At what price,love?

Chapter 22

Kyoya had considered it to be a successful day. She had enjoyed herself. She had finally come to realize that he wasn't just dating her for form's sake. And there were enough photos taken of the two of them that it should at least partially negate the 'Hitachiin Girl' label. Then, almost as soon as he got back in the hotel room, his cell phone rang. This was a phone call he really did not want to take.

"Ohayō konbanwa, Father. How may I be of service?"

"Kyoya-kun," his father said without preamble, "as you know, I do not generally interfere in the private lives of my sons as long as they do not embarrass the family..."

That was rich. The old man did nothing but try to control their lives.

"... But do you mind telling me why your fiancé's name is being publicly linked to two other men?"

"That has been a misunderstanding in the media, Father. It is being cleared up."

"See that it is. Or I will withdraw my blessing." The old man hung up the phone. No point in wasting courtesies on a lesser family member.

"Shitsurei shimasu," Kyoya said to the empty line.

~oOo~

The couch and chairs in the office area of the suite were arranged around a coffee table filled with popcorn, chips, cake and sodas. Hikaru flopped back onto the couch, irritated. "It's that stupid kite flying video."

"What kite flying video?" Tamaki said, handing Kyoya a thick stack of papers newly arrived from the attorney's office.

"Somebody got a video clip of Kyoya and Haruhi flying kites yesterday. At the end of it, Kyoya gives his kite to some little kid who looks like Cinderella must've looked when the fairy godmother gave her a ball gown," Honey said.

Kyoya affected to not hear the conversation as he made notes in his black notebook.

"So?" Tamaki said.

"He's currently polling at 36%," Mori said.

Tamaki glanced back and forth between the fuming Hikaru and the seemingly indifferent Kyoya. "That's still a long way from half."

"The remaining 64% is divided three ways."

The corner of Kyoya's mouth quirked up just a bit.

"Where is she, anyway?" Kaoru asked.

"I sent her to the spa for a facial and massage," Kyoya said.

"How's you get her to accept a present?" Hikaru was curious. It was so hard to get her to accept anything from them.

"Told her it was included in the room price and no one else was going to use it."

"Good thinking," Tamaki nodded. "Commoners can't stand to miss out on free things."

"And why are we here?" Kaoru asked.

"We need to have an investors' meeting," Kyoya said bringing his black notebook over to the conversation pit.

"Bor-ing!" the twins opined. "We're going down to get a massage with Haruhi."

Kyoya sighed. "If we're going to declare this trip as a business expense, we need to conduct some actual business."

"Fine," Hikaru said. "I move we leave Kyoya in charge of the money. Everybody agreed? Good. We're out of here."

Mori moved to block them.

Kyoya tossed a pen and pad of paper in Kaoru's direction. "You can be the Secretary."

Kaoru shot a meaningful look at Kyoya's black notebook that said get into this century, please, and popped open his laptop. Hikaru grabbed the bowl of chips and crunched one loudly, hoping that if he was annoying enough, the Shadow King might let them out early.