A/N: Thank you to my lovely reviewers for liking the last chapter. Remember, if you review, you will get a sneak peek at Chapter three. I wanted to have this chapter up on Wednesday and the other out tomorrow but some twit cut the phone lines in my suburb and we have been without internet since Wednesday. It is finally back up and I was just itching to get this out, so here it is. The next chapter will come out next Wednesday as planned.

Disclaimer: I realise that I didn't do this for chapter one. Hopefully any lawyer types out there will get this far to hear me say that I do not own Ouran High School Host Club.

This chapter is dedicated to Hobo Ghost. Because I only saw that they had reviewed chapter one when I was about to upload this. This means that the sneak peek would be pointless. So I hope this makes it up to you Hobo Ghost. Cool name, btw.

Kyouya's response, when he was told the news, was rather different. There were no requests, no begging on his father's part. It was a command. His only response was to push his glasses up and say "I see."

He came from a very different world than Haruhi. He had never expected the chance to follow his own desires in this matter. His brothers and sister before him had entered arranged marriages. They none of them had the luxury of a heart.

It was the paradox of wealth. You could have anything you wanted, except for the one thing that every commoner took for granted.

Perhaps he was even a little grateful. At least he knew his planned spouse before the fact. He could have been saddled with one of those spoilt, stupid heiresses that populated the marriage market.

It did not take long for him to discover that he had a difficult task ahead of him. Trying to court a recalcitrant Haruhi was not a job for a lesser man. Just because she had agreed did not meant that she was happy about it.

When he told her that the date was set for after her graduation from high school, she just said "That's nice" and hung up on him. He asked her out to dinner and she claimed the need to finish homework, or study for a test, or wash her hair. When he offered her a ring she snapped the box shut, barely missing his fingers.

"Look Kyouya-senpai," she still insisted on calling him that, "let's not pretend that this is real. I know that you had no choice in the matter and you know that I am only doing this to pay for college."

Kyouya should have expected her bluntness by now, but he was still taken aback. She may be a senior, but she had still not learned how to prevaricate.

For probably the first time in his life Kyouya almost wished that he was not so very good at masks and secrets. If he were more open (more like Tamaki, a treacherous part of his mind dared to suggest) he might have been able to find the strength to tell her the whole truth.

She had been right when she said that this was not his choice, but that was as far as her insight penetrated. If she thought that this was purely a business arrangement, she had much yet to learn. He was not in love, far from it, but he found her… refreshing was probably the right word.

Despite having made peace with her decision; Haruhi found it nearly impossible to feel excited about any of it.

Especially the planning part. Seriously, how any self-respecting woman could spend hours debating the virtues of pearl versus ivory white for save the date cards was frankly beyond her.

She simply handed everything over to Ranka. Tuning him out whenever he tried to involve her. Eventually he gave up and made all the arrangements with the high-end events planner that had handled all the weddings of this Ootori generation.

It had paid off. The wedding and the reception were both a sight to behold. The whole effect was one of understated elegance. The type that can only be achieved by spending a great deal of money.

The guests were taken in by the fantasy of it all. After all the wedding party were all former hosts, well-practiced at the art of creating charming tableaux.

Kyouya seemed attentive and affectionate the entire day and Haruhi had too much self-respect to let anyone see just how little she cared.

A/N: One of my reviewers wanted to know how Kyouya reacted to everything. Hopefully this chapter gives you some insight into the feelings of our favourite Shadow King. Till Wednesday! Remember, I love ya' guys.