Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran or any characters.

Chapter 2:

It was exactly 6:30pm when Haruhi heard a knock on the door to the apartment. When she went over and opened it she saw Kyoya standing there. He looked very sophisticated in a black tuxedo with a maroon vest.

Kyoya smiled politely and then asked "Well, Haruhi. Are you ready to go? It would not do to be late to this event." As he was saying this he was taking in Haruhi's appearance and making sure it would be acceptable at the dinner party.

Haruhi was dressed in an empress style dress. It was a shade of maroon to match Kyoya's vest and had gold trim. It was cocktail length and had delicate little puffy sleeves. On her feet were black ballet slippers with a little maroon bow. On her head was a wig that made her hair appear to be partly up and partly down. Unless someone knew it was her, they wouldn't realize that this same person was the 'natural' boy in the host club.

Haruhi smiled at Kyoya and said "So Shadow King, do you deem me to be dressed well enough to appear with you? I should be, the twins spent a long enough time dragging me through their mother's collection this afternoon."

Kyoya gave his host club smile and simply said "You appear to be acceptable, now let's go or we'll be late." Kyoya then held out his arm for Haruhi to take and led her down the stairs and to the limo.

Later, during dinner:

Haruhi was seated on Kyoya's right near the center of a long table designed to hold a total of 22 people. They were seated across from a married couple and to Haruhi's left was a female doctor who appeared to be single, even though she had brought a date for the evening.

As the first dish arrived Haruhi heard someone say Miss Fujioka. She turned her head to her right and smiled saying "Yes Dr. Tamaru?"

Dr. Tamaru smiled back and said "So Miss Fujioka what do you want to do when you get finished with your schooling?"

"My plan is to follow in my mother's footsteps and go to law school to become a lawyer." Haruhi answered.

"Well that is very ambitious, do you know which branch of law you want to practice in?" Dr. Tamaru asked.

Haruhi seemed to consider this for a moment before saying "Well, I'm really interested in pursuing criminal justice, but if that doesn't work out I would like to go into business or real estate law."

Kyoya was busy talking to Mr. Koenig (who sat across from him) about ancient weaponry from around the world and which sword style was more effective. But that didn't mean he wasn't listening to Haruhi explain her plans for the future and file away the information for future use. When he got home he planned to add it to his file on her. As well as the fact that she seemed able to use the proper utensils for each course. He did notice that she always waited half a second to grab a utensil and make sure that everyone else grabbed that one also. Interesting, he thought, maybe this could work out after all…

After Haruhi answered Dr. Tamaru's question she heard someone else address her. It was Mrs. Koenig, the lady sitting across from her.

"Well, Miss Fujioka, that plan sounds very ambitious. But what is your actual degree going to be in university? I'm a professor myself and can make a few suggestions if you want some advice." Mrs. Koenig said.

Haruhi smiled and said "I've never really thought about it, I'm just trying to get through high school at the moment, but I would love to hear your advice."

Mrs. Koenig smiled back and said "Well, you can always go pre-law, but then you don't really end up with a bachelor's degree. Also, if something goes wrong and you don't get into law school then you are trapped, having wasted four years of your life already."

Haruhi nodded and said "That sounds fairly reasonable."

"Yes, well, the better choice is to get a degree in literature or history. This way you have a fall-back plan and you get to learn about how people really act and think outside of your social circle. I myself teach here at the University in Tokyo. I teach several classes on ancient literature. I think you should also take a few classes on psychology and really study how people think. This will give you an edge later in life." Mrs. Koenig then smiled and turned to talk to the lady next to her.

During this discussion Dr. Tamaru had started conversing with her date about some research they were doing on heart medicine. Haruhi noticed that Kyoya was still busy conversing with Mr. Koenig about ancient weaponry. So she allowed herself to dwell on her own thoughts. That did seem like a good decision.

Not many people conversed with Haruhi during the rest of dinner, or afterwards, during drinks in the salon, except for an interesting conversation she had with Mr. Ohtori. So Haruhi spent most of this time thinking about the future and what she should major in. She had never really thought about that before, she just knew she wanted to go to law school. The more she thought about it the more she realized the best choice would probably be to major in history and maybe get a minor in psychology.

Kyoya spent most of the evening making connections with the people around him. He knew that these people, along with their connections, would help him achieve his goal of becoming the Ohtori heir. But throughout the evening he kept an eye on Haruhi. He didn't think she would embarrass him, but one could never be sure.

Haruhi was sitting on a couch holding some sort of fancy fizzy drink when someone came up and sat down next to her. She realized it was Mr. Ohtori; she had been introduced to him during the cocktail hour.

"Yes Mr. Ohtori, can I help you?" Haruhi asked politely.

Mr. Ohtori smiled pleasantly and said "Well, I was just wondering what sort of girl my son Kyoya would date. I honestly didn't think he would be able to make it tonight since he doesn't have a girlfriend and doesn't normally go on dates."

"Oh, well, I'm actually just a friend of Kyoya's from Ouran. He asked me if I would be able to help him out and come here tonight. I'm always willing to help a friend, so I agreed." Haruhi answered somewhat truthfully.

Mr. Ohtori nodded thoughtfully and said to himself 'interesting.' "Well, Miss Fujioka I hope to see more of you in the future. I do believe you will go places and do things. I think I would much appreciate it if you would accompany my son to events like this in the future."

Haruhi nodded, smiled and said "If I can I will sir."

Mr. Ohtori nodded his head in acknowledgment of her agreement with him, stood up, bowed a little and then walked off to talk with their host, Mr. Tachiki.

Haruhi took a deep breath and then sighed, at least that was over. She glanced at the clock, hoping they could leave soon, it was already 11pm.

Kyoya saw his father walk away from Haruhi. He waited a few minutes, then took his leave from Mrs. Tachiki and walked over to Haruhi and sat on the couch next to her.

"What did my father want with you Haruhi?" he asked her.

Haruhi looked at him and blinked then answered with "Something about him liking me, me going places, and the fact that he wants me to keep going to things like this with you in the future."

Kyoya nodded thoughtfully while thinking 'Hmmm, so everything is going according to my plan.'

Kyoya then said out loud "Well, I would hate to disappoint my father. Would you agree to keep coming to events like this if it reduced your debt each time?"

Haruhi thought for a moment before responding "I believe so, as long as it doesn't interfere with my studies, I actually learned a few things tonight, as well as having that delicious fancy tuna."

Kyoya nodded. "Alright then, I will give you a call anytime I need you to go on an event with me." He paused for a moment, appearing to think rather hard. Then he continued with "Actually, it may be best if you agreed to be my girlfriend, just for appearances sake of course. It will cause me to appear more stable to anyone getting to know me. Also, I agree with my father, you are going to go places and it wouldn't hurt for us to appear connected to each other. If you decide that it isn't working out we can always set up a break-up scene and go our separate ways. Does that seem fair?"

Haruhi looked at him and blinked a few times before responding with: "Kyoya, who would believe you actually had a willing girlfriend? I mean honestly, you are the shadow king. Maybe we should just date. If it appears that people are accepting we can change the details of the charade. But I better get my debt reduced with each date. Or the deal is off. Understand?"

Kyoya smiled his shadow king smile and said "Perfectly, Haruhi."

Kyoya then stood up and offered Haruhi his arm, she accepted. "Now Haruhi, let's go pay our respects and leave, if we stay any longer people will begin to think we are irresponsible about our studies." Kyoya then led Haruhi over to where Mr. and Mrs. Tachiki were talking with Mr. Ohtori so that they can bid them all farewell for the evening.