A/N- This is going to be a two-shot and depending upon the reaction it gets, might be expanded to include the weird twist that was originally planned. This is an experimental story. I never wrote snippets, or scene-by-scene based stories. So this is here to see, if I can do it. Warning to all the readers; the second chapter is going to have a mature content and will be rated M. So stop reading, if you don't like having half-read stories.

The easiest way to be cheated is to believe yourself to be more cunning than others.
.~*~Pierre Charron~*~.

The Cunning

.~*~*~*~.

She was sitting in the white tile-plated waiting-room of the hospital, monotonously ticking her fingers on surface of the blue plastic chair. She was stressed and didn't sleep for the last 48 hours. Her father was hospitalized after a heart attack. The doctors didn't tell her anything about his situation, yet. There were too many patients in the hospital and he was stable. That was all they deemed necessary to tell her.

"Haruhi Fujioka?" a man in a white coat called her name, opening his office door.

Haruhi stood up and mechanically read the label attached on the wall: "Dr. Hanabusa Shiro."

"Yes?" she said quickly and her voice sounded hopeful.

The man standing there motioned her to come in. Haruhi walked up and entered in.

"Are you Fujioka-san's relative?" he asked, without glancing at her.

"Yes" she said quickly, "I am his daughter."

"He needs a surgery," the doctor replied, "but apparently his insurance doesn't cover it."

"How much will it cost?" she said stammering.

"700000 yen," the man replied in a bored tone.

Haruhi's face froze. She didn't have that money. She was barely managing to take care of her expenses and if not the scholarship she would never be able to attend university to get her degree and she didn't have a stable job. Where could she get that money at once to pay for the surgery. She couldn't lose her father.

.~*~*~*~.

Kyoya Ootori was looking down at her, his face inexpressive as always. She dried the tears from her eyes and looked up at him. She could feel her anger and stress was making her dizzy. She wanted to throw up. She stood up and the overwhelming emotions she experienced during the last 3 days did their job and she nearly fell down fainting. Kyoya caught her swiftly and helped her to sit down.

"Are you alright, Haruhi?" he asked slightly concerned.

"Why?" she asked, shaking her head nervously, "why would you ask for such a thing? I could just return the money. Why do you need to ask that from me?"

She started to scream and pushed Kyoya's hands away, stumbling forward and falling on the floor. The hot tears threatened to fall down her cheeks again. She gasped for air and broke down. She couldn't pretend anymore. She couldn't hold herself anymore. First, Tamaki got married with Eclair, then she had lost her scholarship in Boston, then her father fell sick and now this bastard wanted to use her in such a crude way, take advantage of her situation.

"Why do you do this?" she yelled.

He was unfazed, actually bored. He was looking down at the girl on the floor with indifferent eyes. There was a very tiny twinkle of concern in the beginning but seeing she was physically alright, he wore his mask of indifference back.

"I believe, I only offered my help," he answered icily, "I am not forcing you to do anything you don't want."

"Yes, you are right, you just offered your help," she said with a shaky voice, "but that offer comes with a ridiculous bargain at my end."

"It might be ridiculous for you," he said unaffected by her crying, "but I need to take measures to ensure I will inherit my father's zaibatsu."

"And for that, I need to sleep with you and get pregnant?" she asked furious, her face reddening, embarrassed at the implication.

"My brothers and I were too busy with curving our career paths, that it happen didn't involve marriage. Of course, we still have time to think about it. But our father doesn't. He is sick. And nothing can really help him. He doesn't have a lot of time. He would leave the Ootori group the one who can ensure a future for the Ootori family. Having a son of my own would guarantee that he would make his decision in my favour," Kyoya replied while quietly observing the girl's face for possible reaction.

"Why me?" she said, taking a deep breath.

Kyoya looked at her and smirked, "you happen to be in need..." he said with a tight smile.

"That doesn't explain, why you asked me," she interrupted him; impatient and fed up with his games.

"Well, like I said you would agree to do it without any strings attached," he explained coldly, "I don't want someone trying to get arrogant and demanding more than I would offer. I believe I won't have this problem with you."

She looked at him shocked and covered her face in her palms. What an asshole Kyoya Ootori was!

"Besides," he continued, "I know you and you are rather intelligent and I would prefer to have a child with you than with some other woman. Not that I ever would consider a prostitute."

He frowned at the idea and wrinkled his nose.

"You could use artificial insemination," she said and sighed frustrated that she was discussing the ways he could have a child. After all, it was none of her business. Oh God, maybe he wanted to do it, just found Haruhi a good candidate, she looked back at him waiting for an answer.

"I happen not to like the idea of my child being created in a laboratory," he said disgusted.

Haruhi turned her horrified face to him and looked at him with utter disdain. He only tilted his head back and smiled at her.

"So you want me to sleep with you and have a child?" he nodded and she blinked her eyes to make sure she was still alive and sane, "Are you crazy? And how do you expect your father to accept a child born out of wedlock?"

"Of course, we would register our marriage, right before you are pregnant and then we can always file a divorce," he shrugged.

"Are you mad?" she screamed, "you think I would agree to that nonsense?"

"I hoped you would," he replied calmly, "I didn't expect, but I thought you rather value your father's life."

That was when her hand came into contact with his cheek and a loud slap was heard in the near empty room. Kyoya's eyes widened in shock. His face still warm from the slap.

"You, disgusting bastard!" she screamed, "Get out of my house. I am not a thing for you to play with. Get lost!"

Kyoya smirked and getting up walked to the door. She was panting angrily. Her heart was beating crazily and she couldn't calm down.

"You know, you don't have a choice, right?" he remarked and then smiled, "I don't hold grudges, so the offer is still standing, if you change your mind, call me."

With that he left her alone in her small apartment.

.~*~*~*~.

She was sitting by her father's side in the hospital. He didn't wake up yet. His face was calm and siren. Haruhi could swear, he was having a good dream. She rubbed his hand and looked at him with hope that he will be fine. She would definitely find a way to pay for his surgery. She didn't want to lose him. It would be too much. After her mother's death, he was all she had. She would do everything she could to get the money and help him.

She thought she could try to contact all the other hosts. After all none of those guys were self-serving like Kyoya Ootori was. She unfortunately didn't keep in touch with them and wasn't exactly sure she had the correct contacts.

She didn't have Tamaki's phone number or any other contacts after he left with the french woman. Hikaru and Kaoru were easy to find, if she needed to call them, so she decided to contact them first. When she dialed the number a young woman's voice was heard from the other side of the line.

"I would like to talk to Kaoru and Hikaru Hitachins," she explained.

"I am sorry," the girl responded softly, "they are not available now. If you could mention your name and the the reason you have called, I am sure I could inform them."

"Just tell them, Haruhi Fujioka called them," she said her voice shaking from nervousness, "please tell them as soon as possible."

She turned off the phone and looked around lost. That left Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai. She tried to call Honey-senpai several times. First, she was able to call but no one was picking up, but after a while of trying, the number became unavailable. She stopped disappointed. Her last resort was Mori-senpai, if she couldn't get in touch with him, she didn't know what she would do. And then, she slowly dialed his number, praying to hear her giant, kind friend's voice. But it turned out the number she was calling didn't exist.

She put down the phone and started to sob. What was she supposed to do? Could she try to get money from the bank? She still could try, couldn't she? And after all, the girl said she would inform the twins that she called, maybe they would contact her.

She tried not to think about the situation where none of those options worked.

.~*~*~*~.

She was sitting in her room and preparing for her exams at university, when she got a call from the hospital. Ranka's state got worse. He needed to have a surgery as soon as possible. She left her books at home and rushed to hospital. They didn't let her to go into his room. She tried to talk to the doctor to find out if there was anything else that could be done, but he informed her that the surgery was the only way and if they dragged it nothing could help him anymore.

She nodded. She did have no choice. She slowly, reluctantly took out her phone and called him. His low voice was heard. He didn't seem to be surprised.

"I agree to your proposition," she said quietly, "But I have my terms."

"Of course," he agreed and added, "Then I guess we need to meet and discuss those terms. I suppose you are free to meet me now."

"I am," she said dryly and quickly, "where should I meet you?"

"I will send Tachibana to take you to a convenient place where we can discuss this," he offered.

"Alright then," she said and hang up not waiting to hear what he wanted to say.

It didn't matter after all. She rubbed her temples and breathed in frustrated. Her despair forced to decide this and she didn't know if she could live with this decision. But she was sure, she would never be able to live knowing she could do something but didn't. She wasn't ready for this though. She wasn't ready to have a child just because some asshole needed a child to get his way. She wanted to scream and cry until she couldn't think anymore. Kyoya Ootori deserved to be slapped on the face several times more for being such a hardhearted bastard.

.~*~*~*~.

"Well," he mumbled looking at her carefully, "what are these terms that you have?"

Haruhi took a deep breath and raised her head to face him. His steel-cold eyes were locked on her and she shivered under his gaze.

"I want you to pay for his surgery today," she said rubbing her hands and pulling the sleeves of her knitted jacket to cover her hands, "there would be no point in these arrangement, if he..."

She stopped looking for a word. She didn't dare to say the word "die". It sounded to scary and she didn't want to hear it used in relation to her father. Kyoya stopped her short, though.

"Consider it done!" he provided quickly.

She felt relieved that he wasn't going to make it harder for her. Then was coming the most important part of her terms. She wouldn't be able to agree, if it wasn't met. She'd rather sell herself to random strangers than agree to his offer without having it sorted out.

"I..." she paused and her eyes wavered around the place. It was a nice restaurant. Rich polished oak tables, beautiful candles everywhere in golden candlesticks. She never paid attention to her surroundings before. She noticed that Kyoya shifted impatiently in his seat.

"Well?" he urged her to speak.

"I want to raise my child. I want to be in their life," she said with one breath, gasping afterwards and expectantly looking at Kyoya, waiting for his decision, his verdict.

"I can't agree to that, I am afraid," he said dryly, "the point of choosing you was to ensure that there would be no demands..."

"Then this conversation is over" she said standing up, grabbing her backpack from the nearby chair.

Kyoya sighed and motioned her to seat. She didn't comply but didn't leave either.

"You can spend time with him under my supervision and permission" he said, "and if I ever decide to marry for real, he will think, my wife is his mother."

That sounded so heartbreaking. She didn't want to stand there and discuss it with him. But she did have no other choice.

"You should promise me I will always be given the permission to meet the child," she said, "or this is never going to take place."

"We will sign a mutual contract and agree to all the terms and I will make sure to mention your demands and ensure to keep my promise.

"Alright!" she said, "Although, I would want to warn you not to call the possible child a son. It might be a girl."

"The contract will be dissolved only if you give me a son," he replied politely but icily.

She nodded tentatively.

.~*~*~*~.

Was there anything else in this world that felt as wrong as signing this contract? She read it several times to make sure there was nothing for Kyoya to use against her in the future. She was very careful knowing him. Knowing what kind of person Kyoya Ootori was. She couldn't risk any tiny mistake, any slip. If anything he would use it against her.

She bit her lower lip and looked at him. He motioned her towards the contract and stood there looking at her. She took the pen and with a deep breath wrote down her name and sealed their contract. The notary was a chubby, neurotic man, who seeing her signature immediately grabbed the paper, checked it and shook hands with the Ootori, who smiled at him politely.

"Next Thursday at 8 pm," he said scanning her impassive face, "I will send Tachibana after you."

She nodded in defeat and he smiled back at her.

The same day the surgery was performed and it went well. He kept his end of the bargain. Now it was her turn.