Arisawa Souichiro liked practical and sensible things. He didn't have a flair for the dramatic and the overly pretentious. He liked to spend his evenings reading a book or going to see a film.
And he always thought he would someday fall in love with a girl of similar disposition, marry her and living a relatively ordinary life.
And Fujioka Haruhi had seemed to be a sensible practical girl. She was more ambitious then what he had foreseen in his dream girl, but dream girls are just that, dreams.
And they got along well. They would discuss books and Haruhi would talk about her cases, and life was wonderful.
Of course he was a bit thrown when he met her father who he came away from not quite knowing whether Ranka approved of him or not. He also assumed that every family had its eccentric members (Souichiro had an eccentric conspiracy minded uncle whom he never talked to) and cross-dressing wasn't as strange as it used to be.
It had ended with a rather strange conversation where Ranka had wished Souichiro luck in meeting the other members of the family.
He hadn't quite understood because Haruhi had told him that Ranka was her only parent.
When he asked her about it, she shrugged.
"Just a group of friends," she said.
But the way Ranka had made it sound, it didn't seem like they were just friends.
Of course, he found out soon enough when they were visited by one Haninozuka Mitsukuni and one Morinozuka Takashi.
She had of course told him about her friends from Ouran High School. But meeting the owners of one of the most distinguished dojos in the country made him question how much she hadn't told him about her history.
They had of course come seeking legal advice from Haruhi and apparently to meet and size him up.
Haninozuka-san ("Call me Honey-san, Arisawa-kun!!" he had told Souichiro, but Souichiro found it an extreme hard request to comply with) had shoved a box of some kind of sugary sweet confectionary that Souichiro had never heard of before. As for Morinozuka-san ("-san please.") Souichiro didn't think he said a single word aside from an introduction the entire time they were there, but he did sometimes throw a piercing glance at Souichiro every once in a while that made his skin crawl.
Upon leaving, they had mention something about Souichiro meeting "that person" but Haruhi said nothing, and Souichiro began to question everything Haruhi had ever told him about her high school life and friends.. While he didn't think she had ever lied, there was obviously a lot that she had left out about her friends.
This was further confirmed when he picked her up from the offices of the famous Hitachiin twins. Souichiro didn't know about their work because he wasn't quite with it when it came to fashion designers, but he hadn't been prepared for the flamboyance, the talking in unison nor the way that they seemed to casually hang around Haruhi. (Souichiro found himself extremely jealous and he prided himself on not being a man prone to jealousy).
They had not taken to him at all, and one of them (Hikaru? He couldn't quite tell) kept sneering and whispering insults behind his back. Haruhi to her credit kneed one of them mid comment and told them not be rude and they quickly complied.
"Oh, I can't wait until he meets Tono," he heard one of them whisper to the other, "I hope we will get to be there."
And then they bid good night and Souichiro finally found the courage to ask Haruhi about her friends and who this person was that they kept mentioning.
"Oh, I was in a club," Haruhi said, "they are referring to Tamaki-sempai who was our leader."
Her matter of fact tone seemed to suggest that that was all it was, but after everyone else he had met he was beginning to suspect that Haruhi may not fully realize how the Club came across to people.
And whoever this "Tono" or "Tamaki-sempai" was, Souichiro knew he would meet him sooner or later.
But it seemed as if for awhile nothing happened, Haruhi got phone calls but Souichiro heard very little from Haruhi's friends from Ouran and he soon forgot all about it.
That was until one night during a rather pleasant dinner the phone rang and Haruhi went to answer it.
He watched as she talked on the phone and she seemed to stiffen considerably.
"I understand Sempai, but I am so busy and I don't know whether Arisawa would want to go," she said.
And then she became considerably still.
"Of course," she said, "I understand. Friday should be fine, I will check with Arisawa."
"What is it?" he asked.
She looked at him.
"One of my friends from Ouran called to invite us to dinner on Friday night," she said.
"Oh," he said, "are you sure that was all? It seems that the call upset you."
She was silent.
"I am not upset, it is just that Kyouya-sempai is extremely manipulative and kind of tricked me into agreeing," she said.
"Ah, who was this Kyouya? Was he the leader of your club?"
Haruhi looked at him for a moment.
"No, well not officially, he was responsible for all the behind the scene things. He is kind of married to the leader," she replied.
This set Souichiro back because he had assumed the leader was male with the name and the honorifics, but apparently the leader must have been a women.
"Ah," he said, "well I don't mind going. Unless you would rather have done something else."
She looked at him.
"It isn't that, it is just you should know that the leader…well Tamaki-sempai has very strange ideas about the roles of the club members and me in particular," she said, "I just want you to know it won't be a very normal dinner."
"Well, I got through with the Hitachiin brothers just fine, I am sure I can take it," he said.
Haruhi nodded and then gently sipped at her tea. And Souichiro began to imagine what Haruhi meant and decided to prepare himself for the upcoming Friday.
centerem*************/em/center
It hadn't been that Haruhi wasn't looking forward to the dinner with Kyouya and Tamaki, more that she feared for being embarrassed. While their behavior no longer irked her or surprised her (she had grown even a bit fond of it actually) so much as it was something that she didn't like to share with others. Tamaki and Kyouya had been (more then any of the other members) the leaders and strongest memories from the host club (the twins didn't quite count because in years she thought more of their time with her as classmates then as fellow club members) and Tamaki in particular was a tough sell for people who weren't acquainted to him.
That and she knew Kyouya was planning something by the way he had (in that deceivingly sweet tone of his) ordered her and Arisawa to meet them for dinner or there would be certain professional consequences.
Not that she thought that Kyouya would have had her or Arisawa fired, more than likely it would mean that she would have a surprisingly huge debt to him, or that they would show up unexpectedly at the worse possible time.
Arisawa hadn't seemed to mind it, and though she was beginning to think Arisawa was a bit too boring and practical and she had kind of been hoping that his run ins with the members of the Host Club would have scared him off by now she really didn't want to subject the man to what would be most likely a total invasion of the man's life by two very lovable but overly concerned men.
For some reason, Arisawa seemed to calm when Haruhi had told him that it was Kyouya of the Ohtori family that they were visiting. Arisawa was in the pharmacy business and thus was well acquainted with the Ohtori company. And though he had heard the president of Ohtori was ruthless and intimidating it was still a figure more in line with his world then that of masters of a Dojo or extravagant fashion designers.
Haruhi didn't have the heart to break it to him that Kyouya wasn't normal and often went far beyond simply being intimidating or ruthless, often times you wouldn't categorize his actions as being so until they were indeed over.
But she was pleasantly surprised that Arisawa had taken so well to the fact that Kyouya and Haruhi were together. Many a time, she would meet people who would fail to grasp their relationship and that was often the starting point for Haruhi to breaking it off with someone. She had no time for people who could not accept people as they were.
And that was pretty much the setting as it occurred that Friday evening, when they drove into the Ohtori/Suoh estate. Arisawa marveled at the gardens and the size of the house. (Haruhi was tempted to mention that if he found this astounding he should visit their estate in France, just outside of Paris).
They were greeted at the door by rather shy maid who told him that the masters would be with them soon and to please have a seat in the lounge.
Arisawa seemed to be struck in awe by the somewhat clashing décor of the house. One room would be pure Japanese in set up and look, and then the next one looked it could have been taken out of the castle at Versailles. Haruhi didn't bother to explain, Tamaki's history was not hers to explain after all.
"Haruhi!"
And Haruhi felt Arisawa jump in shock at the sound, and she turned to see Suoh Tamaki standing in the entry way to the lounge, dressed in black pants and white shirt (surprisingly subdue for him, and she thought that Kyouya must have dressed him).
"Hello, sempai," she said.
"Oh Haruhi, it was so wonderful to see you in all your glory. You know that your dearest father has worried after you," he said, he had not yet taken notice of Arisawa she noticed.
"I do keep in touch with my father, sempai," she said, "and can please not talk like that. I am not alone."
"Ahhhhh, but Haruhi I am like your father in that I…"
It was the sudden stop that Haruhi suddenly knew that Tamaki had finally taken notice of Arisawa being there.
"Haruhi, who is this?!" he cried as he recoiled back, a look of shock and horror clearly written over his features.
"That is Arisawa Souichiro, Haruhi's boyfriend," a voice spoke from the entrance, and they all turned to see Kyouya with his arms crossed and smug smile on his face. And it suddenly dawned on Haruhi, Kyouya had not mentioned that Arisawa would be coming with her.
emDamn him,/em she thought, he is playing with us all.
"Wait."
They all turned to Souichiro who was standing still looking completely lost amid the whole scene.
"What is it?" Haruhi asked.
"That is the 'Tamaki-sempai'?" Souichiro said pointing at Tamaki who scowled at him.
"Yes, why?" Haruhi asked.
"I think Tamaki was a woman!" Souichiro cried. It was then that all the color drained from Tamaki's face, and Kyouya coughed a bit in obvious amusement. Haruhi could only put a hand to the face.
"What gave you that idea?" she asked.
"Well you said they were married," Souichiro replied.
"I said 'kind of married', if I recall correctly," Haruhi said.
Tamaki was now a bright red and ready to explode.
"Of course we are married!" Tamaki yelled, "maybe not officially and it pains me that I can not speak of our love in that ceremony of most holy. But we fight that fight every day, and I don't see how a peon such as yourself who has for some reason gotten the affection of my dear Haruhi would understand…"
He was interrupted when Kyouya slammed a hand over his mouth.
"I am deeply sorry Arisawa-san that you seemed to come here in the dark of our situation," Kyouya said, "if you wish to leave, I can surely have Mihara-san show you out. Of course if you want to spread this around I should have you know there are consequences for such action."
Haruhi could barely contain her growl. emHe really is a bastard./em
"Oh no," Arisawa said, "I am just a bit shocked."
"That is good," Kyouya said, "we wouldn't want our honored guests to be uncomfortable now would we. Right, Tamaki?"
Tamaki had long since made his way to the corner of the room to sulk in the blow. He turned and stared at Kyouya.
"No," he said.
"Well then," Kyouya said, "shall we move to a more appropriate setting. I believe we have tea waiting."
"That would be fine," Haruhi said.
"Now then," Kyouya said, "Tamaki, why don't you show Arisawa-san to the tea room. I am sure you can interrogate him and tell him of your causes to your content there."
"But!" Tamaki cried.
"Me and Haruhi have some business to discuss," Kyouya said, "weren't you saying the other day that you missed being able to show off your skills as a host?"
Tamaki said nothing, but grumbled to Arisawa who looked sheepishly at Haruhi and then followed them. It was almost as if they were children being sent off while adults would stand around and discuss adult things.
When they were out of the room Kyouya beckoned Haruhi to follow him towards his office.
She followed a bit reluctantly and as she stepped into the office, she sighed.
"So what is this business that you have with me?"
"In just a bit, although you shouldn't look so shocked at it, did you really think I invited you over just to meet that pathetic boyfriends of yours," Kyouya said as he walked towards his desk and began shuffling through random papers.
Haruhi felt a bit defensive at the comment but then calmed down.
"Arisawa isn't pathetic," she said, "he is a nice man."
"While, I have some appreciation for him making it through meeting Hani and Mori and the twins, I can already tell that that wasn't really a part of your plans," Kyouya said and he smirked in satisfaction, "and I can't really see you being with him for that much longer."
Haruhi said nothing.
"You may be right, but I would also point out that you didn't bring me into your office to discuss the future of my dating life, did you?" she shot back.
"No, I did not," Kyouya replied.
"Although, I can't understand why you couldn't just summon me to your office and instead had to host this whole fiasco, you could have done it in ways that didn't upset Tamaki-sempai or put out Arisawa or embarrass me," she said.
"Well I could have except that my business with you has nothing to do with the Ohtori company," he said, "it is something personal."
He grabbed a picture that was resting on the corner of the desk and handed it to Haruhi who looked down at it. Her eyes widened.
It was not a picture that Haruhi would expect Kyouya to keep in his office. In a simple brown wooden frame there was a picture of a baby girl, no older then two smiling up into the camera. The child, and Haruhi couldn't believed she was thinking this but the baby in its own way oddly reminded her of Tamaki.
"What…" she began to ask and Kyouya gladly interrupted her.
"That is Amano Miyu daughter of the only child of one Mr. and Mrs. Seiji Amano, heads of the distinguished Amano family. They run of course Amano Industries which oversees productions of a number of electronic devices that are sold all over the world. Her mother, Amano Yui, was their pride and joy," Kyouya said.
"I don't see what this has to do with you though, nor does it explain why you have a picture of her in your office," she replied.
"Well, little Amano Miyu is quite a disgrace to the Amano family. She was born out of wedlock, and her biological father was not Amano Yui's well respected fiancée. Needless to say that there has been a huge scandal. The wedding was called off and the father disappeared, presumably paid off, and the family left in shame," he said.
"But…"
"Of course, Amano-san did her best to care for her daughter, but it all ended in tragedy when she was killed in a car accident earlier this year. There is now quite a dilemma in who should have custody of little Miyu," he replied.
She looked at the little girl. emHow sad. A child should be a boon to a family, not tear it a part,/em she thought.
"As you can imagine the grandparents aren't keen on taking in Miyu, and neither is the rest of the family," he remarked, "however if she isn't taken into a good home soon the disgrace will spread even further on the Amano family and I can't imagine that Miyu's life will go that well."
"And you want to help her?" Haruhi asked, looking a bit dubious; Kyouya was not one for charity.
"No, I want to adopt her."
Haruhi's eyes widened.
"And that, Haruhi, is where I need your assistance. I need a good lawyer to negotiate the terms with the Amanos that benefit both us and them," he said, "I know that you are quite well versed in the family laws in this country so I assume you would be a good choice for it. And I am sure that you can guess that me and Tamaki would not on first glance be a suitable choice for the Amanos. You would have to focus on negotiating with them the benefits of this deal."
"Does Tamaki know?"
Kyouya smiled.
"No, I don't want to get his hopes up if it all falls through. I am sure you know that Tamaki would quite like a family and is quite heartbroken at the obstacles to that. He is quite disheartened by the marriage situation as you are certainly aware of," he said.
Haruhi said nothing.
"You would of course be compensated generously for your work," he said, "I do pay quite well. And if it works out the benefits to me would be quite numerous, we at the Ohtori Company are very interested in Amano Industries."
She placed the photo down and looked at it for moment and pictured for a moment the image of Tamaki holding the little girl a wide smiled .
"You know, Kyouya-sempai, that I don't care about the money," she said, "I would be honored to do it. For Tamaki-sempai and you."
Kyouya raised an eyebrow.
"Don't look at me like that," she said, "if it was as simple a matter as getting in good with Amano Industries you wouldn't really need to adopt their granddaughter, ways that wouldn't open you or Tamaki-sempai to so much criticism. And even if that was your sole reason for doing this there still wouldn't be a need to keep her picture in a frame on your desk. You would want this child just as much as Tamaki would."
Kyouya was silent.
"But I think you should do it," Haruhi said, "and you should tell Tamaki, if we don't succeed you shouldn't be disappointed and hurt alone."
She couldn't make eye contact with him, as he took the picture and looked at it for a moment.
"I will have the details written and sent to you tomorrow for the signing," he said and placed the photo down. "Now, shall we go join Tamaki and the poor sap you brought with you."
Haruhi suddenly looked pale as she remembered that Arisawa was alone with Tamaki in the other room
"Yes," she said.
As he lead her down the hallways towards the tea room Kyouya gave Haruhi a slight smile.
"You know as an added incentive for succeeding, I should tell you that once the adoption is finalized that I am sure Tamaki will give up the charade of parading around as your father," he said, "you would have one less annoyance in your life."
Haruhi was quiet.
"I better succeed then," she said, "I want to be able to introduce him to someone and not worry that he will go on about the wonders of fatherhood when it concerns me."
centerem*************/em/center
Kyouya was not surprised to see Tamaki seeming to stared down Arisawa, who was sipping tea nervously and quite out of league when dealing with someone like Arisawa. He also seemed to be lecturing him on what he could and could not do with Haruhi.
Kyouya glanced over at Haruhi who looked completely mortified at the whole thing and then at Arisawa who seemed to be staring blankly, not quite knowing what to do with Tamaki's admonishments.
"Oh, Haruhi! Kyouya!" Tamaki cried as he noticed they had entered, his eyes lit up and he bounded over to them and quickly clasped tightly onto Haruhi's arm, completely ignoring the flabbergasted man sitting across from him.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," Haruhi said, mainly in the direction of Arisawa seeming to ignore Tamaki completely.
"Oh it wasn't anything," Arisawa said sheepishly, and Kyouya was becoming annoyed with him, he would think maybe the man might have grown a spine having meet the twins and Hani-san and Mori-san and having just spent at least a half hour alone with Tamaki that he would have a look other than confusion written on his face.
He hoped that Haruhi would dump this one soon, Kyouya was embarrassed for her.
It wasn't long before they all sat down and had tea. Kyouya kept Tamaki calm, as Kyouya and Haruhi had both given him the look and having sulked his wounded pride, he seemed to resort to his cheerful self (except of course for the times when he would have to interact with Arisawa, who would glare at and then mumble that there was no way that he could ever be good enough for his Haruhi.)
Kyouya was a bit annoyed at Tamaki's protestations, but bore through with it. Tamaki had been quite excited about Haruhi coming and Kyouya wasn't going to get in the way of Tamaki's happiness. An annoyingly happy Tamaki was much better then an annoyingly depressed Tamaki.
Aside from that, the lunch went rather quickly and it wasn't long before they were standing at the doorway with Tamaki waving cheerfully good bye to Haruhi.
"I think that went well," Kyouya said when their car had long since disappeared from view.
"Of course," Tamaki said, "though I don't know what Haruhi sees in that man, he isn't worth her at all. Did you know that he had very little interest in her work? My Haruhi deserves so much better."
"I am sure you won't have to worry about it for much longer," Kyouya said, "Haruhi seems to already have her foot out the door. She seemed to have tried to have the twins and Mori and Hani chase him off for but that didn't work, though I am sure your theatrics is probably an effective way of doing it."
"She should just be honest with him," Tamaki said and Kyouya looked at him for a moment. Since when had Tamaki ever been sensible.
"So did your business with Haruhi go well?" Tamaki asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Haruhi did agree to help, right? With Miyu-chan?" Tamaki asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.
Kyouya was speechless for a moment.
"How did you know about that?" Kyouya asked.
"I was in your office the other day," Tamaki said, "I saw the paperwork and the photo. Oh, Miyu-chan is adorable."
"How many times have I told you that that is the one space that you cannot touch?" Kyouya spouted, but not really in an angry manner.
"Sorry, but I was looking for something, I got a call from Tou-san and he needed something so I had to see whether you had filed it in your office."
"Hmph, whatever," Kyouya said and looked over at Tamaki.
"Look don't get your hopes up, even as good of a lawyer as she is, Haruhi might not succeed," he said.
"Does it matter," Tamaki said, "we just want to do what best for Miyu-chan. But I have already started making plans for the nursery. It will be pink!"
"Fine, whatever," Kyouya said, "just don't get carried away. Having a child means that you should probably act your age more."
Tamaki smiled and then lean in close.
"Hey, Kyouya," he said, "you should have told me sooner."
"Baka," he replied and looked away, "I have enough with you fawning over Haruhi, I want at least a few days of peace before you start putting all your attention on some child that isn't even yours yet."
Tamaki smiled.
"You're right, she isn't ours yet," Tamaki said, "so right now I can just put all my attention on you."
"Fine," Kyouya said, "but if we break the bed again you are paying for the replacement."
"Of course," he said.
And it was then that Kyouya dragged Tamaki in and they made a beeline. They weren't parents yet, so they had a bit more time to be newlyweds.