Just a reminder, I still don't own Ouran. Only the Quints and Kyle. Plus a few more OCs...

(Sara's POV)

Just when I thought I couldn't have any more issues...

"Well, I honestly think that daffodil would suit your bridesmaids. It looks so lovely on most people."

This woman has been prattling on for the last half-hour about the colors for the wedding that is becoming increasingly more permanent by the day. So far, I have made no comment because I was hoping my silence would alert someone that I was not in the slightest bit pleased about what was being decided. And I meant apart from pick out colors that my sisters would not appreciate; maybe someone would glean that this marriage was not what I wanted.

Why couldn't Suzette have come? She would have shut this woman up and picked far more flattering colors and dress designs in addition to arranging a bouquet in less time than she spent discussing the trying and difficult decision of having to choose between pink and salmon.

"OH! But you must have roses! That may clash with your color scheme-"

It took all of my self-control not to yell at her to shut her mouth and allow me to get my far more qualified sisters to help me with the wedding details. But that would only indicate that I actually cared about my wedding which meant seeming like accepting my engagement to my best friend's crush. So instead I stayed silent.

Finally, her ridiculous monologue ended and she trained a smile at me. "What does our lovely bride think?"

That word finally made me snap. I smiled as sweetly as I could. "I think I am in need of a new wedding planner." And as she stareed wide-eyed at me, I stood and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your time, but I am not interested in these designs and I don't believe you read the brief I sent over."

Her lips opened and closed but nothing came out so I assumed that meant I could make a clean exit. Well, at least until I had to break the news to my father that I had fired yet another wedding planner.

I allowed myself to smile when I remembered that I had plans for lunch with him, Tamaki, and his father. That seemed like the perfect time to announce this one's incompetence and try to argue for Suzette and Susanna to plan my wedding decorations and dress.

Father has been more understanding of me lately since I threatened to tell Tamaki where my bruises came from. Unlike me, the Suoh family could see to it that he does not make a profit off of them. It was rather risky to threaten him this early on, but thankfully it worked in my favor. He couldn't pretend to know the first thing about me so he didn't know that I would be too proud to ever tell him such a thing.

As I exited the building I caught sight of my reflection in the glass doors.

Mother claimed I had become more beautiful since the break from school started. And though I was not usually a vain person, I must admit it was true. Now that Suzette and Kyle have chipped in to do paperwork the bags that used to reside under my eyes have all but disappeared. My hair is shinier and a more vibrant shade of brown and if I looked closely I could see the faint highlights left from the many trips to pools over the break. For some reason every time I had visited my siblings they wanted to go to a pool.

Lastly, I looked at the pale and most importantly clear skin that has been free from any marks since my last bruises faded. I no longer needed to dress in layers and I was free to wear a tank top and shorts without worrying about who would see what. This was the change I was most proud of...it was also the one I fear will not last long.

That fear was reflected in my deep blue eyes which normally betrayed no emotion besides coldness. I quickly glanced away after that and allowed the door to swing shut behind me.

Now was not the time to be admiring myself. I had more important matters to attend to. And one of them was making sure that I spoiled Kyle's daughters more than he would like me to. The toys I had ordered should be arriving in an hour or two and whatever ones they do not care for woud be placed in a box for charity. I knew that Julia would hate me for it but I have never had younger siblings to spoil and to be quite honest, I have always had a soft spot for Kyle's daughter Mia. Or perhaps just children in general.

I double-checked the order on my phone as I entered the open door of the limo waiting for me. "Thank you." Ah, good. According to the tracker, it was arrving right on schedule so I should text Sakura a reminder in case she has engrossed herself in a book or texting Mori yet again. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes when I was reminded of her not-so-secret suitor. Father would never dream of upsetting Mori's family so I had advised Mori to get his father to arrange a meeting with my father if he wanted to continue his relationship with my sister. I was afraid if he waited too long someone else would make an offer my father would not refuse and I would be powerless to stop it.

"To the restaurant, ma'am? Or should we stop at a place for you to change?" My driver's voice interrupted me from my thoughts.

Oh, right. The lunch should be starting in an hour. "Could we possibly make it home?"

"Not if you wish to be on time."

"Very well. We will stop somewhere close." I hoped that lip gloss would be tolerable enough for both my father and Mr. Suoh because I would not be touching make-up.

"You look lovely, dear." Mr. Suoh smiled brightly at me before lifting my hand to his lips. "You really do look wonderful in that necklace."

Of course, he would say that. Tamaki had given it to me just before I left for America so I assumed he or his father picked it for me. I was grateful that one of them had good taste because if it were horrible looking I would not wear it for any reason. Although I was more impressed with my dress. Suzette had designed it for me and it was a pain to put on, but I loved it anyway. It was a shade darker than my eye color and used two wide straps to create sleeves big enough to cover my shoulders as soon as I tied them behind my neck.

I nodded slightly and gave a tiny smile of my own. "The necklace is what's wonderful, not me."

"You're wrong," Tamaki said with wide eyes as he appraised me. "Did you change your hair?"

This was a new development. "No. I do have some unfortunate news though. The latest wedding planner has proved to be a disappointment. It is getting to the point where I believe my sisters could do a better job than any of them combined."

Tamaki nodded his consent. "If they are up to the challenge they can. Actually, father do you mind if we speak alone?"

Mr. Suoh looked between us with some hope in his eyes. "Of course. Miss Kobayashi, I will inform your father of our plans when he arrives." I gave him a grateful smile before turning my attention back to my fiancé.

"What was the looking me over for?" I demanded as quietly as I could. "You're not supposed to show any interest ever!"

"I hate to tell you this, Sara-san but when you actually put some effort in you do look-" He gulped. "Nice." When I gave him a dubious look he started to rant. "It's partly your fault too! My father couldn't stop commenting on what a catch you were as you walked towards us! Of course, you could never look as cute as my precious Haruhi but you still look attractive and-"

I put up my hand and sighed. "Tamaki...really. You know how dangerous it is to mention her name when our fathers are together." When his expression changed to one of terror I quickly added, "I'm sure no one heard, but you best remember that for the future. How are you doing at brightening her image?"

"I'm trying to talk about her without sounding too-" he waved his hand to replace his words and luckily for him I knew exactly what he meant. "But he only nods and then starts talking about you."

"Then have you had any luck finding what our fathers could possibly be merging on?"

He shook his head. "No," he replied sadly before brightening again "but maybe if we ask Kyoya-"

"Absolutely not." I snapped before crossing my arms. "I thought we went over this. If Kyoya learns of our marriage in the process my side of the plan could be ruined." My plan involved using his brother to gain access to medical files, mine and my sister's to be exact. If what I learned over the break were to become public that alone could persuade him to back off. But I required more evidence and honestly, a better plan.

A better plan would have been to have Kyoya find the files I needed. But he would ask questions and try to get more involved and pester me when I wasn't even sure of myself. Maybe Kyle was right. Maybe I was moving too fast.

Plus, for some reason, it bothered me to think of having that damned Otori know; it made it seem more real. More real than it was when I was even in meetings for planning the damned wedding!

Tamaki pouted. "But he's so good at finding things out!" He sounded like a toddler when he whined. Luckily I've trained him to be more serious in my presence because I tolerated nothing less, but occasionally he slipped back into his old habits.

With a pang, I realized that Haruhi would never try to change him as annoying as he was. She should be the one planning a wedding to marry him, not me. Although I still believed it was much too early to be planning a wedding when we both needed to finish high school. Why there was such a rush in this wedding planning, I couldn't even begin to understand.

To keep my mind off that subject I concentrated instead on his request. "I don't care, he can't know until the rest of the public knows. Understand?"

Slowly the blond nodded. "Fine. But I still can't find out anything so should I keep trying or-" he trailed off when he saw my 'really' expression. "I'll keep trying!"

"Very good. Now if anyone asks we were discussing flower choices. Which should not be too hard to figure out now." If I were honestly looking forward to this, I would have picked a purple flower combination of anemones, carnations, iris, and violets.

"Roses!" Tamaki immediately answered.

My thoughts drifted back to the wedding planner and I forced down a grimace. But my voice still came out in a grumble when I commented "Fine, but we're dying them purple."

"Can we at least leave some white?" Tamaki whined before I shut him up with a glare.

"Fine."

I hoped that if my father had arrived in the time we spent talking so he wouldn't be too suspicious.

(Sakura's POV)

My phone buzzed, alerting me that I had a message. My heart raced as I put down my book so that I could pick up my phone.

To my disappointment, it's not Mori. But I brightened when I saw it was from my sister and felt even happier when it said that the toys would be here on time. I hoped that Kyle's girls would like the ones we had picked. I never had the chance to spend time with younger children. I had always wondered what it would be like to have a younger sibling. Especially since I was considered the baby of my family.

My phone buzzed again. This time it was Mori. 'What are you thinking?'

I smiled as I re-read it. What are you thinking?

It was nice to have someone who actually cared enough to ask. My siblings were usually aware of my mood, but they didn't care like Mori does. Ever since the night of the gala, we had been in constant communication. Sara nearly had a heart attack when I told her of our hours of texting the next day. Then I had gotten a lecture on not telling her these things so she could have time to prevent our father from seeing our messages.

My blood boiled just at the reminder. What kind of a father would read all of his daughter's text messages and would think of using them against her?

I quickly typed a message back to Mori. 'Remember those girls I told you about? Their toys are arriving soon which means they'll be here soon too.'

Just as I hit the send button the doorbell rang. Those must be the delivery men. I got up and walked toward the front door just as a maid ran past me to open it. She might be more excited than I was. She was absolutely beaming with pride when Sara had instructed her to watch the girls when asked.

"Hello, sir may I take your coat?" Her voice sounded oddly formal.

"No, I am looking for my daughter."

I stopped walking immediately and glanced back toward the door to Sara's office. Would he notice if I retreated back there? Would that even be wise?

"Which daughter sir? Mistress Susanna is sleeping and Mistress Sara has been out since early this morning."

He cursed angrily. "Why?"

"I-I don't know sir. She only said not to expect her for lunch since she was eating with acquaintances." The maid's voice sounded meek.

"Why is he here?" Suzette's voice demanded from behind me.

I nearly jumped from fright. Once she was looking at me I shrugged. "He's looking for Sara." She nodded, seeming to understand, and then walked over to our father to handle that issue.

I only hoped that she would get him to leave before the toys arrived. He was not supposed to know about Kyle and his family staying here.

My phone buzzed again and I quickly pulled it out. Mori again. 'Will you be free for dinner? My family would like to meet you.'

Despite my worry, I couldn't help but smile. Maybe this means he has succeeded in convincing his family to consider a marriage between us. The only problem I have with this arrangement was that we have to hurry this formality along. It shouldn't have to be like this. I should be happy to spend time with him, getting to know more about his quirks and dislikes. We shouldn't have to get engaged so that our relationship can continue.

At least Mori has agreed to ask his father if we could have a long engagement. He and I have agreed to wait a year to see if our feelings remain the same before seriously considering marriage. I hope that Sara can find a solution before long.

"I SAID I WOULD FIND HER SUSANNA! NOW LEAVE!" My father's voice bellowed.

I tried not to shake from the sharp rush of fear and instead typed a quick message to Mori. 'What time?'

I finally got this done. No Kyle in this one, but don't worry he'll be coming in soon enough. Same deal, my schoolwork is huge so don't be expecting another chapter soon.

Tell me what you think!