Chapter14

Before she even set her things down, Kyouya dropped a bomb on her. "Haruhi, we have an unexpected dinner guest coming tonight. My father just informed me of it." He didn't sound too thrilled about it either. "Well, let's get some studying done before they get here then." She just smiled and sat down to pull out her things.

Whether she knew it or not, Fuyumi had decided that Haruhi would need something to wear and had yelled at their father saying how wrong it was for him to give her no notice like that. He'd actually been impressed with her. He couldn't remember a time where his sister had ever yelled at their father.

He decided he wouldn't mention that part to her yet. It was better to do as she said and study while they had the time. They started going over her French and English first because he figured the others would take too long. It would be best if they could cover as much ground as possible today since they had missed yesterday.

Fuyumi interrupted about an hour into their study session. Haruhi glared at him, but he just laughed and told his sister that they could use his bathroom to get ready. "I'm going to be changing out here too though, so you may want to knock and make sure it's safe before coming out." He tried to read Haruhi's reaction to his words, but his sister was busy dragging her into his bathroom.

Honestly, now that Haruhi was wearing the girl's uniform to school there really was no reason for Fuyumi to be so upset. It wasn't the fanciest outfit ever, but it should have sufficed for dinner. Maybe he should have said something earlier, but part of him loved it when she glared at him when his sister dragged her off; or when she made comments about how she'd rather be here studying with him than being with his sister.

He dressed quickly and went over to Haruhi's notes to ensure that the teachers had gone in the direction he had thought. Once he made sure they were still ahead of schedule as far as her studies were concerned, he made up some "homework" for her to do and decided that they hadn't actually lost much time even with the missed day.

They had all walked down together to meet his father's company. Although at first she had been annoyed that Fuyumi had played dress up with her yet again, now she was extremely grateful for it. Yoshio's company seemed to consist of one family that seemed to have stepped out of the pages of a magazine. Introductions were made and while she was sure that Kyouya and Fuyumi knew who these people were, nobody bothered to tell her.

The son, who was probably about a year or so older than Kyouya, looked alarmingly like Tamaki. She'd almost think that someone had given him a brown wig and green contacts if not for his voice and his attitude. He'd kissed her hand and introduced himself as Watanabe Seiichi. He was polite and respectful; there was no way that Tamaki senpai could pull that off.

His sister was a little bit older than she was, but only by a year or two. Her name was Kimiko and she was very small and elegant looking. When they'd been introduced, she'd given Haruhi a thorough once over before bothering with her at all. She had a feeling, she wouldn't like this girl much.

Dinner was a much different affair with guests over. They mingled in a room Haruhi hadn't seen before and waited for the staff to inform them that dinner was served. Yoshio led Fuyumi into the room and Mr. & Mrs. Watanabe followed suit. She'd fully expected Kyouya to lead her in, but to her surprise Seiichi walked over to her and presented her his arm. She smiled at him and let him lead her into the dinning room, noticing that Kyouya was left escorting Kimiko the ice queen. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.

This was a much smaller dining room, but it was just as formal. Yoshio was seated at the head of the table, with Fuyumi sitting across from him. Mr. Watanabe was seated to Yoshio's right and Mrs. Watanabe to his left. She hoped that there wasn't a specific place that she was supposed to sit, because if there was then she was ignorant of it.

Thankfully, Seiichi directed her to the chair on the right of Fuyumi and pulled out her chair for her before seating himself across from her. She noticed that the arrangement left an open space to her right and she wondered who would fill it. She hoped that it wasn't Kimiko; she had a feeling that she wouldn't be able to speak all evening if she had to try to attempt small talk with her. Thankfully, when Kyouya pulled out a chair for her, it was the one next to her brother. She almost sighed with relief when Kyouya sat down next to her.

As dinner was served, she watched those around her with interest. It didn't take her long to figure out that Yoshio was wanting his company to form an attachment with Mr. Watanabe's company and that it seemed that Mr. Watanabe wanted the same. She was glad that Kyouya was between her and Mrs. Watanabe, because every time she heard the woman speak it was in English and although it was her favorite subject, she wasn't 100% sure that she could be considered fluent yet.

"I haven't heard of the name Fujioka, how are you acquainted with the Ootori family?" The ice queen was speaking to her. "I attend Ouran academy; I know Kyouya senpai from school." The girl was staring at her like she was a bug. She had a feeling that she was being targeted by her, but she couldn't understand why. She purposefully left out the fact that she was poor and only able to attend because of a scholarship; let her think she was more important than she was.

"How is it that your parents are not with us tonight?" She didn't feel like getting grilled, but it wasn't like she could tell the girl that she didn't want to talk to her. "Do your parents always escort you to a friend's house?" The girl glared at her, but didn't answer. What was with all of the hostility? Had she somehow managed to insult her without knowing it?

The questions were less frequent now, but every now and then she'd throw one out at her. She had started to get upset about it, but then the oddest thing happened; Kyouya reached out and grabbed her knee under the table and gave it a comforting squeeze. He'd answered that question for her and it was a good thing he'd done it because she was still in shock. She had to admit that she was grateful though, it had taken her mind off of the ice queen for a moment.

She let her left hand drop under the table and squeezed his hand in return as a way of saying thank you. She had meant to keep the contact brief, but as soon as her hand touched his he had entwined his fingers in hers and wouldn't let go. "Ms. Fujioka, is something the matter? You look troubled." Seiichi had been keeping up a steady stream of chatter with Fuyumi before this, and hadn't bothered to step in when his sister had been grilling her, so she wondered why he was showing concern now. He couldn't have noticed...could he?