True Manipulation Chapter 26: Who is the Puppet Master?

Haruhi's make shift study at Kasanoda Ritsu Osaka Residence

Around 10 p.m.

She only had two days until trial and he was coming at her with this? When the world falls around you, there isn't enough calming tea to rationalize what she needed to do. A prison break? Was he serious about this? They might be able to pull it off, but she would of course have to do all the work. Femme Fatale was back on, and so would the super secret Ootori blood, she now sported. When you are "accepted" into the Ootori family your blood is taken for emergency purposes to have on file. Ootori Yoshi never explained what is was for, and he had told her expressly that Kyouya was not to know. She had thought this was some weird rich people initiation ritual, but now she understood just the power she wielded. Something her new found enemy might not know she realized she had. She now had access to the men who worked for him. The people he confided in, his means to an end; an end to ultimately destroy Ootori Kyouya. Haruhi's thoughts turned to her husband.

Kyouya had refused her calls all day since this morning. Something was going on she could feel it. She didn't feel panicked, just a feeling that told her the shadow king was scheming again. It was rather unfair to ask him to stop locating her. No secret police had showed up as of yet, but she was not out of the storm. The wind was about to pick up, she just knew it.

She typed up release papers and "happened" to stumble across the society page of The Tokyo Times online. Two pictures captured her dull mind and had it whirling in no time. She may be tired, but when your sexy husband appears on the page attached to a pretty woman, you sit up and take notice of these things. A photo of a cool looking Kyouya had his arm latched onto by Naoko Yamalina. She felt a momentary flash of anger, before she calmly gave it a second look. The camera caught the flash on his glasses, so no one could really decipher what he was thinking. However, she had learned much about her sempai over years of studying his body language, and the tones of his voice. His arm was raised in this picture, indicating that the time she had a hold on his arm to not be very long.

The second picture drew her focus. It was a small picture of her, taken in front of the court house a few months before at one of her first trials. There were question marks floating around the box. The heading under Kyouya's picture read, "Reunion?" The article was a commentary on whether or not the recent numerous sightings of Naoko and Kyouya "together" meant that Ootori Industries was dropping the case against the former employee? The site also speculated on an upcoming divorce, and the whereabouts of the MIA Ootori Haruhi. She clicked on the video of 'exclusive content' that accompanied the article.

(5:00 PM Tokyo, outside Ootori Industries)

Kyouya was getting out of the car to go into Ootori Tower. A few reporters appeared to ambush him for questioning. "Mr. Ootori, we are unable to locate your wife for comment, do you know where she is?"

He tensely kept walking up the steps. "No comment."

"Mr. Ootori, are you currently in a romantic relationship with Naoko Yamalina?"

"No comment."

"Does your wife know about your alleged affair?"

Kyouya was as relaxed as he could be in the situation. He seemed to think there questions were ridiculous. "Is Mrs. Ootori still involved with Yukaza leader Kasanoda-sama?"

"No comment." She could tell he wanted to hotly deny that one.

"Will you allow a divorce?"

His nose flared. He turned back to them just before he would have reached the doors. They had struck a nerve. He faced the reporter whom asked the question. "Over my dead body!" He turned back around and shoved open the doors to the building.

The reporters looked stunned at a true reaction from Ootori Kyouya, and went wild trying to follow him inside. They were "encouraged" to leave the premises seconds later. Do not provoke the shadow king. The video cut off and Haruhi sighed. It was almost romantic how upset he became at the mere mention of the word divorce. She busied herself to finish the papers she was working on while practicing her very best Ootori signature. She hated to admit to herself it would be the first time she signed the name, on any sort of legal document. She had put off the changing of her social security, license, and bank records. She had always assumed it was a temporary name. She never had expected to get so much satisfaction of penning the name, Ootori.

It occurred to her sometime later that too many people were beginning to question her lack of presence in Tokyo. It was not good for people to become curious about the lives of the "rich and famous", the less information about a person there was, the more people tried to gain information. Her picture would be put out everywhere in hopes that someone might be able to say they had seen her. She needed to work herself into the limelight without really being exposed to danger. Ritsu's men were good, but they weren't really that good. She listened with contempt at the partying she could hear down the hallway. She began typing again but stopped when the hair on the back of her neck began to stand on end. She thought she heard a small thud. She tensed for a second, but no other sound followed it.

Her vision blurred, her heart started to race, and before she had time to think it over carefully she was hiding under her desk. The old feelings were hitting full blast: the hot oozing blood seeping into her clothes; those white, lifeless eyes staring up at her; the clench of her stomach in adrenaline. Air drew into her lungs to form a scream only to get trapped in paranoia. Her door opened, the slight squeak of the hinges. And nothing. She stayed deathly still, she knew in that moment that whatever, whoever this was, wasn't supposed to be in the house. Someone was in the room, but they made no sounds. No footfalls. Nothing. Most people would want to put up a fight and savor their journey to the end. Haruhi realized something important in her life in those few seconds. She was a coward, a person who hid while thunder raged outside. She could not move, could not act in order to save herself in this situation either. She would be found under her desk, doing nothing to stop this villain. Kyouya had married a coward, who has been mistaken for a strong, capable, woman. The idea sickened her.

"Takashi?"

"Ahh?"

"Where is Haru-chan?"

She could have cried with joy at these few simple words. She would not die. She would live to see another day. She had a new resolve and first she would need to unfreeze in order to move forward.

"Hmmn?"

Haruhi popped her head out from under the desk. "What are you two doing here?"

"Not safe." Typical Mori speak.

"Haru, this party is not good. If we were able to get in so easily tonight, anyone else could too. This, however, was our third attempt in the past couple of days, but we finally succeeded, and that is troublesome. "

"Where else could I possibly go?"

"Home."

"That is not an option as you fully know."

"Last place anyone would look."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Kyouya is currently residing there, and I think he would notice if we just strolled in."

"Can't stay here."

"I know this, let me think about. While I doing that can you go break up all this chaos down the hall?" Mori looked please on being able to do something physical.

"What about the Morinozuka/ Haninozuka strongholds?"

"What do you mean?" Huni asked.

"Don't you guys train the best security in the world?"

"Well we like to think so, but we have other businesses……….We would be more than happy to have an extended sleepover Haru-chan!" Huni eyed her warily; he placed a large emphasis on sleep. Mori had told him about her odd fainting spells. He did not think lack of sleep was curing that. Mori would see to that as well.

"I have some excellent news Haru-chan."

"Really…what about?" She stopped pacing, and looked at him.

"Your secretary has been trying to find you. Apparently Kyouya's lawyer has been trying to get in touch with you. The judge assigned to your case had to go on family medical leave. This is of course not due to external factors, just bad timing. The trial has been pushed back a week, while Judge Inaba Chie will be taking over. Your secretary was puzzled as to why another lawyer was calling you, so she told the whole office that you must be recuperating at some spa, because you had filed for divorce. "

Mori must have played the part of the interested ex lover to get all that information out of Chi. Apparently nothing was really a secret with that girl. Inaba could go either way; she was the youngest woman to serve as Judge in the Tokyo City Court System. Haruhi and she normally saw eye to eye on a number of issues, but there had been a few occasions where they had disagreed on legal interpretations. Things had gotten much more interesting.

Mori entered the room shortly after Huni's statement. The noise had quieted in the house and he held out a steaming cup of tea. She took it with a smile of thanks. "Things are looking up; I have a few more days to prepare for trial. I need to set a few things in place first. I need to call Tamaki and see if he has a house he can put Kashoda-sans family, preferably outside of Japan. I need to replace his old family with a body guard type, which no one will notice. I also need to call Fuyumi… not feeling well I think I need to…" She lurched forward before Mori caught her. There were a few things that families kept hidden. One of these things was that the Morinozukas were excellent potion masters. Morinozuka Takashi specialized in sleeping potions. Haruhi never knew what hit her. She would not be allowed to worsen whatever condition she had. All she knew was darkness. Kyouya would be most pleased.

**** Author's Note*****

In honor of finishing my coursework for my master's degree, and "The place called the forbidden city" (a CCS Fan-fiction I absolutely love) updating. I have decided to fulfill my authorial duties and write another chapter. I would also like to apologize for hypocritical nature. I realize that I am on fan fiction at least once every day getting mad that my favorite stories have not been updated. While I have a few minutes to read, I realize I could put these few minutes into updating more frequently. I do not want to commit myself now to a schedule, but I want you to know that I hear your pleas for an update.

I am very proud of this story so far. It is by far my most through and suspenseful work. It even surprises me, have you ever looked at your own work and said, "Did I really write this? It's pretty good!" I congratulate you for sticking with me. By the way my professors have told me that I apparently cannot write. Graduating with your professional writing degree means nothing, so as always, ignore grammatical and spelling errors. I will always believe content is more important than a few minor errors. That is all; please let me know your thoughts.