"And then she threw a water bottle at his head!" Kaoru's indignant shout was so loud, Haruhi nearly dropped the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder.
Haruhi scrambled for it, propping the fridge door open with her foot and juggling a carton of eggs in her other hand. "Sorry," she said once the phone was firmly back in position, "You lost me there – who did what?"
Kaoru sighed heavily, clearly exasperated she wasn't giving him enough of her attention. "My choreographer – you know, for my show? I told you all about it last week!"
"Oh right, I remember," she lied to forestall him spending the next thirty minutes telling her about it in excruciating detail. Again. Last week she'd just ended up putting the phone on speaker and folded the laundry while he rambled on. She vaguely recalled enough of what he'd said to get the gist of it – instead of a 'boring' runway show he wanted to introduce his new line via something called a 'guerilla marketing' campaign. Why that somehow involved a warehouse, a dance battle, and high tech special effects was beyond her. "Why would your choreographer try to brain Hikaru with a water bottle?" She paused, considering. "I mean, other than because he's Hikaru."
"I don't know! That's what's so weird about it – I'd barely introduced them when she started shouting at him in Spanish and then, *BOOM,* water bottles were flying. Which sucks because ever since that J-POP video she choreographed went viral, she's totally trending. I was lucky to book her back in May before she got famous. Now I have to figure out how my brother pissed her off and get him to fucking grovel if he has to."
Stifling a snort at the likelihood of that happening, Haruhi finished putting away her groceries. "Maybe Hikaru's not at fault. It could be a misunderstanding." She tried putting an optimistic spin on it for Kaoru's sake.
"Somehow I doubt that. Not that I was going to say anything while you two were dating, but my brother's kind of a dog when it comes to women. Oh god!" He exclaimed, "He slept with her. That has to be it – I'm not sure when because she's from LA, but he slept with her and now I'm the one that's screwed. Shit. Sorry, Haruhi, I need to go kill my brother. Love ya!" He ended the call in a flurry of goodbyes and admonishments to talk again soon.
Shoulders shaking with laughter, Haruhi set the phone down on the kitchen counter. For six years she'd lived without the Hitachiin twins in her life, it was surprising just how much she missed them after only a couple months. The weekly phone calls and near daily emails they sent helped, but she still couldn't wait to see them again.
Hikaru had been right, what they had was more than friendship. They were family.
A loud thump sounded from the family room and she winced. She'd set Daiki to his usual Saturday morning chore of dusting – which in his case meant occasionally swiping a cloth over furniture while trying to sneak around the room as if he were a ninja.
She never should have let Honey teach him karate.
Speaking of chores... she turned back to the fridge and crossed 'grocery store' off the list magnetized to the door. Just the laundry left and she'd be done for the day. The nice thing about University was the summer break lasted well into September so she had two whole weeks where Daiki was in school and she wasn't. With her internship as her only job, she'd been able to catch up on housework, spend more time with her son, and experience her first real break in six years.
Her phone chimed and incoming message and she darted for it. Reiko was a week overdue and she was expecting a summons to the hospital in any minute. But, no, it was just Kyoya, confirming her attendance at the next charity event his mother was throwing. She started to type a reply, then tossed the phone aside. She'd deal with it later.
It wasn't that she was avoiding him, not really. And she certainly wasn't doing it because of a stupid dream. Dreams were meaningless, just the brain's way of organizing the events of the day. There was no significance beyond that – she'd once dreamt a shoal of tuna had sprouted legs and were chasing her through the city. It didn't mean she stopped eating otoro.
If it hadn't been for Maria's insinuations, the 'dream' husband could have just as easily been the post man, or one of her study partners, or any random stranger she'd met on the street that day. It was ridiculous that it was taking so long to banish it from her mind. She supposed she should count herself lucky, because it could have been a sex dream and wouldn't that be awkward. "God, that was a month ago, Haruhi," she murmured to herself, "Let it go already." Right, laundry. That's what she needed to focus on. Striding out to the foyer, she put her phone back in its usual place next to her purse where it would be easy to find.
Before she could head upstairs to fetch their dirty clothes, the doorbell rang. The high-tech visual security thingy that Kyoya'd insisted on installing showed a young man in a yellow-and-red uniform emblazoned with the name of a courier company. She recognized him from around the neighborhood, he was a frequent visitor. Apparently rich people didn't like the post office. Or maybe they thought their correspondence was always so important as to require same-day delivery.
Opening the door, she greeted him politely, and signed for the thin, cardboard envelope in his hand. After he'd departed, driving his van back out through the gate, she shut the door and examined her package. The sender's name was a law firm she was familiar with from work, strange they'd deliver something to her home. Even stranger it was so important it couldn't wait for Monday. Ripping the envelope open, she slid out a thick set of papers bound together by a binder clip. Little yellow tags poked out of it, which she recognized as markers for where the document would need to be signed. Weirder and weirder. Brow wrinkled, she started to read – easily parsing through the legalese.
One minute later, the packet slid from her trembling hands, falling to the floor with an ominous thud.
~oOoOo~
Nightblade, the world's greatest ninja, carefully studied his target. The king's chamber was surrounded by a moat filled with spikes and alligators and snakes and... and... acid and all sorts of other bad stuff. Sneaking around the edge of the outer wall, he considered the long building next to the palace. If he climbed up the back and rolled over the roof, he could just stretch over enough to reach his goal without falling in.
He nodded to himself. It was a great idea! General Takeru couldn't have come up with a better one himself.
Before he could try, the wall gate flew open and he froze, widening his eyes to look like he was behaving properly. The head palace guard would be mad if she knew he'd been about to put his feet on the couch so he could dust the coffee table without touching the floor. She'd scold him.
"Dai-chan," Mama said, calling him by the name Nightblade used when pretending to be a normal boy, "You can finish this later. Right now I need you to do something for me."
Daiki obediently put down the cloth and looked at her, a twisty, sick feeling forming in his stomach. Mama didn't look right. Didn't sound right. She had a big smile and was speaking with the 'happy voice' again. The one that meant she didn't want him to worry.
He started to worry.
"I need you to go upstairs. I've put your suitcase on your bed, I want you to pack clothes and toys for a few days. We're going to go on a trip."
"But… I have school. And I'm supposed to go to Ru-chan's tomorrow to play. And…"
"Dai-chan, stop arguing!" Mama snapped, her smile turning into a line with teeth. "Just… just do what I said, alright?"
He nodded, the knot in his stomach getting worse. With slow, halting steps he left the room and walked up the stairs, aware of Mama watching him the whole way. As soon as he turned the corner out of sight, he leaned against the wall and strained his ears. It was quiet for a minute, and then he heard her talking to someone on the phone, but it was too softly for him to catch the words. When her voice stopped and her footsteps thudded on the steps, he bolted into his room.
The red suitcase she'd bought for him for when they'd moved to Tokyo was open on his bed, some clothes already in it. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mama reach the top of the stairs and turn her head towards his room. He went to his dresser, pretending to gather things to pack. When she nodded to herself and headed into her room, partly closing the door behind her, he dropped the clothes in his arms onto the floor and grasped his head in his hands.
He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. It felt like something was winding around his chest, squeezing it tight. Like the Boa Constrictor he'd seen at the zoo eating the mouse. Everything felt really, really, really, wrong.
And he didn't know what to do.
'Cause he wasn't a ninja. Or a superhero. He was just a kid and he didn't even know what had Mama acting funny. Hands clenching into fists, he closed his eyes. "Papa, Ojii-chan, Obaa-chan – I'm scared. Help me!"
The answer came so fast his eyes snapped open, making the snake release its grip and his stomach settle. He remembered now. 'The first mistake is trying to handle it yourself.' That's what Papa would tell him. Some problems were just too big, they needed a grown-up.
Knowing what to do now, he walked on tip-toe to his door and peeked down the hall. The door to Mama's room was mostly closed. She was moving around her room, but wasn't looking up, wasn't watching him. Just in case, he closed his door a little so she couldn't see in. Taking a deep breath, he waited until the next time she disappeared from view and padded out into the hallway, moving as quick and quiet as a bunny, just like Uncle Honey had taught him.
Once he hit the stairs, he sped up, taking them so fast he was almost jumping over them. His eyes darted around the entry until he found Mama's phone on the table, right where she usually left it. She'd shown him how to use it, just in case, and he pushed the button that listed all her friends. He knew how to read Ojii-chan's and Shima's names, but they weren't who he needed. Screwing his eyes tight, he tried to remember the kanji his uncle had shown him. There were three characters in the name, the first looked like a man sitting on a chair under a house. Opening his eyes back up, relief washed over him when he found the character on the list and he pressed the 'call' button as hard as he could.
~oOoOo~
Kyoya's fingers continued to fly uninterrupted over his keyboard when the phone rang, only stilling when he glanced down and saw the caller ID. A frisson of warmth burst in his chest, bringing an unguarded smile to his lips.
Haruhi had finally stopped avoiding him.
She'd been subtle about it, but he picked up on it all the same - the delayed replies to his messages, the excuses she made to not meet him for coffee, the scurrying off to socialize with others at parties. He just wished he knew why. He hadn't done anything recently to upset her - she was refreshingly straight-forward about letting him know when he'd pissed her off.
The fact she didn't play the 'I'm-mad-but-won't-tell-you-why-or-how-to-fix-it' game like other women was item #12 on his list of why he loved her.
There had to be a reason other than anger for her skittishness around him. If he'd had a more optimistic nature he'd think… But, no. It was too soon – she'd only just started to stretch her wings. Just begun envisioning a future for herself that didn't include Tamaki. And the woman was dense as a rock when it came to romance (item #15. The list wasn't prioritized). It had taken her almost a year to realize her feelings for the Host King when to everyone else they'd been obvious from the start.
Besides, Kyoya hadn't even begun to court her properly, wasn't yet in a position where he could. Another man would have rushed things, fearful of losing her to someone else, but he was patient and had faith in his plans. A month ago, he'd started laying the ground work. He'd let the seeds germinate for a while longer then, if things hadn't yet moved in the direction he desired, he'd start dropping stronger hints. By his calculations, things should come to fruition by next spring. A year or two after that, he'd be able to pursue her openly - without raising questions he could never answer. Not without risking her hatred.
Others might chafe at the delay, but not him. He'd waited this long, what were a few years more?
"Haruhi," he answered the call, a teasing lilt to his voice, "To what do I owe the plea…"
"Ootori-ji?" The thin treble, wavering like it was on the verge of tears, sent a lightning bolt of pure ice lancing through him.
"Daiki-kun? What's wrong? Tell me!" Kyoya was out his apartment door, down the hallway, and pressing the button for the elevator before he'd finished the sentence.
The tiny, hiccup-y sob on the other end of the line had him clenching his fist to keep from pressing the button again. What the hell was taking the elevator so long? He cast his eyes at the exit to the stairwell, dismissing the idea as soon as it crossed his mind. Even with the unacceptable delay, the lift would get him to the garage faster than racing down sixty flights of stairs.
"It's… it's Mama. She…" Another hiccup cut off the rest.
The doors opened and Kyoya stepped inside, hitting the 'garage' and 'close door' buttons nearly simultaneously. "Shhh… I need you to calm down. Take a breath and tell me what's going on, okay?"
A shaky inhale, then a whispered, "'Kay."
Keeping his voice low and soothing, letting it be an anchor the child could hold on to, Kyoya guided Daiki through explaining the situation. It took the length of the elevator ride, and the boy's account was jumbled and interspersed by sniffles, but Kyoya was able to grasp the most important detail – Haruhi was running away.
Again.
But this time, he wouldn't let her. Not after all it took to bring her home.
The elevator reached the garage and he emerged from it before the doors had fully opened, striding briskly towards his car. "You did good calling me," he soothed the frightened boy, "Now, hang up the phone and go continue packing like your mother said. I'll be there soon."
"But…" Daiki protested.
"Daiki-kun," Kyoya admonished firmly, "You need to be a good boy and obey your mother. Don't worry her anymore that she already is." He was in his car and backing up in record time. "You've done your best, now let me handle things, all right?"
"All… all right, Ootori-ji. But… get here soon? Please?"
Kyoya floored the accelerator and reigned in hard on the panic thrumming through him, transmuting it into resolve. "I will. I promise. Whatever is happening, I'm going to fix it."
~oOoOo~
Kyoya let himself into the house with the spare key he'd obtained back when he'd rented the property for her. He'd kept it in case of emergency. He felt this qualified. Daiki was sitting on the stairs, clutching his stuffed Tanuki like a talisman. On seeing the door open, he popped to his feet and flew at Kyoya, hugging him around the knees.
Kyoya ruffled the boy's hair reassuringly. "Is your mother upstairs?" Daiki nodded an affirmative. "I'll go talk to her. Why don't you go and watch TV?" He didn't want the boy to overhear anything that might scare him further.
Daiki hesitantly released Kyoya's legs but didn't move away. Kyoya crouched down, looking him in the eye. "Everything will be okay. Can you trust me to protect you and your mother? To keep the two of you safe?"
The boy gnawed on his bottom lip, considering. Making his decision, he threw himself forward, clutching Kyoya around the neck in a fierce hug. "Thank you, Ootori-ji," he whispered.
Kyoya awkwardly returned the embrace, patting Daiki's back reassuringly. Silently, he amended his earlier resolution – he wouldn't let Haruhi run away and he wouldn't let her take this boy away from him either. They were both too precious to for him to easily let go of.
Releasing his grip, Daiki headed into the family room, closing the door behind him and Kyoya walked up the stairs. He paused at the half-open door to her room, observing her. She bustled between her closet and the bed, stuffing items at random into the open suitcase lying on it. Not wanting to startle her, he knocked softly to get her attention before pushing the door open.
She seemed unsurprised at his appearance. "What are you doing here? Spying on me again?" The Haruhi who could be so unperturbed in the face of almost anything was gone. The woman before him was so upset she was shaking, a frightened being operating on animal instinct, and masking it all under a thin veneer of bravado.
"Daiki-kun called me. He was scared." He saw her wince at that, regret fliting across her face. "Haruhi," he asked gently, like a man confronted with an enraged bear, "Let me help. Tell me what's wrong."
"What's wrong?" She barked a laugh tinged with hysteria. Picking up a stack of paper from the bed, she threw it at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. He pressed his hands against the pages to keep them from falling to the floor. "What's wrong is that I trusted you! I believe you when you said it would be okay! But I knew! I knew something like this would happen. I should have run when I had the chance!" Haruhi resumed pacing her room like a caged tiger, stalking to the dresser and tossing through it to find more clothes to take with her on her flight.
Kyoya clutched the document she'd flung at him, turning it over so he could read it. It took a minute to parse through the overly-complicated legalese it was written in, but once he did the panic he'd been fighting slowly ebbed, replaced by a deep, profound, irritation. What the hell was Suoh thinking? It was much too soon for this, Haruhi wasn't ready. And to take it in this direction? It was rash, bordering on disastrous.
All those months of work Kyoya had put in, and the Chairman went and nearly ruined it all by jumping the gun.
"It's a custody agreement," Kyoya stated calmly, careful of stoking her fear any further, "For Daiki-kun."
"The Chairman wants to adopt Dai-chan, add him to the Suoh family register," she choked out, face twisted in anger, "The bastard even offers to make a living arrangement for me. As if I would sell off my own son!"
Kyoya flipped through the pages, processing the relevant details. "It doesn't seem that Yuzuru-san is trying to take him away. This implies the registration would simply be a formality. Daiki-kun would continue to live with you."
Haruhi stopped her pacing, turning to confront him, radiating as much anger as if Suoh himself stood in front of her. "That…" she snarled, pointing at the reviled document, "Isn't even worth the paper it's printed on. All that matters is who's register a child is on. This isn't the West; joint custody doesn't exist here. Daiki-kun can be his son or mine, but not both. Private custody arrangements are unenforceable."
"Then refuse," he suggested. It wouldn't solve the central issue, but it would give him time to talk with Suoh. To arrange a solution so she wasn't acting out of impulse, being driven by fear.
"Hah!" she scoffed, "You said it yourself, Senpai, 'the rich can make life very difficult for people who withhold something they want.' Well, I am not going to just sit back and let them have my son!"
"So, you're, what? Going to run away again." He couldn't keep the derision out of his voice. The first sign of trouble and she reverted to the girl who never asked for help.
"No," she replied, surprising him. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and resignation filled her eyes, but her hands were wringing together as vigorously as is she were squeezing water from a used dishrag. "I thought about it. It would be easier, but I've made promises. And I like my life now. Or, at least, I did – I suppose that's gone now too. I'm going to New York. We can stay with the twins for a couple of months while I figure out a strategy." Her lips twisted in a bleak smile. "Hell, maybe I'll marry Hikaru after all."
"Don't be foolish!" He hadn't meant to shout, but the thought of her running to the twins, to Hikaru, drove away all ability to remain level-headed. Haruhi's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, no doubt to shout back, but he put his hand up to forestall her. "You are smarter than this, Haruhi. Stop reacting like a mother and start thinking like a lawyer!"
His outburst seemed to stun her out of the state she'd worked herself into. Her shoulders eased back, and her arms dropped to the side. He lowered his voice, keeping it cool and dispassionate. "This agreement…" He lifted the document with one hand. "…Would put Daiki-kun on the Suoh family register but leave all other guardianship rights and responsibilities in your hands. In essence, day-to-day life for all of you would remain unchanged. Ask yourself, then, what benefit would Yuzuru-san gain from it?"
Haruhi inhaled deeply, steadying her nerves. The cloud of terror that had enveloped her from the moment she opened the envelope was beginning to dissipate. The way Kyoya framed his question allowed her to step back, to look at the situation objectively, as if it were a nothing more than a homework assignment to solve. Involuntarily clenching her jaw, she struggled to remember the relevant lectures.
"Nothing, except…" Facts she'd filed away bubbled up from the storage area in her brain where she'd shelved them. The family register underpinned all of Japanese family law. It recorded not just lineage, but also status and proof of citizenship. It enmeshed an individual within a web of relationships that conferred both rights and responsibilities and dictated everything from who could receive a National Health Insurance card to financial support obligations due dependents to inheritance. "Except," she stressed, "For a legal connection to Dai-chan."
Kyoya gave her a small smile and chin nod, encouraging her to continue, and she knew was on the right track. Because the most important thing about the register was that the relationships on it were based on acknowledgement not blood – making legal paternity tricky when it came to illegitimate children.
Children like Daiki.
"If Tamaki hadn't died, we could have married, or he could have acknowledged paternity on his register," Haruhi said slowly, putting the pieces in their proper place, "Either of those would declare Dai-chan as Tamaki's son and Yuzuru-san's grandson. But he didn't and it's too late now. In the law's eyes, I'm Dai-chan's only family."
"The Chairman is still a young man," Kyoya stated, "But losing your only child unexpectedly is a strong reminder of one's own mortality. Legally, what would happen to his property after his death? What would happen to Suoh Enterprises?"
"At least a portion is reserved for his wife," she answered promptly, "That's how Shizue-san managed to retain control after her husband's death. Since he has no living children, parents, or siblings, he should be able to will the rest, either outright or in trust, to whoever he wants."
Kyoya lips twisted up in an ironic half-smile. "Ah, but that is only technically true. We are talking about a great deal of money and control of a family-owned conglomerate that controls half the financial sector in this country. Yuzuru-san's father had two sisters, both of whom spawned broods of their own. Were he to attempt to leave the company in the hands of anyone who is not a clear, legal successor, his cousins would bring lawsuit after lawsuit against the estate to try and take control."
Haruhi nodded thoughtfully. "You're saying that this isn't about gaining guardianship of Dai-chan, but about making sure he can be named heir."
"It is the logical conclusion." Kyoya shrugged. "Certainly you've been around the wealthy long enough to understand just how important legacy is. Daiki-kun is a Suoh by blood, the son of the last heir, and a beloved grandson of the current head. Chairman Suoh won't allow him to be effectively disinherited due to a technicality nor will he, as a CEO, risk a legal quagmire that could last years and cost the company billions."
"And adopted children are considered fully legitimate successors. If he wanted to leave everything to Dai-chan, it would be an unassailable legal position." She let out her breath in an angry huff. "Shitty rich people! Like that's the important thing, here? Dai-chan doesn't need the money, and he doesn't need his entire future decided for him because of a… because of an accident of birth!"
"It wasn't an accident, though, was it? Not entirely," Kyoya rebuked her sharply, "You knew what getting involved with Tamaki would eventually entail. Don't be angry simply because Suoh wants to secure what should have belonged to Daiki-kun from the start."
Guiltily, she recalled who she spoke to and how much his own 'accident of birth' had impacted his life. "You're right," she admitted, the fight draining out of her, "And I suppose it helps some to understand what's driving him to take this step." She ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated at the lack of an easy solution. "But I can't agree to this, however well-intentioned. Dai-chan is MY son. I won't let anything change that!"
"I agree. I promised you back in Sapporo that I wouldn't let that happen and I'll put all my resources at your disposal to fight it if necessary." Kyoya did his finger-pushing-up-his-glasses routine followed by the light-glinting-off-the-lenses-so-you-can't-read-his-eyes trick. "But, now that you're thinking instead of reacting, maybe you can see a path forward that would meet both your needs."
She blinked. What was he talking about?
She blinked again. A child could only be the son of one family, could only have a legal claim on the parent whose register he was on. How could she and Suoh possibly come to an agreement that conformed to the law? It wasn't like she could (or would) marry him so they'd all be on the same record.
She blinked a third time. Oh shit! Realization hit her like a runaway truck, making her knees buckle, and she gracelessly sat down on the bed with a thunk.
Kyoya, the ass, smothered a laugh. "I see you've found it."
Mentally, she ran through all the statutes, all the legal precedents, seeking a flaw and finding none. "It would work, assuming we're right about what he wants. But… do you really think he'd agree?"
"I do, especially if he knows you're prepared to fight and that you aren't without supporters. He won't want a prolonged legal battle that would only result in alienating Daiki-kun and gaining the animosity of not just me, but both the Haninozuka and Morinozuka heirs and quite probably the entire Hitachiin family." Drawing up next to the bed, he dropped to one knee in front of her and took both of her hands in his. It startled her. Kyoya was the least 'touchy' of all the former hosts, including her. That, along with his expression, let her know just how serious his next words were. "Haruhi, before you decide anything, make sure it's what you want. You have no idea just how difficult it will be, how much pressure you'll be under. It will change everything about your life. If it were up to me, I would keep you from it. In the long run, fighting would be better. For you."
Closing her eyes briefly, she murmured a plea in her head. 'Mother and father in heaven, what should I do? Is this the right path?' A feeling of peace rushed through her as the answer came back loud and clear. Things would change, but she knew who she was and nobody could take that from her. The woman she'd become was strong enough to make any sacrifice, shoulder any burden, to protect her son. To not let him be suffocated by the world that would seek to claim him.
And she knew, without even having to ask, it's what Tamaki would want her to do.
"I'm sure." She jerked her chin in emphasis. "It's not what I would have wanted for myself, but I think it's the best for Dai-chan, and for Yuzuru-san. Family... family was important to Tamaki, I can't dishonor his memory by fighting. Not if there's a better way. I'll talk to Yuzuru-san, convince him this can work. But first," she qualified, "I'm going to need a really good lawyer."
A/N: So this is it, the key piece in Kyoya's end-game. I'm sure many of you are able to figure out from the not-so-subtle clues dropped just what it is. If not, all will be answered in the next chapter (which might be shorter than normal).
I am not an expert, and I glossed over some details, but the family law mentioned here is as accurate as I could get after combing through way too many law journal articles. Any mistakes should be considered a result to the unique alternate reality that is the Ouran-verse. Since both time and physics apparently work differently there, I'm pretty sure the law can too.
Thanks to everyone who has favorited or followed and big, bear hugs to those who've left reviews. Storz, xxxSerinaxxx, Bard of Innail, Lady Kaelas, and Burashi – you guys are the best! More progress on the KyoHaru front coming soon.