A/N: I thought I played Hikaru and Kristine a bit fast! Darn! Oh well, nothing I can do about it now, eh?

Chapter 13: Sunday Meeting

She felt his hands smooth over her skin as she gasped in pleasure and he ran his tongue across her neck. Her nails dug into his back as she trembled beneath him and he pushed her into the mattress. They were sweating and panting as they gripped each other and gasped each other's name with passion and untold ecstasy. His teeth sank into her neck just a bit and she moaned in complete contentment.

"I love you, Kaoru," she breathed.

"I love you too, Mariko," he whispered.

"Mariko," Saigo called, shaking her shoulder a bit.

"Kaoru…" she whispered then looked around as her eyes opened and she found her father's gaze. "Wha-What? Are we there?"

"Not yet," Saigo replied. "You were talking in your sleep again."

"Was I?" Mariko sighed, snuggling up to the car door.

"Don't you care that I just heard you say that you love Kaoru?"

"No, because it was a dream. A dream that was a result of my hanging out with the twins so much."

"You don't think that your subconscious is telling you how you feel?"

"Possibly, but if that's the case then it would have been telling me I loved Yukio, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose."

He supposed, but she knew it was a logical theory. She probably did love Yukio at one point, but he had turned out to have an over-inflated ego thanks to his father who gave him everything he wanted and told him everything he wanted to hear, praising him constantly and telling him he would be great in the future. But now, she couldn't stand even looking at him, and the incident in the mall proved that he was far too impulsive…something she hated in a man.

Kaoru, however, she definitely wouldn't mind being with in the way she had just dreamt. She had a very clear image of him being gentle and attentive. She wouldn't tell her father about this dream, after all, it was a dream that she wouldn't mind having over and over again. Mariko knew her subconscious was telling her that she was in love with Kaoru, but until she saw him again, she really wouldn't know.

The car came to a stop and Mariko looked out the window to see that they had arrived at the Hasigawa Firm. She groaned slightly and sat up, smoothing her black skirt out and straightening her purple suit jacket. She slipped her black pumps back on as her father got out of the car and she followed. Saigo walked to the other side of the car and stood next to Mariko as she stared at the building.

"Ready?" Saigo asked.

"As I'll ever be," she smirked. They walked inside and Saigo held the door open for her as they crossed into a huge lobby with a receptionist at a desk who smiled as they walked in. She had short, strawberry red hair that was pulled up in a bun and smiling chocolate brown eyes.

"Good morning, Sir," she smiled as she stood and bowed.

"Good morning, Deirdra," Saigo smiled back.

"Good morning, Miss Mariko," she smiled at the girl, and Mariko simply nodded. "This way, Sir." Deirdra guided them to a huge room with glass walls and a long table with several chairs on either side.

"Today is a big day, Mariko," Saigo said as they entered the room.

"And why is that?" Mariko wondered unenthusiastically as Saigo sat at the head of the table and Mariko sat next to him.

"We have a new client appearing today," Saigo smiled.

"And am I supposed to care?" Mariko asked, leaning her chin in one hand with her elbow on the table for support. Saigo sighed in disappointment. He should have known it was going to be one of those days.

She hated the firm. As much as she knew it was their bread and butter, she still hated it. She hated being there every Sunday, but Saigo wouldn't leave her alone today. He had made it a point to spend at least one day out of the week with her. After this meeting they would usually go and eat lunch then go wherever Mariko wanted to go. But while they were there, he knew she was going to be a sourpuss.

"Don't you even want to know who the new client is?" Saigo hoped.

"Fine, I guess," Mariko yawned, laying her head on her arms on the table.

"I believe the name is Suou. Yes, that's it, for sure. Yukuru Suou."

Mariko's head shot up and she looked at Saigo in disbelief as he looked back at her with a puzzled expression.

"Suou?! As in, the Superintendent of the Ouran Academy, that Suou?!"

"I thought that name was familiar."

"Dad, you don't understand---"

"Mr. Hasigawa?" Deirdra called from the door, catching their attention. "Your new client is here now."

"Good, send him in," Saigo replied, sitting up straight. "Now, Mariko, it's my understanding that Suou has a son a bit older than you, so my suggestion to you is that you be polite and chat it up with him, alright?"

"Dad---"

"Mr. Suou!" Saigo stood and shook the hand of a tall man with brown hair and violet eyes. He was followed by a few more men---bodyguards, no doubt---and a boy trailing behind who Mariko recognized right away.

"Ok, there's no need to panic," Mariko thought. "He's crazy, but he won't go absolutely bonkers when he sees you."

"Mariko, where are your manners?" Saigo wondered and gestured that she stand. She got up and stood next to her father. "Mr. Suou, this is my daughter, Mariko Hasigawa." Mariko bowed respectfully and smiled as happily as she could.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Suou," she said.

"Mariko?" the boy in the back suddenly called. She and Saigo looked around the bodyguards to see a blonde boy with violet eyes in a clean suit walking toward them and Mariko swallowed. "Mariko!" He ran to her and hugged the life out of her before she could even move.

"Ok, my hoping was all in vain," she thought. He finally let go of her and Saigo held Mariko by the shoulders as he glared at the young man.

"Tamaki!" Yukuru barked, and the young man looked up at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I know her from school, father," Tamaki replied then looked back at Mariko and Saigo.

"Forgive my son, Mr. Hasigawa," Yukuru said. "I didn't think he would cause trouble if I brought him with me."

"It's alright, Mr. Suou," Saigo lied. "Why don't we send the children out while we talk business?"

Mariko glared up at her father for calling her a child then looked at Tamaki in worry. If he had gotten this excited at seeing her, who knows what he would do when she told him about the twins being with her most of the weekend? She knew he'd be happy, but how happy had her worried.

"Yes, perhaps you're right, Saigo," Yukuru said and tapped Tamaki on the shoulder then whispered something in his ear.

"Deirdra will take you to the waiting room," Saigo said then leaned close to Mariko's ear. "Is it true you know him from school? Just nod or shake your head."

Mariko nodded.

"Where did you meet him?"

"He's the president of the Host Club," Mariko whispered and Saigo nodded.

"Be careful," he whispered so low she almost didn't hear.

"He's harmless, dad," she smirked. "No need to worry about him."

"If it were Kyouya, that would be a different matter," she thought to herself. Though she had spent most of her time with the twins, she also got to know the rest of the Host Club over the three days she had been there. She especially liked Honey and Tamaki because of their fun nature, but Tamaki frightened her at the same time. He was a bit unpredictable, that one. She looked at Tamaki and he held his arm out for her to take it. She glanced at his smiling face for a moment, but slid her arm through his and they walked toward the door where Deirdra waited.

"This way," she smiled, and she led them to a room with another receptionist behind a desk and chairs outlining the walls, with a table in the middle piled with magazines and a few plants in some corners. Mariko sat down and Tamaki plopped into the chair beside her.

"It's funny seeing you here," he said leaning on the armrest closest to her. "I didn't think your father would bring you to a meeting with his clients."

"He does every Sunday, and usually it's not about clients," Mariko replied, unmoving. "I would say the same of you, however. Why did your father bring you with him?"

"I was the one that told him about your father being a lawyer," Tamaki grinned, sitting back and crossing his arms, holding his head up with pride. Mariko finally looked at him in disbelief.

"You told your dad about my dad?!"

Tamaki looked at her in wonder.

"Why are you surprised?"

Mariko's shock diminished to thought. Why was she surprised? After all, her father was well known from Spain to Africa, why was she shocked that Tamaki would tell his father about him?

"I don't know," she admitted and shook her head to change the subject. "Why does your father need a lawyer?"

"We've been looking for one for some time," Tamaki explained. "His last lawyer wasn't too great, so father fired him. When I met you and you told me about your father being a lawyer I told him when I arrived home."

Mariko nodded, but said nothing. She looked out into space and Tamaki frowned at her in confusion.

"So, how are the twins?"

Mariko jumped when he mentioned them and stared at him with wide eyes.

"W-What?"

"The twins," Tamaki smirked. "Hikaru and Kaoru. I haven't talked to them all weekend. I assumed they were with you."

"Why would you assume that?" Mariko wondered, trying to be cool.

"Because usually I hear from them."

"Oh, well, yes, they were with me, actually," Mariko replied, wringing her hands. "We, uh, we went to the beach."

"Why are you acting like that's a bad thing?"

"Because I'm frightened of you!" she thought.

"I'm not," she chirped then cleared her throat.

"Does just talking about them bring butterflies to your stomach?" he smiled, charmingly and closed in on her a bit. He was acting like he did when he was with his designates. Now she could handle him.

"No, but if you don't back off a bit, I'll give you a knuckle sandwich to put in your stomach," she retorted and Tamaki looked at her in surprise and backed away.

"Feisty today, are we Princess?" he wondered with a smirk.

"Every time I come here, actually," she replied. "I don't wanna be here. I hate this place."

"Why?"

"You don't want me to tell you that."

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want you to."

"Just let it go, Tamaki. I don't wanna talk about it."

"Would you talk about it for a kiss?" he whispered in her ear.

"Nice try, but I'm taken," she blurted then clapped her hand over her mouth and stared at him with wide eyes filled with horror. Tamaki stared at her in shock, but then he slowly started smiling, and Mariko feared the worst.

"He's going to attack me again," she thought.

"Mariko!" he sang and jumped her sending them both to the floor. "Mon ami! You have a boyfriend!" He nuzzled her cheek and hugged her so tightly she couldn't breathe. He suddenly stopped and sat her up, holding her at arms length, his grin never wavering. "Who is it?!"

Mariko swallowed. Should she say it? One of his hosts was her boyfriend, should she tell him? How complicated would that make it? She had no idea if Kaoru even wanted the club to know about them being together, and if she told this hyper, blonde idiot staring at her with that huge grin on his face then everyone in the whole school would know! What was a girl to do?

"I…" she tried then thought again. "I think I should wait until I ask him if he wants people to know."

Tamaki stared at her with a puzzled look.

"Why wouldn't he want people to know?"

"This guy doesn't take a hint, does he?!"

"Well, I just wanna make sure he knows I'll tell people, I guess."

"But if I had a girlfriend, I would want everyone to know!" Tamaki cheered, hugging Mariko with one arm and standing up as if he were presenting her to the world.

"Never a dull moment with this guy."

"What kind of guy did you pick that he doesn't want to tell the world about you?" Tamaki asked, looking down at her.

"Was that meant as an insult, Tamaki," she growled through clenched teeth with a dark look on her face. Tamaki shouted in terror and jumped to the wall across the room as he let her go.

"N-No," he sputtered.

"Boy was that a frightening face," he thought then straightened and cleared his throat, fixing his tie.

"What I meant was that he shouldn't hide the fact that he's with such a wonderful girl like you," he said, and Mariko looked at him in surprise.

"Wonderful?" she breathed and Tamaki nodded as he walked toward her again and sat down in the chair he had been before.

"Face it, Mariko. You're worth hanging around and talking with or about."

Mariko sat down in the chair beside him and stared into space utterly speechless.

"You're rather secretive though, and it shows when you won't tell anyone about even your likes or dislikes."

Mariko looked at him again, but he was just waiting for her response.

"Well, that's because I don't think anyone is really interested in hearing about me."

"On the contrary, we all want to know about you, but you won't let us in. Does that seem fair that we tell you all about ourselves, but you say nothing about yourself?"

"Don't try to pull that!" Mariko spat, suddenly extremely angry but Tamaki didn't move. "You don't know why I keep my life secret. I doubt you could even guess why!"

"Is it because of your mother?"

Mariko gasped in disbelief. He had gotten it right! But how could he see through her to that?!

"You never told me why you hate this firm, and we had to find out from Kyouya that the boy who attacked you was Yukio Hayate, apparently a friend of your family but not a friend of yours."

"Shut up," she muttered through clenched teeth. He was playing with fire, and he looked like he didn't even care.

"Have you told the twins anything about yourself?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because they've been spending a lot of time with you. I was just curious."

"Well, be uncurious! What I tell the twins is really none of your business unless it's in or around the Host Club hours. That's the way I see it, and I doubt they'll tell you anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to take a walk and not come back until you and your questions are gone!" Mariko stood and walked toward the door, but when she opened it, she was stopped by his voice.

"I almost forgot to mention something," he said.

"What?!"

"The Host Club is planning a Masquerade Ball the upcoming Friday. I'm extending this exclusive invitation to you. No one knows about this yet, so you're the first of our designates to be invited. The theme is Phantom of the Opera."

Mariko straightened but walked out the door and slammed it behind her without a word.

Tamaki sighed and snatching a magazine from the table, began to flip through it. He hated making her mad like that, but there was no point in keeping secrets the way she was. It's one thing not to reveal certain things about your past and present life, but not to say anything about who you are at all as another thing entirely. What could be going through her mind when people asked her things?

The twins had told him a little of what happened. The truth was that they had talked to him that morning before he left, and the whole way there they had told him how hot Mariko looked for dinner on Friday and that she had sang and played the piano for them, and that they all went to the beach, and then the mall. But they left out a lot, and Tamaki could tell there were still some things that had happened.

He set a goal for himself as he sat in that waiting room, now alone and getting bored with the magazine he was flipping through. He would get Mariko out of that shell she had for some reason surrounded herself in. It would be better for her and everyone she was with. Especially this mystery boyfriend she didn't want to talk about.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mariko walked into the lobby, muttering curses under her breath. They had told him about her Phantom of the Opera display and who knew what else they had told him?! It wasn't even the fact that the twins had told Tamaki anything. It was the fact that Tamaki was asking questions and trying to figure her out. She didn't want to be figured out. If she wanted someone to know something about her, she would tell them. She had no choice but to tell the twins about what Yukio had said, but if she had, she wouldn't have told them anything.

"Miss Mariko?" Deirdra called as Mariko walked out the door. "Where is your friend?"

"He's still in the waiting room," Mariko spat. "I'm going for a walk."

"But your father---"

"My father can go to hell! I need a walk!" With that Mariko walked out the glass door and down the driveway, past the limo that had brought them to this wretched place and onto the huge grass lawn that spread like a football field in front of the building. She slipped her heels off and stepped onto the grass. She walked to as much as the center as she could find and sat down, making sure that she didn't show off her panties to the world under her skirt. She gazed up at the sky and sighed.

"Mother, why couldn't you be here so that I wouldn't have to deal with people like him?" She sighed again and leaned back on her hands, setting her shoes next to her.

"He's alright at times, but does he have to know every single thing about me?"

"I don't want to know every single thing about you," she heard the very person she was talking about correct from behind her.

"Now what?"

"Can I sit with you?"

"Why do you want to after my display of anger in there?"

"Because I think you just needed to blow off some steam, right?"

"Whatever. Go ahead, but no questions."

"Ok," Tamaki smiled and sat down next to her. "I promise." They sat in silence for a few moments before Tamaki broke it. "Isn't it nice, today?"

"I thought I told you no questions?" Mariko blurted, staring at the sky.

"Sheesh, sorry. I just thought I'd make small talk, or something."

Mariko said nothing and just stared at the sky.

"The twins told me you were more fun than this when you weren't at school."

Mariko looked at him in surprise and he looked back at her.

"What else do they tell you about me?" Mariko asked a bit irritably.

"Lots of things," he shrugged, looking back at the sky. "Good things, though. They had the idea about the Masquerade Ball. They knew how much you liked Phantom of the Opera so they rented it and watched it."

"They did?" Mariko breathed and Tamaki just nodded.

"I figured it wouldn't be so bad. I've seen that musical and thought it was rather good. Why not have a party with that theme?"

"I'd say thank you, but I know it was the twins' idea."

"If anyone asks, it was mine."

Mariko giggled and Tamaki looked at her in surprise.

"Did you giggle? My goodness, you do have a sense of humor."

"I'm sorry about back there. I really hate this place, and it shows whenever I'm here." She glanced at him, waiting for him to ask why, but he said nothing.

Surely she could trust him. Surely she could tell him why she hated this place. Her mother would be ashamed of her because she was keeping everything bottled up. Her mother was always for free expression no matter what it was about or how it was achieved.

"Do you want to know why I hate this place?" she asked, and he looked at her then nodded.

A/N: Well, there it is. We got Tamaki! Yay! I tried to stay true to his character. I see him as very unpredictable and smooth, so, i tried to stay as true to him as possible. Reviews please.