Chapter Twenty-one;
Reiji rubbed his cheekbone tenderly, tilting his head from side to side as he admired the dark black eye Tamaki had so graciously inflicted upon him.
I guess I don't know what stop means.
Reiji inwardly flinched, releasing a sigh as he dropped his head in shame. He knew that he had hurt Haruhi, though that had never been his intention. He had been so caught up in her natural charm and beauty and so wrapped in his own head that he didn't even think about how his actions would affect her. The possibility that his actions were unwanted had never crossed his mind. All he knew was that she wanted to move on and he thought he had been helping her to do just that.
Slowly he made his way out of the men's restroom and towards the office at the end of the hall. Be the bigger man, he urged himself, holding his head high as he knocked on the door.
"Come in," came the gruff voice from the other side.
He pushed open the door slowly, taking a deep breath to steady himself. "Hello, Mr. Akiyama."
"Ah, Reiji. What can I do for you, son?" Akiyama lifted his gaze from the papers on his desk, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the swollen and bruised skin under Reiji's eye. "What the hell happened to you?"
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about, sir." Reiji took a seat in one of the large chairs in front of Akiyama's desk. "I'd like to be removed from the Monpetite case."
"Why?"
"Mister Suoh and I had a disagreement." He stated simply.
"He did that to your face?" Reiji simply nodded. "Are you pressing charges?"
"No sir. It was a simple misunderstanding but in order to make Mr. Suoh feel more comfortable I think I should remove myself from his case." Reiji explained.
Akiyama sighed, pushing himself farther back in his chair and steepling his fingers before him. "I'll assign you to a new case, but I would like to know what this misunderstanding was about."
Reiji carefully weighed his options. He could be honest; after all office romances were not a cause for termination even if they were frowned upon. On the other hand, if he lied and Haruhi decided she was uncomfortable enough with him to speak out, he would definitely get fired for his dishonesty.
Sighing, he choice to go with the honesty, "Fujioka, sir."
"The intern?" Akiyama's eyes widened slightly. "What interest does Mr. Suoh have in Miss. Fujioka?"
Shit. Reiji hadn't even considered the implications his honesty could have upon Haruhi. Office romances were one thing; a romance with a client was a completely different story. "They used to date, sir. But I assure you, Miss. Fujioka has been nothing but professional in her dealings with our clients."
"Clients? Are you implying she knows all of them?" Akiyama asked.
Reiji simply nodded. "She attended high school with them all."
"I see." Akiyama was silent for a few moments. "I think it's best if I remove both of you from the case… effective tomorrow." He finally decided, nodding to himself as he spoke. "It's too short notice to get someone to fill your positions for today, and the Monpetite's representation is coming in. So you'll have to finish out the day, is that acceptable?"
Reiji nodded. "Thank you, sir."
"No… thank you."
Xxx Haruhi xxX
Settling into her seat at the back of the conference room, Haruhi made herself look busy with the contents of her briefcase. She wasn't ready to talk to Reiji about what had happened between them and she wasn't ready to explain why she had been with Tamaki last night, either. She wasn't even sure what was happening between them and she had yet to get a concrete answer as to what was happening with his intended.
"Let me take you out tomorrow night," Tamaki offered, smiling at her lightly as she gently placed an ice pack on his swollen knuckles.
"Why?" She asked, glancing up at him with large and inquisitive eyes.
"Because I want to?" He grinned. "Because I think we should talk about us? Because you kissed me this morning? The list goes on."
"And what would your intended think?" She could hear a bit more venom in her voice than she had meant to use.
"Haruhi, I'm not engaged. I'm not anything to Sologne, not yet. And I think you and I owe it to ourselves to at least discuss what this is." He sighed, clearly exasperated.
"What is this, Tamaki?" She asked, unable to meet his gaze.
"I hope it's us fixing what we broke all those year ago." He breathed, tilting her face up and catching her lips with his.
The door to the conference room opened and in stepped Akiyama. She noticed immediately how he didn't greet her with his usual enthusiasm and exuberance. "Good morning, Miss. Fujioka. Would you mind coming to my office tonight after you finish your filing?"
Haruhi blinked back her confusion. "Of course, sir." He couldn't really be angry she had taken a sick day, could he? "Is everything okay?"
Akiyama grunted a noncommittal sound. "We'll talk tonight."
She was about to ask another question, but the door opened once again and in walked Reiji. His cheek was swollen and dotted with a dark bruise from where Tamaki had struck him. Part of her felt guilty for being the cause of their altercation while part of her swelled with pride for her blonde hero. He had defended her honor so brilliantly.
"Good morning, Haruhi." He smiled apologetically.
"Good morning, Reiji." She refused to meet his gaze.
Again the door opened and a few women dressed in business clothing emerged. Her eyes swept across them all, immediately recognizing the three women in the center of the group; Benio, Hinako, and Chizuru.
It was Benio who spotted her first, "Haruhi?" She blinked back her surprise, seeming to fly across the conference room and fall to her knees before the small girl. "What are you doing here?"
"B-benibara?" Haruhi stuttered, confusion evident on her features. "I work here. What are you all doing here?"
"Of course you would still work for those dogs." Benio scoffed, rolling her eyes as she rose to her feet, pulling Haruhi up to stand before her. "Don't worry, my darling. Once we win this case, we will liberate you from their dirty paws."
"Win… win the case?" Haruhi's heart had taken all the surprise it could handle. "You're the ones who stole all of Tamaki's money!?"
Benio smiled. "You're not surprised that we would vehemently oppose a new Host Club, are you?"
Haruhi deadpanned. "I suppose not."
"Excuse me," Akiyama interrupted. "Do you all know each other?"
"Of course," Hinako grinned. "We all go way back. Right, Haru-chan?"
Akiyama sighed deeply. "Would you ladies prefer if I ask Miss. Fujioka to leave? I would hardly force you to suffer through a conflict of interest."
"Ask her to leave?" Chizuru looked hurt.
"Of course we don't want her to leave," Hinako sighed.
"We're very confident that with Miss. Fujioka on the case, everything will be handled fairly and properly." Benio grinned, casually throwing an arm across Haruhi's small shoulders.
Sighing, Akiyama took a seat at the head of the table and motioned for the rest of them to do the same. "Let's begin then."
Xxx Later xxX
Haruhi rubbed her hand along her face, sighing deeply as she finished the last of her filing. She wasn't sure what to expect from her conversation with Akiyama, but whatever it was he hadn't looked pleased with her.
Knocking twice, she pulled back the door to his poorly lit office. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
Akiyama frowned slightly, gesturing to a chair positioned directly in front of his desk. "Please, take a seat Miss. Fujioka."
"What is this about?" She asked, sitting nervously and folding her hands into her lap so as to keep them from shaking.
"You know we love you here. You've been an invaluable asset to this law firm since the day you arrived. It was, however, recently brought to my attention that you have a long standing relationship with each of our clients in regard to the Monpetite case and a romantic relationship with Mr. Suoh."
Haruhi's breath hitched in her chest. Reiji had told. She couldn't believe that Reiji had told on her!
"And today, to find out that you are also friends with the opposition… I'm afraid this could cause a significant conflict of interest for our case moving forward," Akiyama folded his hands and paused, giving her a moment to not only gather her thoughts but to respond as well.
"I completely understand the position this puts you in, but as Ben-Miss Amakuza told you earlier, I am always fair and honest in my professional space." She explained, feeling her heart begin to race in her chest.
"I have no doubt that you are, but Miss Amakuza could easily have her lawyers use this information against us in court. You have to understand that my first priority must always be to the client." Akiyama explained.
"Yes, I understand. I'll happily change to assist on a different case if that makes this any easier for you." She breathed, desperate to keep her voice even and without the fear she felt rattling in her heart.
"I don't think you're understanding, Miss. Fujioka. This puts my law firm in a very precarious position. You came very highly recommended by Mr. Ootori."
Haruhi's brow furrowed in confusion. Suddenly Kyoya's words came flooding back to her.
Did you really think I haven't known where you were all along?
No wonder the job offer had been so enticing. Kyoya had orchestrated it to get her back to Japan. The offer had been so perfect, too perfect, perfect enough to convince her to do her internship back in Japan instead of in Boston. He had played her like a puppet.
"Unfortunately with this particular situation, my hands are tied."
"Please," she begged. "Please, don't do this."
"I'm sorry, Miss. Fujioka… You're fired."
Author's / Note:
Can you all believe this story was posted a month ago today?! I feel like we've been on this journey for such a short amount of time... We're note even halfway done yet, though! So stick with me, loves. I promise not to disappoint you... (hopefully).
So now we see that Reiji's plan to be honest has backfired, but not against him. It's backfired against Haruhi. How do you think this will play into when he finally gets to apologize? And what do you think the Host Club will do now that their friend has been fired by their lawyers? Somehow I don't think they are going to take it very well. And now we finally see the Zuka club as well! Please leave me reviews and let me know what you all think.
I have the last of my finals on Monday so I will try to update again before then but I cant guarantee anything.
BlackButlerislife: I also ship Alexa and Mori :3 it will be interesting to see where they go from here.
OuranOracle87: Ah! Seriously, these compliments are my favorite. It really means a lot to me that you all like this story so much!
KanameZeroYuki: I just love how snarky he was!
Daughter of sea and wisdom: *spoiler alert: I don't think he'll be the last person to hit him….
Alice Kitten: Awh! Well in Tamaki's defense he did think he was protecting Haruhi. And Reiji is a genuinely good guy… but stupid. VERY stupid. He clearly only thinks about himself.
Kairi671: For now I'm leaving it open to the people. In my head, I ship her with Mori. But I'll place her with a host depending on what you as the readers think about placing her with one of them. It makes the most sense to me to have her end up with Mori because they are polar opposites.
Euiko Tsukemo: I'm so sorry! Here, let me try to heal your heart… No, Alexa will not end up with Hikaru. I do have something very special planned for the love life of the twins and it doesn't involve Alexa. She will have a love life, I just haven't completely decided who I want her to end up with. Right now I'm leaning towards Mori, but who knows.
Girl in the Gore: It's funny, because when I wrote that, I was like "Everyone is going to take this way too perversely… I should change it." But then I said screw it and left it how it was LOL
TamakiFanGirl: Tamaki was a little harsh, but he had the best intentions. He loves Haruhi blindly, and Tamaki felt he needed to protect her. I'm also having the same issue. I could see Alexa with all of the hosts, really, except Honey.
Guest: Unfortunately it did cause some big problems, luckily though, our girl is strong and I promise you she's going to Pheonix the crap out of this… What do I mean? She's going to rise from the ashes, 1000x better than she was before.
Guest:Yay! I'm so glad! :]
Kaori-Anna: I wonder what Honey's reaction is going to be… especially now not only has Reiji forced himself upon her… he's gotten her fired, too! I promise you the Host Club will definitely have something to say about all of that. Lucky for Tamaki, Reiji is smart and he knows that Tamaki would easily wiggle his way out of an assault charge; plus he feels super guilty. So he wont be pressing charges.
Chalice13: Trust me, her brain didn't shut off. She just knows theres a time and a place to let him have it for everything she thinks he's doing wrong. It's coming… soon. I'm so glad you feel like the characters are cannon and I'm sorry that there had to be that little bit of abuse there, I felt the story needed it to push it along. I have a HUGE fluffy plot twist coming up soon and something drastic had to happen in order to make the fluffiness possible. And don't worry! The other Hosts will be reacting soon.
AnimeBestie: I am so glad you loved this story and I'm also glad you were picking up on some of my subtler hints throughout the earlier chapters. I try to foreshadow as much as possible, sometimes I think I do it too much! Tamaki did seem somewhat like a stalker, didn't he? But that's his personality. He stalked her all through high school, remember? When she went on the date with Hikaru, when she went to the supermarket. He's basically one big lovable stalker LOL! Kyoya is coming back, he's keeping his distance for a reason. I'm so glad you love it and I'm always happy to have another loyal fan. This chapter was for you :]
Angelic123: Everyone has their opinions, though I'm with you. I'm in love love love with this story so I think anyone who hates it is dumb ;]
Tyler: I'm glad you're loving the story and I'm sorry you don't like Alexa. She's actually one of my favorite OCs I've ever written (with the exception of Masuyo from one of my Sailor Moon FF. Actually, they're pretty much the same person so….) But I respect your opinion and thank you for your honesty. Unfortunately though, Alexa is a big part of the rest of this story and she will be sticking around. I hope you continue to read, though!
As always, you are an awesome group of readers. You really make this fun for me and I cant wait to show you what's going to happen next! It's going to be a crazy ride.
I love you all!
Kaasuten