Disclaimer: I have no rights over any Ouran characters.

Haruhi leaned back her chair and allowed a smile to grace her face as she looked around her office. Every morning she walked in here and every morning it felt like she was walking into a dream.

Physically, the office looked amazing. Zackarie did a great job of mixing calming, neutral tones with cozy, dark woods. The large picture window situated to the left of her desk illuminated everything wonderfully while giving a gorgeous view of the Tokyo skyline.

She still felt guilty for taking advantage of her friendships to finance this venture, but, truth to tell, she hadn't had much choice.

Mamoru had insisted on being a full partner, and even after being cut off from his father he was ridiculously wealthy. He'd been his grandmother's favorite and she'd been a prudent investor.

That, combined with Suoh Industries and Hitachiin International signing onto her client list before she went to get any loans, meant that she'd received amazing amounts of money at an insanely low interest rate.

Most of the money had been put into making sure they had the best technology to ensure the success of their cases and the security of their clients. Haruhi expected them to be able to pay it all back within the year, and that was if their income stayed at its current level. They could pay it back faster if they got more clients or had any big cases.

A knock on the door drew Haruhi out of her musings.

"Come in."

The door opened and Miss Watanabe stuck her head in.

"Do you need anything else Miss Fujioka? I'm about to head out."

"No, I can't think of anything that can't wait until Monday. Have a good weekend Miss Watanabe."

Miss Watanabe gave her a smile and a bow, "You too, Miss Fujioka. Thank you again for hiring me."

Haruhi smiled back, "How could I not? You have an amazing talent for organizing and managing. Besides, those skirts looked cold."

Miss Watanabe glanced down at her nice pin-striped dress slacks, "They were, these are much warmer."

"I would think so. Have a good weekend."

"Good night, Miss Fujioka."

After Miss Watanabe had gone out and shut the door Haruhi turned off her own computer and began packing up her things. With Miss Watanabe gone there was no one else in the office. Mamoru had gone to an afternoon meeting with a client across town. He didn't plan to come back to the office as he and Zackarie had a weekend trip planned to Okinawa.

Maybe one day they'd have interns, secretaries, and junior lawyers, but for now, it was just the three of them.

No matter how big they got, Haruhi wanted to make sure that they stayed as comfortable and close knit as they were now. She didn't want this to become another Tachiki and Sons.

Her bag packed, she stood up and headed to the door. There, she paused and looked back around the room, she still couldn't believe it was all hers.

It was extraordinary that her plan, brought about by pain and hopelessness, was becoming such a strong, beautiful thing.

"I really should thank Kyoya."

"Why should you thank me?"

Haruhi jumped and turned around. Standing in the small lobby of the office was Kyoya Ootori, impeccably dressed in a navy blue three piece suit, complete with gold cuff links.

"Why are you here?"

"I asked you a question first."

"True, but that was a question made to a comment that was not meant to be overheard by anyone."

"But, it was overheard, so my question deserves to be answered."

"I doubt you'll care for the answer."

"I don't care for many things, but that doesn't mean I prefer ignorance of those things."

"Really? You could've fooled me."

She turned off her office light and pulled the door shut before walking across the lobby to him.

He quirked an eyebrow at her, "I do admit that many things I said before were in ignorance. I regret to say that past actions by someone influenced my thoughts on you, thus causing me to make accusations without evidence."

"Is that an apology? Because if it is, it sure doesn't sound like one."

"An Ootori doesn't apologize. We just rectify accidental mistakes."

"Then I do believe this conversation is finished," Haruhi stepped around him and pulled open the office door, gesturing for him to leave.

He moved to exit, but paused in the doorway. He was less than a foot from her, and he leaned a little closer. She could smell his shampoo, a musky, cinnamon-scented concoction that reminded her of all those evenings spent working together, planning the campaign to save his zaibatsu.

"You know you don't want it to be finished."

She deliberately didn't move and locked eyes with him.

"That may be true, but I also know that everything must finish eventually."

He quirked an eyebrow, "That doesn't mean it has to finish now."

"Yes, it does. You insulted me and you said some nasty things about my father. That deserves a sincere apology. Otherwise this is the end."

She continued to stare into his eyes. She could see thoughts and emotions flickering through them. She wondered how someone that appeared so impassive could have such expressive eyes. Was it because he was used to his glasses hiding them?

A minute ticked by and Haruhi sighed.

Well, so much for that.

She opened her mouth to tell him to get out, but then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes again and started speaking.

"I will say that it was wrong of me to mention anything about your father. I honestly have no issue with him dressing in a gender that's different from his physical body. His actions and choices had no influence on our argument. I wasn't thinking and started saying anything I could to hurt you, like a small child. That was very wrong of me. I also regret making false accusations, especially when I should have known I didn't have all of the evidence and that certain things didn't add up. Like how a young lawyer ended up modeling."

"You can thank Kaoru, Hikaru, and Mei for that."

He gave a small sigh, "Yes, I know that now. Last night I was given a very long bout of exposition from our mutual friends. I believe it took them about seven hours to chronicle the past decade or so of your life and how it has intertwined with the Host Club." His lips twisted into a small, wry smile, "I also apologize for not recognizing you from that grocery store or Paris. I'm usually much better at recognizing and understanding people. All I can do is blame jet lag and the confusion my interest in you brought me, along with the worries about the zaibatsu."

She studied his face for a moment before nodding and saying, "Both apologies accepted."

She almost didn't see it, but his shoulders relaxed a bit upon hearing her words and his eyes seemed to dance.

"Thank you, now I have a question for you."

She gestured for him to get out of the doorway and he moved so she could lock up and start the security system.

"What's your question?"

"Would you go to dinner with me tonight?"

She took her time locking the door, giving herself time to think. She really wanted to say yes, but something held her back.

True, he'd apologized and she'd forgiven him, but she didn't think she'd forgiven him enough to date him. Just enough to stay in the same circle of friends. A relationship required trust. How often had her father told her that? It was hard to trust someone who had been so despicable to her.

And, besides, what if they did date and something like this happened again or they went their separate ways? His best friend was engaged to one of her friends. Her best friends were dating two of his friends. Their lives were much too entangled for her to take a chance and risk ruining things for everyone. This time he'd clearly been in the wrong, but what if next time it wasn't so clear-cut?

No, they were better off not going that route.

She slipped her keys into her bag and turned to look at him.

"No, I don't think I'd like to. But thank you for the offer."

He started to open his mouth to reply, but she cut him off.

"No, you can't change my mind."

She pushed the down button on the elevator.

"Can you tell me why at least?"

"I don't trust you."

They were silent as they got onto the elevator, but when they reached the ground floor and Haruhi got off she heard Kyoya say quietly, "I'll change your mind. I'll earn your trust."

She stepped off and then turned back around, catching the door with her hand so it couldn't shut.

She knew it was a stupid thing to do, but she couldn't help from offering the challenge.

She supposed there was still a part of her that wanted to believe the best of him.

"You can try."

"I don't try. I succeed."

She pulled her hand back and let the elevator doors slowly close, right before they snapped shut she said, "Not this time."

XXX

She knew he wouldn't give up, if she'd learned anything about him it was that after he decided to do something he didn't give up.

Still, he surprised her with his methods.

He was waiting for her outside of her taekwondo studio on Saturday.

He looked very relaxed in a pair of tight designer jeans and a fitted brown leather jacket as he leaned against a very expensive looking motorcycle. But, she could see past his posture, he was very aware of her and everyone else around her.

She heard a few of the other girls in the class gasp before whispering to each and giggling as they walked past him, shooting him appreciative looks.

A part of her was thrilled that he didn't even acknowledge these girls. Rather, he focused his attention on her, even giving her a small smile.

Annoyed, she walked right up to him and put her hands on her hips.

"Just what do you think you're doing here?"

"I thought I'd offer you a ride home."

She shot him a disbelieving look. Surely he had another plan.

He shrugged, "It's the truth. Now that I've decided to stay in Japan I had all my things shipped over from the States. My motorcycle arrived last night and I thought I'd take it out today. From my forced info dump I knew you studied here on Saturday, so decided to come by and offer you a ride."

She had a bad feeling about accepting, but really, she couldn't think of a good reason to say no. It wasn't like she was in a skirt or dress and, if she did say no, she wouldn't put it past him to say something to Tamaki. And then she'd have Tamaki asking why she didn't feel safe riding with his best friend.

"None of your friends ever mentioned that you rode a motorcycle."

"I started riding after moving to the States. One of my classmates at Harvard was really into them and got me involved. It's really freeing to ride one down the road."

He turned away from her and opened one of the bags attached to the bike, pulling out an emerald green helmet. He offered it to her.

"Well, can I take you home?"

She looked up at his face and saw the challenge in his eyes. He expected her to say no, or at least put up more of a fight.

Well, as Alianore had taught her, the first rule of battle was to do the unexpected.

"Okay," she said, reaching out and exchanging her gym bag for the helmet.

Kyoya looked startled, but got over it quickly, putting her bag where the helmet had been before.

While he did that she put on the helmet and zipped up her light jacket.

"Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?"

"No."

"Okay, just hold on tight and enjoy it."

He put on his helmet, got on the bike, took off the kickstand, and gestured for her to get on behind him.

She climbed on and stared at her hands for a moment, wondering where she was supposed to put them.

But then she heard him chuckle, "Put your arms around my waist. This bike is built for speed, so hold on."

As Haruhi put her arms around his waist she realized what his ulterior motive was.

The bike roared to life and a second later they were off, traveling down old narrow streets, dodging pedestrians. After a few minutes they pulled onto one of the main roads and sped up.

She found herself closing her eyes and holding onto him tighter. She was pressed up against his warm back, her knees brushing his thighs as her hands laced together over his abs.

Yes, she knew exactly what his ulterior motive was. She knew she should be annoyed, but she couldn't help but be amused by his gall.

She was expecting him to pull some of the classic romantic stunts, like send her flowers and try to trick her onto dates. Not offer her an innocent ride home that required her to spend a good twenty or so minutes intimately pressed against him. Not at all something that would bother her if she wasn't interested him.

But, as she was still interested in him, despite his atrocious behavior, well, it was a really good plan.

He truly was, as his old high school friends said, the Shadow King.

Author's Note: So, here's the next chapter. Yes, the talking to happens 'off camera', I found that fit best since every time I tried to write the scene it just pulled the focus away from KyoyaxHaruhi and didn't fit right. Still super busy here. We've gotten so much painted, but there's still so much more left. My hands still have paint on them, and I scrubbed them. I'm posting now since I doubt I'll be on my computer all weekend.

Enjoy! :)