Ouran High School Host Club Fan Fiction ❯ Fortuitous Proposition ❯ oneshot ( Chapter 1 )

[ A - All Readers ]

AN: Written for the “flowers” theme for ouran contest on LJ. Thank you to Rashiea for the beta job.

Fortuitous Proposition

It's three years later when he sees her again after she tried to tear the Host Club apart -three years later when she tried to push her way between his best friend and Fujioka Haruhi.

He recognizes her immediately at the airport in France. He's disembarking, and she's ready to fly out. She carries a floral parasol of white lilies and wears a dress of matching design.

They both stop simultaneously, and he gives her a light bow.

“Tonnerre Éclair-san. It is a pleasure to run into you,” he says in civil tones.

She lifts up her azure eyes to his face, and he sees the balance of light and dark within them.

“Likewise, Ootori Kyouya-san.” Her words are also civil, but her voice is much more melodious. “I hope you enjoy your visit into France. Are you here on business?”

She pries subtly, but Kyouya is not afraid to indulge. “A wedding, actually. I'm the Best Man.”

She's smart enough to see the context of his words. Her clear blue eyes appear a cloudier, yet her trite smile is still firmly in place. “What a wonderful honor. Please, excuse me.”

She bows again and leaves him with a few more cordial words. Kyouya brushes off the meeting like any other, but he can't help but note back in his mind the peculiar coincidence of seeing her again. Tonnerre Éclair's story should have been long over, but after today, he's not so sure.

As days go by, Kyouya fits comfortably in his position as head of the medical department, a job he acquired after the Tonnerre Group threatened to buy out his share. He knows that he has his place in the Ootori Company, as do his brothers, and if the opportunity someday arises for one of them to leave, he's still more than capable and ready to step up.

What he's not ready for are flowers sent to his office. He frowns and takes out the card after the delivery person leaves through the door. He's curious; who would send him white lilies?

His expression changes with perplexity when he sees who's sent them. Tonnerre Éclair is back in Japan for a trade show and has cleared her busy schedule for him. He almost sends a message to refuse her - after what she's done the last time she was here, but Kyouya accepts anyway.

He rests his elbows on his desk and falls into a pensive moment. Analyzing Tonnerre-san's interest in him could be entertaining.

Eclaire-san, what she insists he calls her, is expedient in starting her games with him the moment they begin their daily lunches together. She learns quickly that it will take more than crafty words and alluring feminine je ne sais quoi to break his shield and tempt him into her traps. She revises and redesigns her motives constantly, but he meets her attempts evenly with every beat.

She is witty and intelligent, and she holds his concentration tightly like no other female has. He appreciates that she keeps him on his toes, and whether or not her initial motives for pursuing him are wicked and perverse, he enjoys the company and rather likes that there's someone interesting in his life.

When he rarely sees his friends from high school any more, he sees Éclair day after day. He's already prepared himself for when she inevitably leaves for France, and she surprises him when she tells him she's decided to stay for awhile.

The day Éclair leaves for France, as she's always intended, Kyouya has to get used to her absence. He thinks that it will be easy, that she's just another passing fancy like all the others. Three weeks go by and he feels a strange pang of emptiness in his chest.

Emptiness and solitude, he notices, are no longer the same things to him.

There's a huge canyon of time that boredom fills up like sand. Kyouya's mind is thrown into his work. Sporadic days of tea with Mori and Hunny or dinner with the Hitachi twins seem like small grains of pleasure, easily lost in the desert of monotony.

Éclair is no longer contacting him, and he feels annoyed with himself for even thinking of the woman so much. He hasn't forgotten how he first met her. Kyouya scoffs at himself as the thought invades one quiet afternoon of down time. He doesn't know what's worse, thinking of Éclair at all or trying to find contrived reasons to dismiss her.

“Sir, I just heard from one of our top distributors. They're buying a considerable share of our stock. They sent us some refreshments as well.” He holds up a bottle of wine and sets it on Kyouya's desk.

Kyouya's interest perks up immediately. “Who is this distributor?”

“The Tonnerre Foundation, sir.”

“Hn,” he replies and loses himself in a pensive moment again. He excuses the messenger, and glances out the window.

Landscapers are keeping up the grounds and watering the flowers for the coming hot summer. He notices orange and yellow lilies lightly leaning into the wind before he continues on with his work.

Another delivery of flowers comes to his desk not a week later after he hears about the rise in their stock. They are white lilies again, accompanied with some stargazers.

Éclair beckons him for lunch again.

Suddenly, Kyouya feels as though she's never been gone.

She's ready to fly off to home again, and Kyouya is resolved to settle into his life of emptiness and solitude as well too. However, this time she leaves him with a different farewell than just goodbye.

“Sir,” says the messenger in a bow. His accent is thick, so he realizes this man is one of hers. “Madam Éclair Tonnerre wishes to offer you a proposal in a lucrative lifetime partnership that would benefit the company.”

His interest piques. “A marriage proposal?”

“Yes, sir,” the messenger answers without emotion.

His mind does a spin, and he understands what this means. If he marries Éclair, his position would move up, and as her husband, there's no telling what position he would gain in her company in addition to his at Ootori. He also would see Éclair on a regular basis, and his slow dips into solitude and loneliness would disappear.

But before he can answer, he realizes something crucial to this whole scheme. Éclair hasn't changed; this seems like just another one of her games. Just like with Tamaki. His only course of action is to treat it with a sense of grace.

“Please tell Éclair-san that I have declined her offer,” Kyouya says, noticing the emotion now on the messenger's face. “But,” he continues, “I will like to see Éclair-san in person for her meaning.”

Some of the shock disappears from the messenger's face before Kyouya dismisses him. Then, he considers it.

“I was surprised by your proposal, Éclair-san,” he says, setting down his tea after a sip. He meets her at a little café north of Shibuya, which seems to have a French atmosphere to it.

“I did not think you would refuse.” She tucks her hair behind her ear and watches him intently. Her eyes are cat-like today, ready to pounce and not leaving until she's gotten her kill. Yet, he knows all too well she enjoys the game, but so does he.

“I am full of surprising motives, just as you are.” He studies her in return.

“This is why a partnership between us cannot be overlooked.”

“I agree.”

“Then you accept?” Her voice is tinted with exasperation, but he sees her keep her cool. He's charmed; he wants to see her reserve become lost and unbridled. A flash of a dream enters his mind of restless and angry nights of just the two of them - toe to toe, teeth to teeth.

“I accept with a compromise.” He sets his tea down when it's empty, and he leans back into his chair. “We draw up a contract of our specific roles in your company and mine. I want my fair share of position and responsibility.”

“Seems reasonable,” she says agreeably.

He pauses to a beat, and they stare at each other as though the world melts around them and they'll never look away.

“I also want to know; is Suou Tamaki's mother still employed at your estate?” he asks with an edge.

She frowns for a moment, but revives her smile. “She is. I can see to her dismissal if you would like.”

“No, that's not what I intend, but I do want to analyze and discuss her employment within the bounds of the contract.” He thinks of the woman in front of him, and of the friend who was once manipulated by her. He'll agree to be with Éclair for companionship and position, but he can't help think of the heart of his plan. As Éclair's husband and partner, he will have a beneficial position regarding Tamaki's mother. With that kind of influence, he considers it more in his favor to accept her position - and for Tamaki's as well.

Éclair, however, likely suspects his intentions, and she surprises him again when she doesn't retract her offer. She nods at his request involving Tamaki's mother.

Kyouya smiles more than amicably. “We can draw up the contract tonight.”

“I accept. Where would you like to conduct this meeting?” she says. Her voice comes out in a purr, and she leans over the table near him.

Kyouya smiles at her, delighting in the storm crackling in her eyes.

“I will come to your hotel suite, if that is acceptable to you.” He can't hold back his satisfied expression.

Éclair grins back at him, and Kyouya watches the breeze push one strap of her floral summer dress over her shoulder. She leaves it there, and nods in affirmation.

“We have a deal, Ootori Kyouya-san.”

“Please, just call me Kyouya.”

She smiles, and he can almost sense she's laughing inside. He's the one that should be laughing, but he doesn't mind if they do it together.

The wind picks up and the air is heavy and damp. A storm is coming - a beautiful, warm summer storm.

END

Translation:

je ne sais quoi - French: translates to “I don't know what”. For example, “Alice is kind of dull, but I like her because she has a certain je ne sais quoi.”