[Fic] Be Careful What You Wish For

[kitsunerei88]

Another fic! yay! I should stop doing this and make study notes for physics, but I'm procrastinating.

Title: Be Careful What You Wish For
Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Rating: G
Genre: Comedy/General
Pairings or Characters: Haruhi, Kyouya.
Warnings: Post-series, unbeta-ed.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Ouran High School Host Club.

Summary: Be careful what you wish for, because it might come true. Written for the ouran_contest "Cautious Desires" challenge.

Be Careful What You Wish For

 

Haruhi sighed, setting her briefcase down on her desk. She’d graduated from law school a mere three years ago, and already she held her own office and clientele. According to her friends from law school, she was lucky. Many of them still worked in firms; only a few had climbed from the bottom rungs of the office ladder.

 

But there was something vaguely unsatisfying about her career, she thought, setting up her laptop and pulling out folders from her filing cabinet. Yes, she made more money than most lawyers did, only a few years done articling. Yes, she was doing important work, work that needed to be done. Yes, she had achieved all she had ever dreamed of.

 

But there was something, she grimaced in annoyance. Something about writing wills, filing bankruptcy papers, and the occasional messy divorce  . . . something just . . . off.

 

Who was she kidding? The problem was that as much money as she made, her job was still crushingly, unavoidably, inevitably boring.  As helpful and necessary as her work was, it was blatantly unsatisfying. She wanted one case, just one case that was exciting. Something that required her to actually go to the courthouse, maybe, and yell at people. With a jury. And maybe a death sentence on the line.

 

Something like that, maybe.

 

“Fujioka-sama?” Her secretary’s voice came over the intercom. “There’s someone here to see you.”

 

“Let them in,” she replied, resigned. Whatever else, her work was still important. She sat down at her desk and opened a new file; if it was an old customer, her secretary would have said so.

 

She did not expect Kyouya to walk through her office door.

 

“It’s been awhile,” he smiled, tilting his head to one side. Her eyes narrowed as he took a seat in the chair across from her – that winsome, charming smile had never been directed at her before. It was the one he’d always reserved for his customers. He would not be turning it on her without some ulterior motive. “How have you been?”

 

“Good. What do you want, Kyouya-senpai?” As long as it had been since high school, he was still the demon lord. She’d read the papers as this man swallowed, left and right, smaller companies and all of their assets. She’d watched the news as he took over the Ohtori Group and turned it into the most powerful company in Japan. Whatever he was here for, it wasn’t a pleasant social call.

 

“I’m looking for a defence attorney,” he said, leaning forward to put his arms on the table.

 

“Why?”

 

“Well, it hasn’t reached the news yet because I’ve bribed all of the major agencies, but I’m being charged with tax evasion, insider trading, and maybe blackmail.” He smiled, not the least bit afraid. “So I need a defence attorney.”

 

Haruhi stared at him, mouth agape. “Maybe blackmail?”

 

“They haven’t as of yet been entirely clear about that one.”

 

***

Author’s Notes: I came up with this idea while building a bookcase! I was going to have Haruhi throw him out of her office (“Out! OUT!”) and swear not to wish for something exciting ever again, but in the end I think it was better to end it where it was. Yeah. That is all.

.

Comments

[kitsunerei88]

Thanks! I'm not sure if Kyouya would ever be the type to break the law . . . well, actually, I think he would if the potential gains were greater than the probability that he would get caught doing it. Haha. ^^ Thanks for the comment!

[euphonious-glow.livejournal.com]

Oooh, lovely. I've always enjoyed imagining Haruhi meeting up with the Host Club boys after high school, and Kyouya's the one who I think she doesn't really know where she stands with. I kind of imagine Kyouya going a different route with his role in the family business, but I suppose this is more realistic.

The Haruhi + Kyouya scenes were always my favorite in the manga. There's just so much unresolved tension between them, so maybe that's one of the reasons I like this.

[kitsunerei88]

I think in many ways, Kyouya and Haruhi aren't exactly sure what to make of one another. So they're both exceedingly cautious. ^^

I think Kyouya will either take over the family business entirely (ruthlessly either pushing his brothers in alternative fields or as lower execs), or he'll go off entirely and start his own competing business, which will become very successful and push his own family out of business. Which in the end is sort of the same thing.

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

... the scary thing is, I can certainly see that happening. XD I love the way you write Haruhi here.

[kitsunerei88]

Thank you! I personally think that "tax evasion" is a bit of a stretch myself, but insider trading and blackmail? Definitely Kyouya would do that. ^^''

[treeflamingo.livejournal.com]

Oh, Haruhi. *shakes head* Haruhi, Haruhi, Haruhi. You worked that hard to get through high school and then college and then law school and you thought you'd be satisfied being a simple attorney at law? *shakes head* No, no. Defense is clearly where you belong. You should thank Kyouya the bastard for dragging you away from your desk and into the court room.

Also: Kyouya turns his host-smile on her? That's... that's terrifying. A "winsome, charming smile"...? From the demon lord (who, yes, obviously, has already become the most powerful businessman in Japan)? I shuddered for her. Nicely chosen detail, there.

Finally: The last three lines of Kyouya's dialogue all start with the word "well." This creates a strange, child-like rhythm that doesn't fit the rest of the fic (or the characters, for that matter), terribly well. /minor quibbling concrit.

[kitsunerei88]

Actually, I see Haruhi being on the prosecution side . . . but then again, it wouldn't have worked out that way. Unless it was just her wishing for something high-profile to break the monotony of stabbings, break-and-enters and theft. . . but then she would just get handed the file and would be like "GAH!" and then probably wouldn't do it because she has principles and ethically you can't prosecute someone if you knew them before or something. Which would have been a lot less interesting.

You're right about "well," I hadn't noticed that before. I'll take two of them out later . . . I don't know if it's okay to edit an entry before voting is complete anyway. ^^''

[kitsunerei88]

Oh, and just a weird bit of information: In Japan (as in I think every country in the world, minus the USA), you don't need a college degree to go to law school. Haruhi would simply write an entrance exam specifically for the law faculty, and would start law school directly after high school. ^^''

[scratchmist.livejournal.com]

That was interesting, and I could picture it happening quite clearly - I'm glad you retained Haruhi's spunk, because in a lot of post-series fics I find that she usually becomes overly girlish and sweet, when in fact I picture her more headstrong. And Kyoya would become the the most powerful businessman in Japan, wouldn't he? ^^ I think the dialogue might have flowed smoother if Kyoya hadn't started his last three lines with "Well," but otherwise, nicely done. I also think this would be an interesting starter if you ever wanted to expand your story (it's pretty difficult to carry out a post-series multi-parter, though).

[kitsunerei88]

Haruhi? Girly? Sweet? *stares in total incomprehension* I just can't see it.

I agree with you - I actually hadn't noticed that all of Kyouya's lines in the second half started with "Well." Now that you and treeflamingo have pointed it out to me, it's really annoying and I really want to go take two of them out, but I'm not sure if you're allowed to edit an entry after you submit it but before voting is done . . . but once that's done, I'll definitely go take two of them out.