This is the story of a certain feared and most respected corporate lawyer Haruhi Ootori and her husband,the shrewdest businessman of all times- Kyouya Ootori!

Sunday evening:

Haruhi sat there on her couch, quite pleased with herself. She was able to do the laundry and all her household chores, not to mention all her assignments that were only due three weeks from now. This might ensure that she has plenty of time (which she never seemed to have with the endless hours of dealing with Tamaki's insanity and the escaping the twins' annoying pranks and clinginess and hosting some frivolous minded girls who all thought that she was a boy) for revision before the exam. To top it all she was currently having some quite time for herself, relaxing on her couch, drinking coffee and listening to music, without having to worry about her ever increasing debt for the first time ever since she started high school.

This was perhaps the only weekend that she had ever been able to rest peacefully ever since the day she stepped into the host club. It's not like she didn't like the host club, in fact she had the most wonderful time there with her friends who were a weird bunch to say nonetheless, but sometimes she liked to spend her weekend (especially after a hectic week that left her physically and emotionally drained) in the quite comfort and cosiness that her apartment offered. She was really surprised that there was not one phone call or a message or sudden popping of the hosts at her place for two whole peaceful days. Somehow she knew this was kyouya's doing.

"Take rest. You deserve it" he had whispered in her ear before pushing her towards Tamaki. She was really surprised when Kyouya intercepted and led her away across the dance floor though she knew it was to rile up Tamaki. She was graced with one of his genuine smile. She felt warm and secure dancing there in his arms and looking into his eyes that betrayed his emotions unlike his face. At that moment, she felt at peace with herself and she could tell from his somewhat loose and languid movements, as opposed to his usual graceful and crisp ones, that he was feeling the same way. She could sense genuine care when he had whispered those words but she knew that he would never admit it to as such. It was not only his actions and plans that were kept behind the shadows but also his kind heart. She really shuddered at the thought of what Kyouya might have done to keep the rest of the hosts from troubling her this weekend. The possibilities were endless but somehow she couldn't bring herself to pity her friends but she rather felt grateful to Kyouya.

But like every good thing Sunday had to end she had to return back to her crazy high school life at Ouran high school.

It was not that she didn't know the feelings that Tamaki and Hikaru had for her. It was just that she didn't want to deal with it right now. For the first time in her life she had opened up to the members of the host club. She was fond of each and every one of them in spite of their craziness or evilness as in Kyouya's case. She didn't want to ruin the friendship that she had with each and every one of them and their so called 'family' after all she was just a new addition to their club. So she pretended to be oblivious. She was really thankful that at least Kaoru was mature enough; he had moved on just to help his brother. She could tell that Hikaru had already come to terms with his feelings for her. Making him understand that the feelings she has for him was only platonic, would be one hell of a job. Tamaki was oblivious, but if Kyouya had anything to say about it, he was not going to remain that way for long. Kyouya pulled all the strings creating opportunities for Tamaki to stay close to her. She was both amused and annoyed with what Kyouya was doing. She knew that he was helping his best friend, that she respected but what she couldn't stand was that he was also trying to manipulate her emotions to make her fall for Tamaki. Every conversation between them was gradually veered towards Tamaki and he even created certain situations that would make her turn to Tamaki for help. She knew that Okinawa beach incident was one such incident because somehow she couldn't rule out Tamaki's sudden appearance asking for lotion as a coincidence. Well if he had thought that she would run screaming right into the arms of Tamaki, then he surely got the shock of his life. She had hoped that he would stop interfering after the incident. But he wouldn't be an Ootori if he just quit after a small backfire of his plan (he still did leave her there alone with Tamaki). Damn, he was persistent. That's why she had decided to drop a subtle hint. So, when he pushed her towards Tamaki, she turned her head and gave him a look that clearly said 'I know what you're up to and it is not going to work' knowing that Kyouya would catch its meaning.

She couldn't help but smile, Kyouya was the most confusing person she had ever met. Just moments ago she felt grateful to him, but now she felt like wringing his neck. At least she hoped that Kyouya would take the hint and stopped meddling. Little did she know that Kyouya had other plans!

He was practically exhausted after the Ouran fair. What with carrying on with the hosting even after the Tamaki's announcement of club's disbanding and amassing of the funds to buy his father's medical equipment company just moment before the Grand Tonnerre could get their hands on it, that was a close call. And speaking of close calls, so was keeping the host club intact in spite of the stupid decision taken by the hay brained Tamaki to leave them and go back to France with that Éclair girl.

Lying on the bed, he couldn't help but think how his life took a complete turnover this week.

He had never ever imagined that he would return the company back to his dad not even moments before he had bought the company. But when he had bought it, somehow giving all the managerial rights back to his dad seemed the only best thing to do.

For the first time in life he didn't weigh the possibilities, didn't calculate, plan or speculate, he just did what he wanted to do and that was technically handing over the responsibility of running the company to his father. He knew that this act alone was tantamount to declaring that he no longer wanted to be the heir of the Ootori zaibatsu. Perhaps it was not his aim in the first place; if it was then it would have given him the satisfaction. He was completely satisfied only when he gave up on it. Just this realization alone set him free. Free of everything that was binding him. This freedom made him the master of his own will.

He felt no regrets whatsoever in giving back the company to his father, somehow Haruhi's words when she defended him in front of his father seemed to hold more meaning then becoming the heir to the Ootori zaibatsu. What she had done meant a lot to him, and that's why he had wanted to thank her. Just as her words, her mere presence too was soothing to him. When he took her hand and led her across the dance floor, he felt at ease with himself. Something about just dancing there with her made him content. She was clearly exhausted, yet she danced with all of them just because she didn't want to ruin others' fun. That was one of the things he liked about her, she unconsciously tried her best to make everyone happy around her. Though her face showed fatigue her eyes reflected radiance that made her the natural host that she was. That's when he decided that he would grant her a quiet and peaceful weekend free of any antics or dramatics that the lunatics from the host club could spew. After all that she had done, she deserved some much needed rest. That was his way of thanking her.

Haruhi was one of the most intriguing person that he had ever met. She was so simple and predictable and yet, whenever he thought that he knew everything that was there to know about her she would go and do the least expected or the most unpredictable thing.

The beach incident at Okinawa taught him that much. He had planned the entire scenario. When Haruhi was brought to his room he immediately texted Tamaki asking him to come to his room to get some lotion for his sunburns which might mar his fair skin, if not dealt with immediately. He knew that Tamaki's vanity would bring him from the other end of his wing straight to his room within a few minutes. Then he set upon scaring Haruhi, which much to his amusement didn't go the way he expected to. At that moment, he realised that if she could see right through him and call on his bluff, then trying to manipulate her emotions would be a futile attempt.

So he made sure that both Haruhi and Tamaki spent most of the time together and expected them would fall in love due to mutual attraction and he could see that eventually Haruhi started shying away from Tamaki and blushed whenever he got near her. He was glad that his plan was going well, that was until he saw the look that Haruhi gave him when he pushed her towards Tamaki after the dance in the Ouran fair. It was a chiding look that one gave a child that repeated the same mistake from time to time. He instinctively knew that Haruhi was never oblivious to the feelings that Tamaki and Hikaru bore for her. She chose to rather ignore them; probably because she didn't want the host club to be torn apart because of her. He had given her a bow indicating that he had got the message.

She had indeed dealt with those two idiots in a subtle and clever way and heck she even fooled him into believing that she was falling for must have purposefully blushed or shied away from Tamaki because his attraction towards Haruhi had risen in the first place because he couldn't sway her with his overflowing romantic crap unlike the other girls. So, if she gave him what he expected, then he wouldn't bother her too much. In fact, that did work well, whenever she blushed because of him, Tamaki unconsciously felt satisfied and moved on to other things. No wonder he has been oblivious to his feelings for so long. But if she had done the same things to the twins they would have stuck to her like leeches, as both Hikaru and Kaoru got a thrill out of getting a reaction from others. So if she reacted to their antics they would immediately pounce on her, But as long as she remained passive, they would get bored and move on to other things.

And she called him the Shadow king! Now that he knew it, he couldn't wait for the week ahead.

Monday

Walking in the corridor, after her lecture in a some kind of a twisted group hug apparently squished between Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru, Haruhi couldn't help but sigh. The Gods weren't too lenient with her ever, were they? For all the rest that she had during the weekend, she was currently going through hell itself. "Hikaru for god's sake you've an injured arm" she yelled which came out as muffled squeak. The twins and Tamaki were literally hauling her from one class to another. As to How Tamaki sempai showed up after her every class and literally walked her to the next class, she had no idea. Well, maybe she had some idea. She was currently cursing her intelligent and scheming sempai under her breath, for it was his fault that Tamaki sempai had gotten hold of her time table. So the five minutes of her sane life between walking to different classes was snatched away from her as well.

The only consoling thing about her entire clammy situation (seriously how do they expect her to breathe if they squish her from all sides) was that Tamaki seemed his usual obnoxious and overbearing self, seemingly having forgotten the entire Éclair scenario. The only change in his behaviour that was apparent was that he had somehow stopped calling her his daughter.

The hosts were in the cafeteria during their lunch break. Haruhi sat or rather was made to sit almost squished between Tamaki and Hikaru. Kaoru was sitting besides Hikaru and the other hosts were sitting opposite to them. Haruhi couldn't keep her anger in check, the cause of all the insanity that she went through today was sitting across the table in his usual poised and elegant manner working on his laptop. She had expected him to quit helping Tamaki but apparently quitting was something the Ootori never did. Thus she was bent on getting her revenge.

Kyouya couldn't help but flinch from the amount of death glares he was getting from Haruhi. He knew that Haruhi would be mad at him for giving her schedule to Tamaki. But now that seemed an understatement, she looked like she was out for murder. As soon as he realised that Haruhi chose to ignore Tamaki's feelings for her in favour of the host club, he knew he had to bring the big guns down because Tamaki hardly had a chance of winning her heart when she turned out to be capable of manipulating people as well as Kyouya himself.

The way Haruhi was looking at him, made him uneasy. He had pretty much inferred from previous experiences that an angered Haruhi was a force to reckon with( which was also confirmed by her father, who still had a scar from an incident when he had forced her to wear a pink poufy dress that she didn't like and that was just when she was just eight years old!). 'Well, this could be interesting' he thought.

"Tamaki sempai, what are the classes that you take. I think it would give me a fair idea of what I can take during my second year. Do you have your schedule?" at this all the hosts turned towards Haruhi. Tamaki was glowing almost like a beacon and declared rather dramatically for Haruhi's tastes "anything to help my Haruhi" (Haruhi chose to ignore his statement). Kaoru was wondering as to why Haruhi would ask Tamaki about something related to studies when there was Kyouya. Hikaru just huffed and crossed his arms.

Hunny and Mori didn't like where this was going. After the Ouran fair incident Kyouya was determined to get Tamaki to realise his feelings and provide him with better opportunities at winning Haruhi's heart. Unfortunately the usually oblivious Haruhi seemed to have picked on this and was getting angrier at Kyouya with each passing moment.

"Ne Takashi, I somehow don't think Haru-chan was oblivious to the feelings others had for her, after all." Hunny whispered into Mori's ear. Mori just nodded.

She knew that Tamaki and Kyouya had opted for the same modules with a few exceptions. Kyouya had opted for advanced maths and physics classes, fortunately for her she knew where they were held. 'Now as soon as I gets my hands on it, I'll slip it into the locker of all the host club regulars saying that if they want the latest photo books of the hosts during Ouran fair, they must place an order before the opening of the host club personally with Kyouya and that should do the trick. Then he'll know at least to some extent what I have been going through since this morning.' She thought

As Tamaki was digging into his bag to retrieve his schedule, Kyouya's voice flashed menacingly "I wouldn't do that if I were you Haruhi".

'Busted.' She thought. 'Well there are other ways. It wouldn't hurt to try'

"Well really sempai whatever are you talking about?" Haruhi intoned as innocently as possible.

"If I find any girl … or for that matter anyone at all who's not supposed to be anywhere near my classrooms or the surrounding area , before, in between or even after my classes, you'll end up owing me more than you'll be ever be capable of repaying "

'No loopholes there, that's Kyouya sempai for you' she thought as she tried to find a way around what he had said in order to execute her plan. She casually took the time table from Tamaki and said "If I didn't know any better, sempai, I would say you are getting quite paranoid or is it that you are just afraid of taking a bit of your own medicine?"

At this Kaoru understood what Haruhi was playing at.

"What! Kyouya is sick? Oh mommy is sick! Why didn't you tell me before?" Tamaki whined

"That's a figure of speech, you stupid tono!" said Hikaru.

But the other three hosts were deeply listening to the conversation or rather battle between their shadow king and secret princess.

She packed her empty bento and got up with the schedule in her hand.

"Haruhi the break isn't over yet, where are you going?" Hikaru asked

Haruhi just waved her byes to gang.

"Haruhi ….." Kyouya said warningly. He knew she was certainly up to something.

"Just as you don't like being troubled, sempai, I don't like it either. But since you are dead set on making sure certain things happen, I am dead set on not letting those things happen. Though I am not dumb enough to incur the shadow king's wrath, I am also not above letting him get away with manipulating my emotions. Do keep in mind I have my own ways of dealing with things that are imposed upon me by the said Shadow king himself" she said

And added casually quoting him "After all I am an audacious commoner who has the nerve to enter the Ouran academy"

Kyouya closed his laptop and got up as well "audacious- yes, that you are Haruhi, but a commoner-no. A commoner doesn't challenge an Ootori you know" he said as she walked away.

Both Hikaru and Tamaki were baffled as to what just happened before them. Both the other three hosts knew what it meant. It was clear that Haruhi was no longer or rather was never oblivious to the feelings of Tamaki or Hikaru. She had moments ago openly declared to Kyouya that his attempts at making her fall for Tamaki were never going to work. Kaoru knew that he was going to have a hard time dealing with a rather dejected Hikaru once when this was all over. Sighing Kaoru dragged Hikaru slowly out of the cafeteria.

"I thought Haru-chan liked Tama-chan and that she wasn't aware of her own feelings, but now I think it was all acting to keep him at a distance. Tama-chan hasn't got a chance. Has he? And so does Hika-chan!" Hunny said to Mori as the twins and Tamaki left the table.

"But remember, Mitsukuni she did it so that the host club remains intact" Mori replied

Hunny bobbed his head happily, glad at the fact that the girl that he had began to care for as a sister was very much capable handling anything on her own even their very own shadow king. He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought "Ne Takashi! I think both, Kyo-chan and Haru-chan have more in common than what meets the eye. They are mature, intelligent, hardworking and ambitious and both of them care for their friends in their own ways. Do you think may be….?"

"They respect, admire and trust each other and also there is this understanding between them. What these feelings will morph into depends on them and time"

After the lunch break Haruhi was rather free from the clutches of the Tamaki and the twins. It was rather easy to get them of her back. All it took was just five minutes.

Hunny an Mori had caught up with 'twin-free' Haruhi as she was walking towards music room three. They had seen how Haruhi had apparently veered clear of trio that usually hung around her. Hunny was still laughing at the expression on Hikaru's and Tamaki's faces as they were completely smothered by fan girls. When enquired, he just said "Haru-chan. You can give Kyo-chan a run for his money".

Haruhi just smiled weakly knowing that no matter what she did,Kyouya would spontaneously come up one thing or the other to counter it. 'May be I can take Hunny-sempai and Mori sempai's help. Then Kyouya sempai's plans can easily be throttled' she thought. "Can you help me, sempai? "She asked "Kyouya sempai is not going to give up and I no longer can pretend. I don't want to pretend any more either. The fact is I don't see Tamaki sempai or Hikaru as anything more than a friend and my feelings for them is completely platonic. But the rate at which Kyouya sempai is manipulating situations, I might eventually end up as an unsuspecting girlfriend for Tamaki sempai for all I know."

"Oh don't worry Haru-chan, we'll support you and stick with you so that Kyo-chan cannot do anything and I am sure that Tama-chan and Hika-chan will not mind us being with you. So there'll be no problem what so ever" Hunny smiled and energetically dragged her into the music room three.

Kyouya saw Hunny dragging Haruhi into the music room. 'Strange she always came to club with the twins flanking her side. May be the twins weren't able to retrieve themselves from the trap Haruhi set for them' he thought. He was really impressed with how she dealt with situation. She had apparently slipped Tamaki's schedule into the lockers of the host club regulars along with a note saying that Tamaki had fallen into a depression and was under the impression that no one loved him. Which caused all the girls to go console him and offer him their 'love' right after every classes not allowing him to move at all in the first place, let alone walking Haruhi to her classes. He wondered as to what situation she had concocted for the twins. He didn't have wonder long as the twins walked into the room. The white cast that Hikaru had on his injured arm was almost black. Upon closer inspection he realised that it was filled with graffiti. 'So Haruhi had asked the girls to write get well messages on his arm. I have under estimated her' he thought.

"That's not funny you know" Hikaru was shouting at Haruhi

"So was the group hug, this morning" she said.

"Yeah I'd require quite an amount of quick setting Plaster of Paris and yeah if you could come over it would be quite helpful. Yes, yes I understand" Kyouya was saying into his phone.

"Why do we…" Hikaru started

"need Plaster of Paris?" Kaoru finished

"You'll see for yourself in a while" said Kyouya opting out of explaining the details.

"Oh no…." they could hear Tamaki's dramatic gasp.

"What is it now?" Kyouya asked rather a bit annoyed.

"Oh Kyouya what are we going to do. We haven't planned anything for the ladies today?"

"you mean, You haven't planned anything for them?" he asked and then turned to address everyone "today we'll have twin hosting"

"We can't…"

"Host all of them" as usual the twins finish each other's sentences.

"What I meant was that all the hosts will host the ladies in pairs much like what Hikaru and Kaoru do pretty much everyday"

Everyone was rather shocked not at the fact the it was not much of an idea (seeing as how Mori and Hunny and the twins always did this kind of hosting) but that such a dumb idea had come from their resident shadow king.

"Kyouya sempai has Tamaki sempai rubbed of you, which shouldn't be quite possible seeing as how much time he had spent with me lately than with you" came Haruhi's sarcastic comment for she knew if Kyouya had his way she would be paired with Tamaki.

At that instant Hunny caught on, he just twirled the unsuspecting Haruhi and said…. "Weeeee. We'll be a pair ne Haru chan"

Tamaki was gaping like a fish when Mori went and stood near him indicating that they both were going to be a pair.

It was clear as day to Kyouya that both Hunny and Mori were supporting Haruhi. So, he quickly changed tactics. "Actually I was going to let the ladies decide as to who they wanted to see paired together while we prepare Kaoru"

"Prepare me for what" Kaoru couldn't help but wonder. At this the door opened and a guy whom they recognised as the arts and crafts genius of the school walked in.

Kyouya just pushed kaoru and the guy into the back room and said "work your magic" and then went to open the doors.

The other hosts were still a bit shocked as to what was going on, when the girls filed in.

Eventually the girls were also confused as to why one of the hosts was missing "where is Kaoru" one of them voiced their thoughts.

"Oh my ladies, it really pains me to say that kaoru has been a bit dejected lately seeing as how you all showered Hikaru with your love today." Kyouya said pointing to Hikaru's cast. "He feels left out. So we had decided to cheer him on. But before that I must explain our theme for the day. As kaoru is depressed, he'll not be able to host along with Hikaru today" loud gasps and 'No' could be heard throughout the room. "Thus to compensate for inconvenience that we caused you, beautiful ladies, we have decided to do twin hosting today. You can take your time to see which two hosts you'd like to see paired and then vote. According to the votes the host will be paired." the girls started talking among themselves rather excitedly when Kyouya added "as Kaoru will not be hosting today, I'll be hosting as well to make this make this twin hosting feasible" When they heard that the usual passive host will be hosting them today, there was an instant uproar and immediately the girls began discussing their favourite pairs.

"What's with the Kaoru's dejected and I'm hosting crap" Haruhi said loudly to no one in particular.

Hunny couldn't help but suppress a giggle. The look on Haruhi's face was practically murderous. 'So she couldn't digest Kyouya hosting the girls. That's an interesting development' he thought. He looked at his cousin and knew immediately that his cousin was also thinking along the same lines.

Five minutes later Kyouya came up with chits and a box for the ladies to cast their votes. Finally when the votes were counted, Kaoru emerged out of the backroom. Everyone was shocked to see Kaoru's arm in a cast. "You see, too cheer Kaoru up we have given him a fake cast which is very much similar to his brother's. So, I want you ladies to go and prove your love for Kaoru is no less than your love for Hikaru through your heartfelt messages and graffiti"

Haruhi knew that if the delighted sequels coming from the girls were any indication than todays hosting was going to be talked about for a long time.

'So that's why he wanted the plaster of Paris. Leave it to that rich bastard to concoct a theme out of some random prank I pulled' she thought.

Kyouya cleared his throat to get the attention of the girls "well the pairing has been finalised. Apparently our guests here believe that our prince Tamaki's current depression would be shunned forever by our natural host's innate radiance" he looked at Haruhi while saying this and a smirk tugged his lips at her defeated expression.

'I dug up my own grave.' She thought.

"And they have decided that pair of Hunny and Mori sempai should never been broken for eternity. Thus I end up hosting along with my sweet kohai Hikaru here" he finished.

Haruhi heard an audible gasp which knew came from Hikaru 'who wouldn't be scared to death if they were made host together with the Kyouya sempai.' She the voting and she ending up with Tamaki didn't seem like a pleasant coincidence at all to her.

The hosts slowly shuffled along to their allocated places took their usual seats. Kaoru was made to sit where Kyouya usually sat. Girls approached him one after the other and wrote messages, drew doodles and signed on his cast telling him how much they loved him. He couldn't help but and sigh when he saw Hikaru.

Hikaru was extremely conscious of sitting next to Kyouya. Somehow without his younger twin he felt rather alone. Kyouya on the other hand was at ease with himself.

"So Kyouya-kun, do you like our decision of paring you with Hikaru-kun" asked one of the girls.

"Oh absolutely. I am indeed honoured that you'd pair me with such a valiant host who had fought with time and destiny to bring back our beloved prince. His injured arm is a proof of his valour"

Haruhi couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of Hikaru sitting there and gawking at Kyouya. What Kyouya had said and the way he had said it made Hikaru look like a heroic samurai fighting for something that he wanted to protect.

She could hear Kyouya say "my princess, I would love to describe what Hikaru had done in great detail, but somehow I feel that I would shun his glory if I do that. You should ask the hero himself to narrate it while I stay by his side and when he is recounting the events, I shall bask in his valour"

She knew that now as Hikaru took the lead from Kyouya, all he had to do was just lounge there and pretend to listen. For some strange reason she felt relieved and focussed on the task at hand, escaping Tamaki's bear hug.

Kyouya decided to see how Tamaki was faring. He could see that he had smothered Haruhi in a bear hug and he could catch only certain words that he said amidst the excited squealing of the fan-girls. He couldn't help but feel slightly annoyance at this. He thought 'he has a lady worth living for in his arms and all he is doing is to ditch his usual romantic crap on her as well. How does that make her any different from the frivolous fan-girls surrounding him? It is no wonder that Haruhi never fell for him. She's too sophisticated and practical for that moron.' But he wanted Tamaki to be happy, after all it was thanks to Tamaki that he felt like he was living again. At least he owed him this much.

Kyouya's longing expression as he looked at Haruhi and Tamaki didn't go unnoticed by the senior pair. They could tell that even though Kyouya wanted Haruhi to end up with Tamaki, he himself sought her company and conversations no matter however little and spaced out they were.

She was constantly pawed and hugged by Tamaki who was apparently seeking to alleviate his depression, at every opportunity he got. She couldn't help but think 'where is Hikaru when you need him' Usually Hikaru would be near her the moment Tamaki pulled her into a hug.

That's when the strange pairing of the hosts hit on her like a flash. With Kyouya by his side, Hikaru wouldn't dare to abandon the girls and come anywhere near her and Tamaki and as Kaoru was seated far away he couldn't come and aid Hikaru out of his tight spot either. That meant that she has to be with Tamaki during the entire hosting hours. Now she believed strongly the voting and pairing was all a part of Kyouya's scheme 'Damn it and he thought of all this just in that small amount of time. Seriously that's it! I'm not taking this anymore. I'll put an end to this playing one way or the other' she thought. She got up and excused herself and stomped off to make tea.

Kyouya turned in time to look at Haruhi placing a cup of tea on his table. But there was something about the way that she placed it seemed off. Something more purposeful and conscious. He slightly took his cup and noticed that there was a tissue in the saucer. Looking closely he realised that it was a was actually note saying "I need to talk to you". The way the note was given to him discreetly indicated that she wanted to talk to him in private. He made sure that Hikaru didn't notice the exchange between him and Haruhi.

But he wasn't too lucky, unknown to him there were two other hosts who noticed this discreet exchange, just as they noticed each and every stealing glances between Haruhi and Kyouya when they thought the other wasn't looking.

When finally it was time to close the club, Kyouya ushered away all the ladies. As soon as the girls filed out Hunny and Mori also left the music room three mumbling something about important business. Just When the Hitachiins were about to offer Haruhi a ride home, Kyouya's voice rang out "Haruhi I want to talk to you about your debt".

So both the Hitachiins left grumbling something along the lines 'shadow king's antennae …'

Tamaki looked very much like he would stay there until the end of the conversation between Kyouya and Haruhi and even offered to take her home after she had discussed whatever it was that Kyouya wanted to talk to her about.

"I'll take her home Tamaki as I have to meet Ranka-san anyway" Tamaki walked away sulking.

Kyouya waited for Haruhi to start going at him for the trick he pulled at the host club today as he walked towards his usual place.

When he heard absolutely no noise whatsoever, he looked around to be greeted with an empty room; there was no sign of Haruhi. He was about to call out her name, when she came holding a tray with two cups of tea in it. "I thought we should at least make ourselves a little bit more comfortable, before we begin" she said

Meanwhile Hunny and a reluctant Mori were standing outside music room three their ears pressed to the door. They had snuck back in to the school in order to find out what the secret note business that they had noticed earlier was all about.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about, Haruhi" Kyouya asked

She snorted "like you don't know"

"I am not god therefore I am not omnipotent" he said taking a cup of coffee from the tray

"Could've fooled me with the way you act, sometimes. So I take it that today's hosting was not a coincidence" she said taking her own cup from the tray as well

"Apparently you're the omnipotent one among the two of us Haruhi. You seem to know everything" he smirked

"So how did you know that we'll end up paired in the peculiar fashion?" she asked annoyed that he wasn't dwelling any more upon it.

"Even though I am a passive host I am the one responsible for knowing the preferences of our guest. I knew that they will never break up the twins or the duo of Hunny and Mori sempai. Since you and Tamaki were the only independent hosts, they were curious as to how it will turn out if you two are paired. In fact there were a couple of requests from our guests regarding this. So all I had to was separate the twins. That was relatively easy." He said

"So you just used the pranks I pulled on Tamaki sempai and Hikaru to keep them away from me, to your advantage. Talk about digging my own grave" she huffed.

Outside the door both Hunny and Mori were shocked to hear this. What they thought was just their guests' choice was one of the clever schemes of Kyouya. "You know Takashi; somehow I think Haru-chan is right. If Kyouya keeps doing such things Haru-chan will end up being Tama-chan's girlfriend against her will" Hunny said.

Mori just nodded his agreement.

Kyouya chuckled "so Haruhi, I am sure that this is all not what you wanted to talk about"

Haruhi's eyes narrowed slightly before she said "Yeah sempai, I know that Tamaki sempai is your best friend and all but please refrain yourself from pushing me towards Tamaki sempai and literally dangling me in his face so that he'd realise his feelings"

He laughed and Haruhi couldn't help but smile as well. This was the first time she ever heard him laugh, it felt odd and at the same time soothing.

"You know having you in the club certainly has its benefits…. It's a lot more interesting and unpredictable. But I must say the level of obliviousness that you exhibited always seemed somewhat odd for a person of your intellect. And ever since the Okinawa incident when you cleared picked upon what I was trying to do, I had a feeling that maybe you seemed to know more than you let on. Guess my hunch was right".

Hunny and Mori listening to the conversation couldn't help but wonder what the Okinawa incident was!

Haruhi just quietly sipped the tea. Kyouya prodded "so you know about the twins feelings towards you as well"

Yes sempai, but I am really glad that at least Kaoru has moved on, even though he is the younger twin he always takes the role of a older one".

"So what were you planning to do Haruhi?"

"Well I just thought of going with the flow and pretending to be unaware, as I don't want any problems to rise in the club just because of me. But you are not helping to say the least"

"What about when they realise their feelings for you. What will you do then?"

"Well I'll tell them that I only see them as a good friends nothing more or nothing less and that I would always want to be friends with them no matter what"

"Well that's nice to hear; at least you are not going to pull the stunt you pulled on Arai, on them"

Haruhi was blushing madly and replied rather defensively "Well excuse me, I was in middle school and was not mature enough to handle such delicate issues and I did what I knew how to do: ignore. Not everyone can be as tactful as you are sempai"

"That's right "he had his usual smirk in place to Haruhi's annoyance "but I believe being blunt and brazen is one of your strong points"

"so, sempai" Haruhi urged " you've yet to agree to what I've asked of you". Haruhi knew for a fact that if she didn't get him to give consent to her demands, he would one way or the other try to get Tamaki closer to her.

Kyouya sighed "you sure are going to be one hell of lawyer." His tactics was to divert Haruhi's attention so as to not give his consent to her request in words. But seeing as it failed he said "but I am a businessman Haruhi, I don't simply give my consent to everyone's demands you know" he could see that Haruhi was thinking through what he said.

Somehow Hunny and Mori couldn't help feel like they were standing outside a board room for the conversation between Haruhi and Kyouya almost sounded like a business deal.

"I would do anything you ask of me. I would even help you with managing the club's finances. Any help at all." she knew that her voice held a hint of sheer desperation

"Alright, I promise not involve myself in making Tamaki realise his feelings towards you, nor will create opportunities were you'll end up closer with him. But do remember your promise as well" Kyouya gave in seeing as how desperate Haruhi was.

Haruhi smiled brightly. They fell into an amiable silence. Kyouya couldn't help but notice that Haruhi sat there twiddling her thumbs. He knew that she was contemplating something or rather she was contemplating whether or not to ask him something. So he sat there drinking his tea, giving her time. He knew she'll eventually come around and ask him.

"Ano sempai…"Haruhi began

Kyouya couldn't help but smile….he knew Haruhi could never learn tact for all she was worth. "Nani?" he prodded

"What was it that was bothering you during the Ouran fair" Haruhi blurted out

Now Kyouya was truly shocked…. "What else other than the fact that our idiot of a king decided to disband the club and move away to France"

"No it wasn't that, it was something else that was bothering you?"

"What makes you think so Haruhi?"

"First of all when you called Shima-san and were told that Tamaki was moving to France in an hour… it came as a shock to you. But seeing as how you operate, you must have already analysed the situation and anticipated that situation as one of the possible outcomes seeing as Tamaki sempai had declared that he was engaged to Éclair Tonnere. But if you had done that, it wouldn't have shocked you. The reason you didn't analyze the situation was because I presume you were preoccupied with something else."

She continued as Kyouya hadn't denied what she said so far "But when you saw your private police force you weren't surprised and in fact pretty much anticipated them to stop us. Even though your father wasn't exactly a pro-host club person. He didn't have any reason as to stop us from pursuing Tamaki as whether Tamaki was here or in France was none was his concern. That seemed totally illogical but you weren't riled by the absurdity of the situation which means that you knew something apart from what was going on. That must be related to the thing that you were preoccupied with during the fair"

Outside the doors, Mori and Hunny couldn't help but marvel at Haruhi's deduction. If she could analyse their Shadow king's moves and reactions and deduce from them, then they knew for sure that Haruhi would be one of the best lawyers in all of Japan. Whatever doubts they had regarding Haruhi's future vanished into thin air.

Kyouya was speechless…. 'Did she observe this much not leaving a detail; she was a puzzle that he could never solve. Honestly now whatever she does shouldn't surprise me anymore.' he thought

"You know Haruhi after hearing that wonderful piece of deduction; I'll offer you a deal. I'll sponsor your law school and in return all you have to do is sign a contract saying that after the completion of studies, you'll work as a corporate lawyer for me for 5 years"

Hunny almost snorted outside 'typical Kyo-chan' he thought

Haruhi saw the offer as to what it really was: an attempt to divert the topic.

"Sempai I'm still waiting for your answer and in case you're forgetting, I'm Haruhi, not a businessman and I don't think business deals are interesting enough for me to get distracted"

Kyouya gave up trying to distract her "you're right why bother with deals when fancy tuna would've done the trick"

Haruhi was fuming and blushing at the same time "I'm not ever going to live it down am I"

"No, never" he gave a low chuckle "I must admit that you are right about me being preoccupied with something else during the Ouran fair. You see I was amassing resources to buy my father's medical equipment company from under him"

Haruhi just sat there gawking at him.. "But… but you are in high school, how did you even manage to…you know what forget it!"

Hunny just slumped along the door and Mori was rather pretty much shocked himself after hearing what Kyouya said. "Takashi. Remind me never to be surprised by whatever Kyouya does in that future…..or for that matter Haruhi, those two are unbelievable" Hunny said. Mori just gave his usual grunt.

Kyouya carried on "one of the reason's Éclair Tonnerre was here because their company was buying companies from under their owners. Due to certain issues at that time, the medical equipment company of ours became a bit shaky. Grand tonere was about to buy our company. And Éclair, seeing as she hated host club, wanted to stop us from pursuing them…so she asked for the help of Ootori private force and my father gladly agreed to it."

"So you bought the company instead, han? Does your father know of this?

"No, not yet! But he'll figure it out soon enough" he sighed "but when he does he'll realise that I have enough potential to inherit and handle the Ootori zaibatsu even though I am the third son"

"Something tells me that becoming the heir to the Ootori Zaibatsu is not really what you want"

Kyouya's eyes narrowed "whatever do you mean Haruhi?"

"You see sempai, becoming a lawyer is not what I really want, what I want is to make my mom happy and proud of me if she sees me from the heavens. Becoming a lawyer like her through and hard work and effort is what I think would make my mom proud of me.

In your case sempai, what you really want is your father's complete acceptance. Becoming the heir to the Ootori zaibatsu is the path that you have chosen to seek what you really want"

Leave it to Haruhi…. To break a complicated being like him to his baser and potent feelings. He thought.

"That's an intriguing notion. if what you are telling is true which it most probably is… then I'll not get what I want Haruhi"

'Why's that sempai?'

" I gave all the management rights of the company back to my father… indicating that I really don't want his company and that I'm not going to take the bait of heir of Ootori zaibatsu, that he constantly dangles in my face because it doesn't make me happy"

Haruhi laughed out loud, she was laughing so much that she started clutching her sides. She would have continued it if not for the shadow king aura that was closing in on her from all the sides.

"remember when you were "lost" in the mall…that I said that merit for you is not money, power, fame or anything superficial…probably it's emotional satisfaction. Back then you neither acknowledged nor denied but now you pretty declared what merits are for you. But you do realise sempai that becoming the heir isn't the only path to what you want"

"what are you implying Haruhi?" Came Kyouya's voice

Well you do realise that there's a huge difference between the heir of Yoshio Ootori and the successor of Yoshio Ootori"

"Where are you going with this Haruhi?"

" I'm just telling that all you have to do is chose a path that will make you happy and at that same will lead you to what you want"

Kyouya was pondering…. Now that he thought about it Haruhi's word does make sense. When he was just following his dad's every command he wasn't happy… yet when he was gathering funds for the company he was elated obviously because he was doing something his father never expected him to do. Even though he was happy when he bought the company, he felt blissful when he turned in the management rights. If someone had told Kyouya that he would buy his father's company and practically give it back to him, then he would have laughed on their faces at the absurdity of the thought. Yet here he was sitting after he had given the company back to his father…..one of the reasons he gave back was… even though he had it, it didn't mean he owned it. He's merely acting as a safe guard until someone else come and takes it from him maybe his heir. But that means it never belonged to him the first place. Probably subconsciously he didn't want to become the Ootori heir anymore from that day because he knew if he became the heir he would handle and expand the zaibatsu but also he'll passing it on from his father to his children.

He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips.. here she was sitting there like an innocent and naïve girl, yet she'd stripped him of all his walls and defences and showed himself his real self.

Haruhi was watching Kyouya.. he hadn't uttered a word for some time now.. but she waited patiently. At the sound of his voice, she snapped up to look at his face that and could see a vey smug and scary smirk forming on his face.

" you do realise that the offer I made you a while ago is an open offer Haruhi. You can grab it anytime" Haruhi saw something new in his eyes realization and hope. She understood that Kyouya has indeed started walking a new path that would lead him to what he wants.

She couldn't help but smile "I already know what it is like to be indebted to an Ootori… and I certainly don't want to walk the path again with legal bindings".

They both stood up and started gathering their things.

"By the way, Thank you for making sure that I had a peaceful weekend without Tamaki sempai's and twins' stupid schemes" she smiled genuinely

"It was no problem Haruhi, after what you had gone through the last week I thought you needed to take rest, so that our natural host doesn't look haggard and tired today. After all you're a host and you need to look the part." He smiled one of genuine smiles.

Haruhi sighed and said "by now you should've realised that no matter how much trouble you take to convince me that you're a jerk, I am not going to take that statement at its face value, sempai. I know you did that out of genuine care and not for the club profit and I know that you'd rather have Tamaki sempai calling you mommy a hundred times than you'd admit to this"

Kyouya just chuckled as he pulled out his cell phone to call Tachibana.

"So what exactly did you do them to keep them away from my place?" Haruhi was rather curious.

"It was rather easy. I told Tamaki that Ranka was waiting to kill him as soon as he had learned that you fell from a bridge" he said, wincing a little at the memory of Haruhi falling from the bridge.

"And the twins, it was a piece of cake." He added "All I had to do was remind them how clumsy you are and how easily you can break things. I just told them probably Hikaru's broken bones would be much easier to break than the vase"

Haruhi just snorted and went ahead to open the door. Hunny and Mori realised that they would be caught if they stayed there and scrambled to find a hiding place just in the nick of time.