thinking and started saying anything I could to hurt you, like a small child.  That was very wrong of me.  I also regret making false accusations, especially when I should have known I didn’t have all of the evidence and that certain things didn’t add up.  Like how a young lawyer ended up modeling.”

“You can thank Kaoru, Hikaru, and Mei for that.”

He gave a small sigh, “Yes, I know that now.  Last night I was given a very long bout of exposition from our mutual friends.  I believe it took them about seven hours to chronicle the past decade or so of your life and how it has intertwined with the Host Club.”  His lips twisted into a small, wry smile, “I also apologize for not recognizing you from that grocery store or Paris.  I’m usually much better at recognizing and understanding people.  All I can do is blame jet lag and the confusion my interest in you brought me, along with the worries about the zaibatsu.”

She studied his face for a moment before nodding and saying, “Both apologies accepted.”

She almost didn’t see it, but his shoulders relaxed a bit upon hearing her words and his eyes seemed to dance.

“Thank you, now I have a question for you.”

She gestured for him to get out of the doorway and he moved so she could lock up and start the security system.

“What’s your question?”

“Would you go to dinner with me tonight?”

She took her time locking the door, giving herself time to think.  She really wanted to say yes, but something held her back. 

True, he’d apologized and she’d forgiven him, but she didn’t think she’d forgiven him enough to date him.  Just enough to stay in the same circle of friends. A relationship required trust.  How often had her father told her that?  It was hard to trust someone who had been so despicable to her. 

And, besides, what if they did date and something like this happened again or they went their separate ways?  His best friend was engaged to one of her friends.  Her best friends were dating two of his friends.  Their lives were much too entangled for her to take a chance and risk ruining things for everyone.  This time he’d clearly been in the wrong, but what if next time it wasn’t so clear-cut? 

No, they were better off not going that route.

She slipped her keys into her bag and turned to look at him.

“No, I don’t think I’d like to.  But thank you for the offer.”

He started to open his mouth to reply, but she cut him off.

“No, you can’t change my mind.” 

She pushed the down button on the elevator.

“Can you tell me why at least?”

“I don’t trust you.”

They were silent as they got onto the elevator, but when they reached the ground floor and Haruhi got off she heard Kyoya say quietly, “I’ll change your mind.  I’ll earn your trust.”

She stepped off and then turned back around, catching the door with her hand so it couldn’t shut.

She knew it was a stupid thing to do, but she couldn’t help from offering the challenge.

She supposed there was still a part of her that wanted to believe the best of him.

“You can try.”

“I don’t try.  I succeed.”

She pulled her hand back and let the elevator doors slowly close, right before they snapped shut she said, “Not this time.”

XXX

She knew he wouldn’t give up, if she’d learned anything about him it was that after he decided to do something he didn’t give up.

Still, he surprised her with his methods.

He was waiting for her outside of her taekwondo studio on Saturday. 

He looked very relaxed in a pair of tight designer jeans and a fitted brown leather jacket as he leaned against a very expensive looking motorcycle.   But, she could see past his posture, he was very aware of her and everyone else around her.

She heard a few of the other girls in the class gasp before whispering to each other and giggling as they walked past him, shooting him appreciative looks.

A part of her was thrilled that he didn’t even acknowledge these girls.  Rather, he focused his attention on her, even giving her a small smile.

Annoyed, she walked right up to him and put her hands on her hips.

“Just what do you think you’re doing here?”

“I thought I’d offer you a ride home.”

She shot him a disbelieving look.  Surely he had another plan.

He shrugged, “It’s the truth.  Now that I’ve decided to stay in Japan I had all my things shipped over from the States.  My motorcycle arrived last night and I thought I’d take it out today.  From my forced info dump I knew you studied here on Saturday, so decided to come by and offer you a ride.”

She had a bad feeling about accepting, but really, she couldn’t think of a good reason to say no.  It wasn’t like she was in a skirt or dress and, if she did say no, she wouldn’t put it past him to say something to Tamaki.  And then she’d have Tamaki asking why she didn’t feel safe riding with his best friend.

“None of your friends ever mentioned that you rode a motorcycle.”

“I started riding after moving to the States.  One of my classmates at Harvard was really into them and got me involved.  It’s really freeing to ride one down the road.”

He turned away from her and opened one of the bags attached to the bike, pulling out an emerald green helmet.  He offered it to her.

“Well, can I take you home?”

She looked up at his face and saw the challenge in his eyes.  He expected her to say no, or at least put up more of a fight.

Well, as Alianore had taught her, the first rule of battle was to do the unexpected.

“Okay,” she said, reaching out and exchanging her gym bag for the helmet.

Kyoya looked startled, but got over it quickly, putting her bag where the helmet had been before. 

While he did that she put on the helmet and zipped up her light jacket.

“Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?”

“No.”

“Okay, just hold on tight and enjoy it.”

He put on his helmet, got on the bike, took off the kickstand, and gestured for her to get on behind him.

She climbed on and stared at her hands for a moment, wondering where she was supposed to put them.

But then she heard him chuckle, “Put your arms around my waist.  This bike is built for speed, so hold on.”

As Haruhi put her arms around his waist she realized what his ulterior motive was.

The bike roared to life and a second later they were off, traveling down old narrow streets, dodging pedestrians.  After a few minutes they pulled onto one of the main roads and sped up.

She found herself closing her eyes and holding onto him tighter.  She was pressed up against his warm back, her knees brushing his thighs as her hands laced together over his abs.

Yes, she knew exactly what his ulterior motive was.  She knew she should be annoyed, but she couldn’t help but be amused by his gall.

She was expecting him to pull some of the classic romantic stunts, like send her flowers and try to trick her onto dates.  Not offer her an innocent ride home that required her to spend a good twenty or so minutes intimately pressed against him.  Not at all something that would bother her if she wasn’t interested him.

But, as she was still interested in him, despite his atrocious behavior, well, it was a really good plan.

He truly was, as his old high school friends said, the Shadow King.

Chapter Text

Kyoya grinned inside of his helmet when Haruhi’s grip on his waist tightened, pressing her even closer to him.  He wasn’t exactly a big person, tending more towards slim and fit rather than bulky, but he felt very large next to the petite Haruhi.

Something he hadn’t really noticed when they’d spent so many hours working together.

He readily admitted that that was a fault of his.  When he was truly focused on a task he tuned out everything else.

Now though, his focus was on Haruhi, and that meant he noticed everything about her, not just how she was useful to his task.  Hence why he’d offered to give Haruhi a ride home on his motorcycle.

Now that he was thinking clearly, he could look back on the past few months, on all of his interactions with Miss Haruhi Fujioka with a clear eye.

He really had been in the wrong to make those accusations.  Especially as he’d had no evidence.  With Her he’d had true evidence, he’d heard it come from her own mouth, but with Haruhi he’d made assumptions and let past actions of someone else affect him.

It hadn’t been one of his best moments.

Now though, he had a chance to fix that and see exactly where his attraction and interest in Miss Haruhi Fujioka led them.

And he had only Tamaki to thank for that.

Kyoya smiled at the thought of his friend as he weaved around slower moving cars.

Tamaki was a force of nature when he wanted to accomplish something.  A very necessary talent when it came to dealing with an Ootori.  Kyoya knew he was stubborn and arrogant, it was those skills that had allowed him to come so far.  He also knew that those same traits had caused him to distance himself from others.

Until Tamaki came along.

Only Tamaki would be bold and audacious enough to trap Kyoya in his room for hours and teach him exactly how wrong he had been.  And only Tamaki would be able to drag in eleven other people to tell their part of the story.

After hearing everything, he’d wanted to die of shame; an entirely new feeling for him.  Even now, the shame and embarrassment at his terrible mistake sat under the surface, tainting the pleasure he got from giving Haruhi a ride home.

When he’d first gone to her office he’d only meant to apologize.  He didn’t think he deserved another chance, not after saying such terrible things and grabbing her.  But when he’d seen her, he couldn’t help himself.

She’d looked so strong and attractive, standing there in her superbly tailored pantsuit, her eyes full of determination and yet a certain vulnerability.  He’d found himself, against his better judgment, asking her out to dinner.

He supposed that when she refused the first time, he could’ve backed down, but there had been that hint of hesitation before she refused.  It had made him want to discover why.

Was it because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings?

Or, more likely, had it been because she was still interested?

He hoped the later, but he didn’t want to push her and make her uncomfortable.  So he’d do his best to insert himself into her life, but he’d back down if she seemed firm in her decision to have nothing romantic to do with him.

Turning off the main road he went down several small streets until he pulled up at her apartment building.  It was exactly like the picture he’d found in his investigation – down to the window boxes full of early spring flowers.

She climbed off the back of the bike and Kyoya turned off the engine and put up the kickstand before climbing off himself.

“Thank you for the ride,” she said, pulling off the helmet.

He took off his own helmet and set it on the seat before retrieving her duffle from the saddlebag.

“It was my pleasure.”

She muttered something that sounded a lot like, “I bet it was.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Surprisingly, she flushed, “Nothing, here’s your helmet.”

He reached out to take the helmet with one hand, offering her the duffle bag with the other, but when she reached out to grab the bag he didn’t let go.

“Haruhi, would you like to grab lunch on Tuesday?”

She glared at him, “I said I won’t go out with you.”

“I know.  This isn’t about that.”

Well, he was only half lying, since he was trying to insert himself into her life more.

Her glare softened into mere suspiciousness, “Then what is it about?”

“You see, there was this young lawyer at Tachiki and Sons that did amazing work for my family and our company.  Sadly, when I went to the firm last week I learned that she had left the firm, deciding to start her own.  Now, my family believes in being loyal, and Tachiki and Sons has never let us down, but I discovered that despite not leaving a negative review this young lawyer was going to be punished for doing such excellent work.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but he kept going, wanting to get everything out before she interrupted.

“I also discovered that even if I had left a positive review it would’ve resulted in no real changes for this young, promising lawyer.  Due to this discovery I had a long discussion with my father.  We decided that it would be best for our zaibatsu to stay loyal to this young lawyer, rather than Tachiki and Sons.  To that end I’d like to discuss transferring all of our accounts to Fujioka and Tachiki.”

Her eyes narrowed a bit, “Did Tamaki suggest this?  Or did you only do this to get me to trust you?”

He shook his head and reached into his jacket, pulling out a sealed envelope.  “This was written by my father, it lists what services we’d expect from you if you decided to represent us.  You can see by the date that it was written before Tamaki and Company locked me in my room and told me about the Adventures of Haruhi.”

“The Adventures of Haruhi?”

He grinned, “That’s what Tamaki called it.”

She rolled her eyes, “That sounds like him.”

“He made your life sound quite exciting and grandiose, I especially liked his retelling, with Zackarie’s help, of your fight with some bullies in high school.”

Haruhi looked surprised, “They went that far back?”

“Actually, they went even farther.  Tamaki found the old Ouran records for scholarship applications.  Apparently you hold the record for highest score on the entrance exam.”

“Really?!?”

“Yes, if I hadn’t been so upset and embarrassed at how badly I’d screwed up I would’ve found the entire thing very entertaining.”

“I think I’m going to have to kill them all.  I told them not to interfere.”

Kyoya couldn’t help himself from chuckling at her expression, she looked very cute when annoyed. 

“Well, I’m glad they interfered.  Since I’d screwed up so royally.  Maybe I would’ve come to realize my mistake on my own, especially as we were going to switch to your firm, but there’s no guarantee of it.”

“There was also no guarantee we’d accept you as a client.  We might still not.”

He flashed her his best Host Club smile, “Really?  You’d refuse me?”

She rolled her eyes, “You really are full of yourself.”

His smile turned into a genuine one, she really did look cute when she was exasperated.  Especially when she looked so delightfully mused from taekwondo and the motorcycle ride.

“Miss Haruhi, I do believe I could kiss you right now.”

Her eyes widened in surprise and then she laughed, “I think you win the arrogance award, especially as I haven’t even agreed to a business lunch, let alone a date.”

“Oh, but I know you will.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because if you were truly against the idea of going on a date with me you wouldn’t have agreed to the ride home.”

She laughed again, and he found himself even more entranced with the sound. 

“You keep thinking that.  We’ll see if you believe the same after lunch on Tuesday.”

“So, you agree to lunch?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

“Why, I do believe you did.”

She chuckled, “Goodbye, Mr. Ootori.  Thank you again for the lift home.  I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“Goodbye, Miss Fujioka.”

He watched her cross the small parking lot and climb the stairs to her apartment, her ponytail bouncing merrily as she climbed the stairs.  He didn’t climb back on his bike until her apartment door was firmly shut.

He couldn’t wait until Tuesday.

XXX

Haruhi sat at her desk, her head resting in her hand as she stared out the window at the setting sun.  She knew she needed to get some work done so she could go home, but she couldn’t seem to focus.  All she could do was keep replaying lunch from earlier.

Kyoya had been true to his word, it had been a business lunch, with no mention of dates or the past between them, but there had been an underlying tension.

During lunch she hadn’t been able to put her finger on why she felt so tense.  He had been a perfect gentlemen, and after a bit of small talk about the weather and Reiko’s upcoming baby shower they’d had a very professional discussion over the possibility of the Ohtori Group becoming a client of Fujioka and Tachiki.

Now that she was away from him and looking back she thought she had the tension figured out.

She was very, very attracted to him.  Both physically and mentally, and he appeared to feel the same way.

Despite him asking her out on a date last Friday she hadn’t been entirely sure he was truly interested in her, or if it was simply a way to apologize and feel superior.

But now she had a definite suspicion that it was the former.

She’d seen a similar tension between Zackarie and Mamoru for years, ever since that day she’d first met Mamoru and seen him interact with Zackarie.

The question was, did she want to accept what that tension was, and see if she and Kyoya would do well together?  Or did she want to stick to her previous thought pattern?  The one where she assumed they’d end up having another fight one day and that their relationship wouldn’t last, thus destroying their group of friends.

Usually she was very good at compartmentalizing and pushing certain thoughts away, to deal with at a more appropriate time, but these she couldn’t.

She kept seeing his cool smile and expressive eyes as he traded words with her.  She kept remembering the motorcycle ride, how she’d felt enveloped in his scent and warmth, even though she’d been holding onto him.  And, also, she kept remembering the third time she’d seen him, when he’d been chatting with Tamaki and looking so…human.

Yes, human was the right word.

Kyoya was very good at distancing himself from others and taking up the observers post.  That was something that caught her attention back in high school, when she’d first seen him.  Even in Paris he’d seemed above the drama going on between Tamaki and Alianore.  But when she’d seen him with Tamaki, or even when they’d fought at the restaurant, he’d seemed more down to earth and involved.

Before he’d been fascinating, but now he was real.

And that made her even more interested in him.

A knock on the door made her look up just as Mamoru stuck his head in.  He took one look at her and stepped fully inside, shutting the door behind him.

“Haruhi, what’s wrong?”

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief and came over to her desk, he leaned against it and crossed his arms.

“It’s Kyoya Ohtori, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.”

“Are you really interested in dating him?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “maybe.”

“Well, you could try another date with him.  And see how it goes.”

“But what if it goes poorly?  He and I have many of the same friends. People could choose sides and become divided.  It could be terrible.  Especially because many of our friends are engaged or dating each other.”

He sighed and shook his head, “Haruhi, you really think a break-up between you two would ruin our group of friends?  Don’t you realize that our bonds of friendship are too strong to let that happen?  Zackarie and I let our misunderstandings about our sexual preferences and friendship stand in the way of a deeper relationship for years.   If one of us had just spoken up years ago, without being prompted by our lovely group of friends, things would’ve gone differently.”

“Yes, but you two are so right for each other.  Everyone can see that.  There’s no guarantee that Kyoya and I are as compatible.”

His eyes widened in amazement as he looked at her, then he threw his head back and laughed.

She scowled, “What’s so funny?”

“Haruhi, the same chemistry you see in Zackarie and myself, or Tamaki and Alianore, or even those devilishly scary twins we can see between you and Kyoya.  Tamaki told me several years ago that he hoped Kyoya came back to Japan soon, since he wanted him to meet you.  Hikaru admitted to me once that you’re the only person he’d ever met that could possibly stand up to Kyoya and live, besides Tamaki.”

“But…”

“Haruhi, don’t worry about us.  We’re all adults and our friendship will survive whatever twists and turns your relationship with Kyoya takes.  Now, it’s up to you to decide what kind of relationship you want with him.”

Haruhi opened her mouth to respond again, but snapped it shut as she ran through his words.  She wanted to dismiss them and fall back on her worries about her friends, but she just couldn’t do that.

What Mamoru had said rang with too much truth.

Finally, she let out a huge sigh and slumped back in her chair.

He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“You’re right.”

He smiled, “Of course I am.”

She chuckled, “Your success with Zackarie has made you arrogant.”

He shook his head, “No, my friendship with this rather extraordinary young lawyer has done that.”  He stood up to leave, “In fact, I’d say it was my friendship with her that helped me find a purpose in life.”

Haruhi felt herself blush a bit at his praise, “What about your dream to travel and write?”

“Oh, there’s time for that later.  After all, the world isn’t going anywhere.” He headed over to the door, “Have a good night, Haruhi.  I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Goodnight, Mamoru.  Thank you.”

He smiled and left.

She smiled at the now shut door and began packing up her things.  She’d finish the work later.  Right now she felt like a cup of coffee, a slice of cake, and a nice long think.

She needed to figure out for herself just what she wanted from Kyoya.

Actually, that might just take more than one slice of cake.

XXX

Kyoya took off his glasses and rested his head in his hands.

It had been over two weeks since he’d last seen Haruhi and it was beginning to get to him.  He couldn’t get her out of his mind, but whenever he tried to contact her he was stonewalled.  First by that lovely office manager, Miss Watanabe, and then, later, by her new secretary, a Mr. Jeong.  He’d finally broken down a few days ago and asked Tamaki for Haruhi’s phone number, but he’d been refused.

He hadn’t even managed to catch her at her office the couple of times he’d tried.  She was always out, and he’d even looked around to be sure she wasn’t just hiding.  It was like she could read his mind.

And here he thought he’d been doing well.  She’d let him give her a ride home and had met him for a business lunch.  A lunch where he’d barely been able to stay focused on business and it had seemed like she’d been of the same mind.

Now, it could be possible that he had been reading her wrong, but that wasn’t likely, since he was currently thinking straight.

Or, at least, he thought he was. 

Sometimes it was hard to think when she was near.

Hell, sometimes it was hard to think because he was thinking of her.

Which explained why he was sitting at home on Saturday evening dealing with work he should have finished days ago.  And he had to finish it all in the next hour since he was due to meet Tamaki for dinner and drinks at nine.

He stood up and stretched before sitting back down and putting his glasses back on before tapping away at his computer, trying to push all thoughts of Haruhi to the back of his head.

It wasn’t easy, but he managed it for about twenty minutes.

And then the doorbell rang.

As it was Saturday evening and they weren’t entertaining, nor was anyone going to be home for dinner, all the staff had gone home for the day.

Kyoya looked at the clock.  It was seven-thirty, which meant his parents had already left for their dinner date with another couple, and his brothers had been gone for hours.

Well, he wasn’t going to go answer the door.  Especially since he’d have to turn off the security, since the house was locked up.  It was too much trouble.  Whoever it was could just come back tomorrow.

A minute later the doorbell rang again.

His eyes narrowed in a scowl and bent back over his computer, trying to concentrate on work.

But then he jumped out of his seat.

What was that noise?  It sounded like a door opening somewhere.

He held his breath, listening for any noise.

Especially the alarm.

When no alarm went off Kyoya felt himself relax.  His father always set the alarm when he left the house with no servants in it.  If there was no alarm it must be one of his family members coming back.

If he’d even really heard a door.  It could have just been his imagination…

He quietly walked over to the door.  The well-greased hinges didn’t make a sound as he eased the door open.  Very carefully he peeked out.  The hallway was dim, only a little light coming in from the light down by the stairs.  Everything looked to be in order.  Not a single vase or statue out of place.

Kyoya slowly started to open the door wider so he could slip out, but then a shout made him jerk, banging his shin on the door as he uttered a rather nasty curse.

“Kyoya Ohtori!  Your house is way too big.  Where are you hiding?”

The first feeling to envelope Kyoya was fear, but that was quickly replaced by annoyance.  Who in the hell was sneaking into his house?

Grumbling he rubbed his shin before pulling the door open wider and headed down the hallway.

Whoever this was, they were going to get an earful from him when he found them.

“Kyoya!  I know you’re here!  Tamaki said he’s not meeting you until nine!”

Now that the fear was gone he realized he recognized the voice.

But…no.  It couldn’t be.

Why would she be here?

Chapter Text

Haruhi punched in the security code Tamaki had given her before the alarm could go off.  She wasn’t exactly sure how Tamaki had gotten the code, but she was grateful that he had.

She’d been doing a lot of thinking over the last few weeks, while avoiding Kyoya and the effect he had on her emotions. 

She hadn’t wanted to avoid him, but she’d realized that she couldn’t think straight when he was around. She kept getting distracted by how his shoulders filled his coat, or how his hair fell across his forehead, just brushing his glasses.

Now, though, now she had made a decision and was ready to talk to him.

She supposed she could’ve called him and met him somewhere, but she’d only made the decision an hour ago and she didn’t want to lose her nerve.

Lose her nerve; that was amusing.

No one who knew her would think that the calm, rational Haruhi Fujikoa would lose her nerve.  But, then, they’d never seen her interested in anyone either.  In high school and university she’d been too focused on her future to contemplate even having a crush on someone, let alone dating them.  Then, after, she’d just never truly thought about it.  At times she’d wondered if she was asexual and aromantic, but then all she had to do was think back to Paris and how Glasses Boy, aka Kyoya Ohtori, had me her heart flutter and her breath catch.  Then, when she’d seen him again at the Hitachiin Extravaganza she’d known that there was something there.

Looking at her friends she could see some others that would interest her romantically if they wanted to, but none of them could compare to Kyoya and the effect he had on her, both mentally and physically.

She flicked on the foyer light and looked around.  The foyer was encased in white marble and dark, almost black wood.  All of the fixtures were polished copper.  Just looking at it made her wince in sympathy for whoever had to clean it.  There were no sitting areas here, in fact, she couldn’t see that this room had much of a use at all.  How could one house be so big with such wasted space?  It wasn’t practical.  Especially in Japan, where space was at a premium?  And this wasn’t even a compound, with multiple families, like the Haninozuka-Morinozuka Compound.  This was all for one couple and their two unmarried sons.

Such a waste.

“Kyoya Ohtori!  Your house is way too big.  Where are you hiding?” she called out, moving towards the wide, sweeping staircase.

The house responded with nothing but silence as she arrived at the second floor.

“Kyoya!  I know you’re here!  Tamaki said he’s not meeting you until nine!”

She barely caught it, but there was a definite sound from down the hallway.  It sounded a bit like someone gasping in shock.

Squinting, she looked around until she saw an ornate and overly decorated light switch.  When she flicked it on she saw him, standing down the hallway, looking at her with shock and a bit of amazement.

She drank in the sight of him.

She’d always known he was handsome and striking.  That had always been part of what drew her to him.  Whether he was in a suit or casual clothes everything fit him to perfection and was the epitome of fashion.

He apparently hadn’t started getting ready to see Tamaki yet.  He was still in his casual indoor clothes.  A tight, long-sleeved hunter green shirt and a pair of low hanging gray sweats that didn’t leave too much to the imagination.  Pair those up with his tousled hair and he looked like he’d just climbed out of bed.

She wanted to push him right back into it.

She smiled as her eyes ate up his appearance.

“Hello, Kyoya.  Have a moment to talk?”

“Haruhi, what are you doing here?”

She moved farther down the hallway, closing the distance between them.

“I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’ve finally made up my mind, so I decided to come and talk.”

He glanced down at his bare feet before looking back up at her, “You couldn’t have called first?”

She chuckled, “I think Tamaki’s rubbed off on me.  I didn’t want to wait.”

His eyebrows rose a fraction and his eyes locked onto hers.  She was only a couple feet away from him now and she could clearly see the hope and raw emotion in his own eyes. 

There was no glare on his glasses to hide under.

“Does that mean you agree to a date?”

“Yes, though,” she glanced down at her jeans and hoodie, “I don’t think I’m dressed appropriately for anywhere that you would deem good enough for a first date.”

“Is it though?”

“Is it what?”

“Our first date?”

She grinned, “You want to call me beating you up a first date?”

He chuckled at that, “I was more thinking of the Hitachiin Extravaganza.”

“Ah, well, that was more like a first meeting.”  She thought of the grocery store and Paris, “Our first true meeting.”

“I still can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.  Though, I have to say, you look more like that girl that gave the Hitachiin Twins the slip now than you ever did in your business suits.”

“You should know that this is the real me.  If I could dress this way at work and be successful I would, but Masaye assures me that I wouldn’t be taken seriously.”

“I dare say she’s correct,” he said with a chuckle.

“So, did you want to get dinner tonight?”

“Didn’t we agree that our first date should be somewhere nice?  Somewhere that wouldn’t let you in dressed as you are?”

“Kyoya, do you really think that matters to me?”

“But you said-“

“I said a place that YOU would deem appropriate, not that I would.  I’d be fine going to Lotteria.  It’s the company that’s important, not the setting.”

“Ah, but the setting can affect the company in numerable ways.  And Lotteria is not really a place of romance, despite their couple sets.” 

She smiled, “I have an idea then.  Do you trust me not to take us to as unromantic a place as Lotteria?”

“Trust has to start somewhere.  Let me go get dressed.”

She couldn’t resist saying, “Do you have to?”

His jaw dropped for a second and then he threw his head back and laughed.  “You’d like me to go out dressed like this?” He gestured at his outfit as he spoke.

She shrugged, “It does flatter your figure.”

As his laughter died away a true smile settled onto his face, “See you in a moment Haruhi; feel free to wander around.  There’s no one here but us.”

When Kyoya disappeared into her room she wandered over to the staircase and sat down.  She hoped he dressed casually.  He’d look really out of place at her favorite ramen shop in his normal attire.

XXX

Waves of heat rose off of the tarmac.  Spring was long gone, not even a hint of it remained as Kyoya ushered Haruhi onto his family’s small, private jet.

He’d been looking forward to this trip for weeks now, but it had taken almost that long to convince Haruhi to go along with it.  She’d kept using work as an excuse for staying in Tokyo, even when Mamoru said it was fine for her to leave for a weekend.

He still found himself looking at her amazement sometimes, not really believing that she was his girlfriend. 

It seemed like only yesterday he’d danced with her at the Hitachiin Extravaganza or chuckled at her audacity in threatening him into letting her work his case.

He handed his laptop bag to the flight attendant and took the seat across from Haruhi, even though it put him facing the rear of the plane.  He wanted to be able to watch her during the flight. 

They sat in companionable silence as the doors closed, the engine started, and the plane took off.  Kyoya entertained himself by watching Haruhi as she looked out the window.

“I’ve been on many flights, but never a private plane.  Do you always travel like this?”

He shook his head, “Only places within a few hours flight, after that it becomes cost prohibitive.  But we always fly first class if we fly commercial, I’m guessing that you never did.”

She laughed, “I only flew first once, when they overbooked on one leg of my journey from Australia to Japan.  I got bumped up, but it was only for an hour long flight.  Still, I’ve always enjoyed flying.  You get on in one place, wait for a while, and then get off in a new place.  It’s almost like magic.”

“Yes, if magic involved numerous mechanical parts, the power of lift, and burning fossil fuels.”

“Anything can be magic if you look at it the right way.”

He leaned forward and took her hand.  “If we go by that rule then I’d like to classify our relationship as magic.”

She blushed and smiled as she leaned forward herself. 

“It has been a rather magical journey, hasn’t it?  What with running into each other accidently multiple times before we truly came to know each other.”

“And don’t forget the misunderstanding that led to such a terrible fight.”

“That was only overcome through the power of friendship.”

“That makes our relationship sound like one of those kdramas my sister is obsessed with.”

She chuckled, “I’ve seen some of those.  We’re more realistic than they are though.”

“Oh, how’s that?”

“Well, you see, we’re actually competent kissers.”

One of his eyebrows rose, “We are?  Are you prepared to back up this statement with proof?”

“I do believe I am,” she said with a smile.

And, she did just that.

Chapter Text

Ten Years Later:

“So, Mamoru, are you ready?”

“I don’t know, I never thought I’d be in a position to do this.”

“Well, parts of the world are waking up finally.  Hopefully the rest of it isn’t far behind.”

“It’s not just that – though that’s a large part.  I’m also worried about Haruhi.  I’ll be gone for several months and she’s really busy.  What with her two little ones, Kyoya, and the firm.  It’s a lot to handle on her own.”

“Mamoru, she’s not on her own.  Isn’t that why you asked me to join the firm?  Your client list is much too big for only two senior lawyers.”

“I know, but..”

“No buts, you know ‘Fujioka and Tachiki’ is in good hands.  I may not have your natural talent at organizing, but I am the one that taught you everything you know.”

Mamoru let out a little chuckle at that, “You taught me everything?  I thought that was all those fancy schools I went to.”

“Ha!  Like those professors know anything!  You didn’t learn a thing until you stepped into ‘Tachiki and Sons’.”

“Oh, and you taught me there?  If I remember things correctly you were much too busy back then to teach me anything.  A certain junior lawyer was the one to teach me everything, not you.”

“Ah-ha!  So you admit those fancy schools taught you nothing.”

Mamoru snorted, “As you well know, I didn’t say that.  I just said that a young lawyer taught me everything.”

“Then you must thank me for that, as I’m the one that assigned her to you.  Really, I was just hoping that the two of you would be able to pull each other up in Father’s eyes.  I never expected the two of you to single-handedly dismantle ‘Tachiki and Sons’.  Hell, she even cured you of your tendency to run on and on and-”

“Ken…”

“What?  I’m only speaking the truth.  Or was it really your little boy t-”

“Ken!”

“Don’t like boy toy?  Then what should I call him?”

“How about my husband?  You are about to witness our wedding after all.”

“Hm, husband.  I suppose that works.  You know, I think one of the best moments of my life was seeing father’s face as he read the wedding invitation.”

“Wait, you were there?”

“Oh, yes.  I was enjoying a cup of coffee with him as we discussed how to gain more clients.  His face slowly grew redder and redder as he skimmed it.  When he was finished he crumbled it into a ball and threw it at the poor waiter.”

“Let me guess, you said nothing.”

“Really, Mamoru, you think I would say nothing while our father throws things at waiters?”

“You never said anything about how he treated the female staff at ‘Tachiki and Sons’.”

“Actually, I did say something.  It was just always behind closed doors.  I did get the female staff decent pay and benefits, as much as that counts.  I suppose I could’ve done more, but that would’ve involved leaving, and I just don’t have the talent or guts to go off on my own like you did.”

“Well, I wasn’t alone.  I had Haruhi with me.  And all the support of our friends.”

“And what support that was.  You’re very lucky, little brother.”

“Don’t I know it.  So, if you did something, what did you do?”

“Oh, that, it wasn’t much.  Just righted some wrongs.”

“Ken...”

“What?  Shouldn’t we go rejoin the others?  Pretty as the New York City skyline is, I think you’ll find your groom is prettier.”

Kenichi began to turn away from the balcony, but Mamoru reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“Ken, what did you do?”

Kenichi let out a small sigh, “I merely asked Father if he planned to go to the wedding.  He told me no and if I knew what was good for me I wouldn’t go either.  I told him that I was going.  He got angry.  Words were spoken.  I ended up quitting.  Then I left, leaving the poor waiter a very large tip.”

Tears sprang to Mamoru’s eyes.

“Ken…have I ever told you what a good older brother you are?”

Kenichi pulled Mamoru close for a hug and gave a short chuckle, “You have a few times.  But you can saw it again if you want to.”

Mamoru chuckled himself, “I don’t think I will, you’ve already got a big enough head.  Thinking you taught me everything I know, ha!”

“Wait, what’s this about teaching you things?  Isn’t that your husband-to-be’s job?”

Kenichi gasped and pulled away from his brother, looking over at the balcony next to theirs.  “Haruhi Fujioka!  Just what are you implying?!?”

Haruhi lifted a delicate eyebrow and shifted the toddler resting on her hip.  “What do you think I’m implying?”

“I-I-I couldn’t guess!” he stuttered.

Mamoru chuckled, “Haruhi, leave him alone.  You know Ken isn’t as good at dealing with you as Kyoya or I.”

She grinned, “Oh, I know.  I’m going to enjoy working with him for the next few months without you running interference.  Hopefully he’ll have me figured out before you get back.”

“I doubt it,” Kenichi grumbled, “I don’t think I’ll ever figure her out.  And I hired her!”

All three of them laughed at that.  For a moment, Haruhi’s mind wandered back to that long ago moment, when she first was hired.  Little did she know back then where that job would take her.  She smiled down at Chouko, who grinned back at her, showing her four little teeth.  Chouko would work hard and do well in life, but she’d never step on a plane at fourteen uncertain if she’d see her parents again any time soon.  And, even if something happened to Kyoya and herself, she knew that Chouko and her older brother Akihiko had a huge and loving extended family that would take care of them.  They’d never be alone.

“What’s all this laughter about out here?” Kyoya asked from their balcony doorway.

“Oh, we were just chatting,” Haruhi answered.

Kyoya’s eyes moved between the three lawyers until they settled on Mamoru.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready?  The wedding starts in half an hour.” His eyes moved over to Kenichi, “And you’re the best man.  What are you doing allowing the groom to be distracted by work on his wedding day?”

Mamoru glanced at his watch, gulped, and raced back inside.  Kenichi merely raised his own eyebrow and stared back at Kyoya.  He may not know how to handle Haruhi Fujioka, but he did know how to deal with men like Kyoya Ohtori.

“Mr. Ohtori, this may be my first time as a best man, but you can rest assured that the groom will be at the wedding at the correct time.”  He gave them a short bow, “I’ll see you two downstairs.”

As soon as Kenichi Tachiki disappeared into his room Kyoya pulled Haruhi and Chouko into his arms.  He rested his chin on her head and asked, “How do you feel?”

Haruhi sighed and cuddled into his chest as she held Chouko close. 

“A little sad.  Mamoru and I worked hard together to build up ‘Fujioka and Tachiki’.  He’s one of the few people that believed in me since the first moment we met.   And now he’s getting married and taking six months off to travel the world with Zackarie.  I’m really happy for them, but I’ll miss him.  Kenichi is a good lawyer and will do a great job with the clients, but he’s just not Mamoru.”

“True, he isn’t scared of me like Mamoru is.”

Haruhi pulled back, “Kyoya!  Mamoru isn’t scared of you!”

“Oh, really?  Then why does he always do what I say?”

“He’s just properly respectful of his partner’s spouse.”

Kyoya snorted, but chose not to argue.  They both knew that Mamoru found Kyoya intimidating, even if Haruhi wouldn’t admit it.

“Speaking of spouses, we need to finish getting ready for the wedding.  Alianore came by a few minutes ago to collect Akihiko.  You should’ve seen his face when he saw little Elise in her flower girl dress.  He was suddenly very happy to be the ring bearer, even though he’s a little old for it.”

She giggled and led the way inside, “Think they’ll end up getting married one day?”

“Tamaki and I are counting on it.  If this was a hundred years ago we’d already have the betrothal papers drawn up and signed.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but chose not to say anything as she handed Chouko over so she could put her jewelry on.

Kyoya watched as Haruhi finished getting ready.  He relaxed into an easy chair and jiggled Chouko on his knee, making her giggle.  His heart was light and life was good.  The woman he loved was beside him, he had two wonderful children, and the most amazing friends.

Life didn’t get much better than this.