A/N: The credit must go to Vmailer for the title. It was quite simple and inspired. XD I will put up the chapters in order, so that means some of the later ones may not go up until I have the chapters that should be next. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Reprieve

He had been taxing the twenty-five ways of escape for one his father wouldn't recognize when Tamaki approached again, looking excited.

Kyouya glanced to the side, searching for the imminent exit; one open arch looked promising, but the Duke's heir grabbed hold of his arm before he could take off.

"Kyouya, I found her," he said excitedly.

Kyouya merely nodded, having heard this phrase from the man hundreds of times.

Literally.

"Is she tall and slender and beautiful?" he asked, knowing by now his friend's preferences.

"Um…" the pause was warning enough, and for the first time that night, Kyouya's interest perked up.

"She's not beautiful?" he inquired, purposely trying to raise the other man's ire. Tamaki thought all women were beautiful, and it was a long-standing tradition between their small group of friends to deny the beauty of any girl or woman Tamaki picked out, just to see the resulting explosion of righteous wrath.

They never said such things in public, of course; all of the men were too high in society and too well-bred to ever insult a lady to her face (or through the gossip).

"Well, do you remember that commoner the King was thinking of knighting?" Tamaki asked, and Kyouya gave a soft sigh. Gossip was inevitable in society, besides which, dealings with the king (no matter who was involved) always caught Kyouya's attention.

"I remember," he said, and Tamaki smiled brightly.

"He was knighted over a month ago, but I just met him tonight. He hasn't been in town, you know, because he returned home to fetch his daughter for the end of the Season."

Suddenly things were much clearer to Kyouya; the existence of a daughter had not been outside of the realm of possibilities concerning Fujioka, but he had heard nothing about her.

In his one interaction with Fujioka, Kyouya had sensed a deeper intelligence beneath the amiable smiles. It seemed the man had indeed been wise enough to avoid mention of any daughter until he could be sure of his knighting.

If she had any slight claim to beauty thought, his friend was certain to have begged an introduction.

"So she's the one you're rambling about?" Kyouya asked, wanting to get to the point so that he could escape. With Tamaki standing beside him, the chances of being maneuvered into a dance were growing higher. He hated dancing: the invasion of private space and the expectation of speech, the need to entertain one's partner and remember to look interested in her responses – Tamaki stored women's chitchat like little jewels; Kyouya regarded them as specks of dirt accumulating on his evening wear.

But the man was still talking away, probably extolling her virtues. How beautiful could a commoner's daughter be, anyways? he wondered with irritation.

"And then she shyly glided away," Tamaki ended with a flourish and glowing smile; Kyouya considered telling him the effort was wasted on him.

Shy was right; throwing a commoner into one of the busiest balls of the season was sheer lunacy, and only a commoner promoted to slightly noble would think it a good idea.

"Oh, Haruhi! It's such a pleasure to meet again. Won't you join me for this next dance?" Tamaki had suddenly dropped Kyouya for what he assumed was another of his conquests, and got ready to take advantage of the distraction.

Really, how did he keep up with them? He thought, and then prepared to make his escape.

"Lord Suou, I would appreciate your addressing me as Miss Fujioka. Please. We are barely even acquaintances."

The voice was lower than he had expected, and sounded aggravated.

And the lady had just rebuffed Tamaki.

The slight slouch disappeared and years of training kicked to the fore. Kyouya put on a polite smile.

"Tamaki, if you would do me the honor?"