I deeply apologise to those who awaited the continuation of the stories I've posted up as Amnoying Ammii. I regret to say that those will no longer be continued. Maybe sometime in the distant future, though for now, I only write plotted stories. Those are far easier to write, and better.
I also would like to mention that the stories I write on this account will have characters who will be OOC, depending on the way the story goes.
And so, without further ado, I would like to present my first story (a short story) as Imaxim.
An Ouran Story, with the pairings: Kyouya x Haruhi.
Enjoy.
xxx
Christmas Time
xxx
She calmed the two little children that ran around the room and wrapped her arms around their delicate bodies. She whispered in their ears and smiled as they draped around her in big cuddles. "Now, children, your father will be arriving very shortly, along with his friends. I want you to be the best that you can be today, understand?"
"Yes, mum," they replied cheekily, holding each others' hands.
"Good. Off you go then," she smiled as they ran away to play. "And don't open any of the presents! That's something we have to leave 'til Christmas!"
"But mummy, it is Christmas!" one of them called.
"No, it isn't. Christmas is in a few more hours, honey. So don't touch the presents, okay?"
"Okay!" they called out in unison.
She smiled and turned to go to the kitchen, only to stumble over one of the servants. "Oh. Marie. I didn't see you there. What are you still doing here?"
"I have to work, ma'am. It's my job."
"Not on Christmas. Come on, go get warm and go spend today with your family." She smiled. "I know that you have a secret admirer, so if you want, I'll tell your parents you were working today, and you can go spend the night with him." She winked.
"Thank you, ma'am, but Ootori-sama is paying me double for staying the night already, I couldn't possibly—"
"Not to fret. I'll tell him that I sent you home, and make sure that he still pays you. Now, off you go!" She grabbed the girls coat and wrapped it around her shoulders forcefully. "Not another word! Out out out!"
Marie turned to her when she was out of the door. "Thank you very much, ma'am."
"Don't mention it. I'll see you on the twenty-sixth."
She closed the door and walked to the kitchen. There were no servants to be seen, and this made her smile. She hated the fact that after marrying the Shadow King, she had to be taken care of all day and all night by people she hardly knew. She didn't like making people follow her around and ask her to give them orders – she was an independent girl since her mothers' death, and she didn't want that to change.
She got to work in the kitchen, making the finest roast lamb she could, seasoning it as best as she was able, and baking a cake, along with other fine dining rations.
A car was heard as she was completing the last of the food, and she smiled in self-satisfaction as she walked to the front door.
"Haruhi, I'm home," her tall husband called as he opened the front door.
"Welcome home," she said as he embraced her into a magnificent hug. "I see the holiday season has really put you into a good mood. We should have Christmas every day."
He smirked and pushed his glasses up as he released her. "I smell something good. Is that Marie's work?"
"No. I gave her the rest of the night off. I want you to pay her as though she is still working, though." She jabbed him in the chest with a finger. "Got it?"
He stared at her. "Why should I? I expect her to be working to pay—"
"Don't be detestable tonight, Kyouya. It's Christmas. She has just as much right to go spend it with her loved ones as much as we do. So don't make me loathe you tonight, and just deal with it."
She turned around and walked back to the kitchen, ignoring his cold stares.
He followed her, then leaned against the door frame as she did her work, watching her silently, a grim expression plastered on his face.
"Where are Tamaki and the others?" she asked as she mixed the mashed potato.
"They will be here any moment."
She didn't look up from the mashed potato, knowing very well what kind of look he had. "Don't look at me like that."
"Haruhi, why do you do this to me?"
"I didn't do anything to you. Go play with the kids. Oh, that reminds me!" she suddenly said. "I hope dad didn't forget to get a costume!"
"A costume?"
"Yeah. He's dressing up as Santa for the kids. Also, speaking of kids, I hope you got something for all of them. I don't want any of the others feeling left out, either. You better have thought long and hard about what to get everyone."
He crossed his arms. "I did. But, considering we're all rich men, don't you think it would be rather difficult to find things for other people?"
"You didn't think long and hard at all, did you?"
"They're other rich families, Haruhi, they don't need us paying for them, they've got more than enough for themselves—"
"I'm not dealing with this right now," she snapped, slamming the mashed potato onto the bench. "Not now."
The bell to the front door went off, yet nobody moved. Haruhi looked up from her angered stance at her husband. "Well, aren't you going to answer the door?" she asked.
A heavy sigh escaped her lips as he turned around and walked to the front door. "Ah, Ranka-san!"
"Kyouya-san! How are you on this fine, frosty, Christmas night?"
"I'm fine, sir, and yes, what a lovely night it is! Come inside, its' cold out there."
"Thank you, kind sir. My, I'm so happy that you ended up marrying my daughter, and that it never ended up being that French disgrace to man, Tamaki."
"Father, don't speak of Tamaki like that," Haruhi grimaced as she walked into the front foyer, where her father stood in a long red dress with white fur. "It's not nice. Did you remember to get the Santa costume?"
"Of course, I did! It's in the trunk of the car."
"Great," she smiled, leading him to the living room, where the two children amused themselves. They stopped playing instantly and ran to their grandfather, excitement evident in their voices as they called to him and tackled him to the ground in a fury of hugs.
Haruhi walked out of the living room to see her husband still standing at the door, awaiting her to exit. "This isn't over, Haruhi."
She ignored his comment as she walked past him to the kitchen.
As she was pulling the roast lamb from the oven, the door bell went off again. She turned the stove off after putting down the lamb, took off her oven mitts, then walked to the front foyer, where a tall man in glasses stood beside her husband, two large boxes wrapped in dark purple paper in hand. He saw her, nodded his head in greeting, turned to his son, shook his hand, said, "Merry Christmas," in a dull voice, then turned to the living room and walked off.
When he was completely out of sight, Kyouya closed the door, not a single emotion showing on his face. "Your father is as chirpy as ever," Haruhi noted in sarcasm from the place where she stood. Kyouya didn't move.
Before she could turn to get back into the kitchen, the doorbell rung once more. Kyouya looked up from his trance and opened the door. He almost fell over backwards as a bunch of people burst through the door, all with big smiles on their faces, happy about the holiday season.
"Kyouya, I missed you!" Tamaki cried as he hugged his dear friend. Hikaru, Kaoru and Hunni all joined in and tackled the hugging friends. Kyouya was on the floor now, and the others all sat atop him.
"Haruhi!" Renge called as she tripped over one of the host-club member's feet on her way to tackle the girl she'd believed was a boy when they were in school together, falling flat on her face. Haruhi only watched with a fake smile, a sweat-drop falling from her head. It was just like old times. Only this time, it wasn't only the host club – it was their children and wives, as well.
Four women walked over the host club that were on the floor, some stepping on their husband's bare flesh in their pointy high-heels.
Haruhi walked forward to greet the women. They smiled at each other and the five of them hugged. "Welcome to our home," Haruhi said as they released from the embrace.
"Thank you," one of the ladies said, speaking for them all.
"Please, go into the living room. I'm almost done with dinner."
They walked together to the living room, and Haruhi was glad that her husband was able to afford such a big house. The room was full of so many kids in such a small moment. In total, she was able to count twelve children. Her own two children; Tamaki and Éclair's three children; Hunni and Fumio's one child; Mori and Renge's two children; Hikaru and Salina's twins; Kaoru and Sarina's twins.
The four ladies sat down on the couch and talked as tea was served by Ranka, who took much pleasure in gossiping with young women, such as they.
Haruhi walked back into the foyer to see Kyouya struggling to get out of the tangled web that was his friends. Renge was trying hard to un-tie the arms of the other hosts, which had surprisingly tied themselves together. Haruhi knew to get back to the kitchen before they were released, unless she wanted to be in a big huddle like that, as well.
After a while, Kyouya appeared in the kitchen doorway, his glasses all crooked and his hair all messy. She giggled and went to his side to fix him up. "They sure are happy about this all."
"Yes," Kyouya said sternly with clenched teeth. "Very." He was grasping the door frame tightly, probably telling himself that he shouldn't get out and kill the former Prince, and his so-called "friends".
"Don't be like that," she snickered, fixing his shirt collar. "It's Christmas. How many times do I have to remind you? Tis the season to be jolly," she sang, rather badly, though it made him smirk.
"Okay, fine. I won't strangle the idiot."
"Good," she smiled, then kissed him on the cheek and turned back to the counter.
As she was putting the dressing on the salad, doing the final touches, she felt two strong arms wrap themselves around her waist. She didn't need to look up to tell it was her husband.
"What do you want?"
He placed a kiss on the back of her neck.
"Kyouya, not now. Not while everyone is here. You know better than that." The words sounded strong, but her arms couldn't betray what she really wanted. She put down the salad bowl, not doing anything to stop him.
He turned her around to face him and smirked amusingly at her face. "Why does Tamaki have three children, and why do we only have two?"
"You're not jealous, are you?" she jeered jokingly.
"And if I was?"
She traced two fingers up his chest, walking them to his chin.
He bent his head down to kiss her, yet was suddenly interrupted by a abrupt, "Kyouya!" from the door frame.
They both turned around to see Tamaki, watching them gleefully, a large grin plastered on his face. "I haven't been able to see my daughter in so long!" he cheered, walking towards them.
Kyouya let go of his wife and stood beside her, and she moved off to hug her friend, who surprisingly didn't attack her with a cuddle. "It's been a while, huh."
"It has," he agreed, nodding as he let her go. "Your children are adorable. We really need to let them have play-dates, now that they seem old enough to really get to fool around."
"I never had any objections to letting them hang out before," Haruhi said, puzzled.
"No, but Kyouya did. He thought they were too young to really let them play together. But now, they seem old enough. Don't you think, Kyouya?"
"When did you ever come up with that?" Haruhi asked, disappointment in her voice, as she turned her head to face her husband.
"They were only three years old. Tamaki's eldest is four years older than ours."
"So? You left Tamaki's children to play on their own. Honestly, what have you learnt about living a lonely life at home, with nobody to interact with, not even your own family members? You can't just decide for our children – you can't do what your father did to you—"
"Excuse me?" Kyouya snapped. "My father raised me quite well—"
"He also had favourites, and you hated it," she sneered in reply.
"I did not."
"Liar. I know you, Kyouya. I know you like nobody else. Don't pretend there was no sibling rivalry between yourself and your brothers. You honestly hated that there was no fair go at who would be the person to lead your fathers company, and I know that you're going to do the same thing to our children. Well, I won't let you. They're old enough to be spending time with other children. I won't let our kids be sad and oppressed. Not like you."
He stood, silent, watching his wife through dark-rimmed glasses. "You cannot say things like that about my family. You cannot decide my children's life just like that."
"I'm not the one deciding their future. You are."
"I only want the best for my children—"
"You know what? I'm not going to deal with this. Get out of my kitchen. Go tell the others that dinner is just about ready, and that everyone should go sit at the table. Tamaki, will you help me set out the food?"
Tamaki nodded silently, going to the other side of the bench.
Kyouya stared after her as she went to get plates. "I told you not to let Marie go—"
"Go. Away."
He turned on his heel and walked out silently.
She sighed and put down the plates. "Do you and Éclair have these problems, sometimes?"
Tamaki nodded as he took the plates from her. "Everyone does, I'm sure of it."
"He just drives me crazy sometimes. There hasn't been a day since we got married that we ever agreed without bickering for a whole day. Not a single day."
He wrapped an arm over her shoulder and smiled down at her little face as it came up. "It'll get better. It should, anyway."
"You've been telling me that for six years."
She pulled away from his embrace and took out the roast lamb to the dining room.
"Haruhi, the food looks wonderful!" one of the mistresses exclaimed as they all sat to eat. "Did you do it all yourself?"
"Yes, I did," she smiled.
"Where is your maid?"
"I let her off for the day. It's Christmas. Nobody wants to be cooped up somewhere when they could be off with someone they love."
"True," Hikaru snickered, taking his wife's hand.
The room was humming with conversation. Everybody seemed to have something to say. The only two people that weren't conversing with anybody were the host and hostess, who sat quietly beside each other, eating slowly and neatly. The kids were making the most noise in the room, all laughing and yelling and throwing bits of corn and peas at each other. Everybody else just chatted among each other, most of the talking coming from Ranka, who seemed to have lots of stuff to gossip on.
Tamaki was seated beside Haruhi, and he turned to her every couple of minutes to ask her if she was okay, because she was so silent. She only nodded every time.
After dinner, everybody but Haruhi and Tamaki retreated to the living room. Tamaki helped Haruhi clear the dining room of the left-over food and dishes.
While collecting the last pieces of the mess, Kyouya entered. He went to Haruhi's side, grabbed her arm lightly to stop her from walking away, told Tamaki to leave them, and stared down at his wife.
"Leave the mess. I'll get Marie to do them tomorrow."
"Marie is off until the twenty-sixth. I will not have anybody serving me on Christmas day. You know how much I despise it." She pulled her arm out of his grasp and continued to the kitchen.
He followed her. "You're angry."
"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside him. "Ranka-san is asking if he should get dressed now or later. I think now would be the appropriate time, though, don't you? Before he gets too drunk. You served him too much wine at dinner—"
"Tell him to go get ready. That way, we can put the kids to bed early."
He stared at her as she placed scraps of food into different containers. "Okay." He turned to leave.
"Kyouya."
He stopped in mid-step.
She paused. She didn't really know what she wanted to say. "After dad is Santa, and when the kids are in bed, I want you to do something for me. Have a drink. Get drunk. Be an idiot for a night."
"What do you mean?"
"Just. Do it. You're too stern for Christmas night. I want you to relax tonight."
He didn't say anything, and she heard his footsteps as he walked away.
After Ranka dressed up as Santa for the children and gave out all the presents, Haruhi took all the children to a room and placed them all into a bed. They fell asleep almost instantly – probably because of all the food they'd had. It was over-kill for them.
Once downstairs, Ranka and Yoshio both said their goodbye's and went home, leaving the adults alone and ready to really party.
Kyouya sat on a couch alone, not really interacting with anybody in the room, as the rest of them smoked and drunk their hearts out.
Haruhi joined in the festivities, giving free drinks out to everyone, making them all get louder and goofier than usual. She realised that Kyouya was sitting silently, sipping a glass of wine every now and then, and went to his side. She smiled at him and let out a hand. He looked down at it, then back up at her face.
"Don't be so gloomy. Join us in the festivities."
He took her hand and she led him to a larger couch, where they could sit together, and she cuddled up beside him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, keeping her beside him, remembering their honey-moon night. The reason he remembered that night was because she had been just like this during the wedding. They'd been arguing during the day, and at night, she got him drunk silly, which ended up with them having one of the most erotic moments of their lives.
That wasn't the reason she'd made him get drunk, though. After their argument, he sat in his seat, not moving at all, not to dance, not to talk, not to do anything. He hardly interacted with anybody. Until she finally got him drunk. After that, he seemed to smile. He talked to people. He joined the men in the smoking lounge. He danced with everyone. Most of all, he enjoyed himself.
That's what she wanted tonight. She knew he wasn't having the best of time at work at the moment, and she wanted him to relax – she wanted him to enjoy himself on Christmas night, with all his close friends.
At around three in the morning, the others packed all their presents, picked their children carefully from their beds, took them to their cars, said their goodbye's and drove home, leaving Kyouya and Haruhi all alone.
Haruhi slumped into the couch and sighed heavily. "That was some night. I'm exhausted."
Kyouya was going to mention keeping Marie on for the night once again, yet knew he shouldn't. He kept his mouth shut, sat beside her and hugged her gently into his chest.
"Did you enjoy yourself?"
"I did."
"Good." She smiled and hugged him back.
"I was thinking..."
"Oh, here we go."
He snickered. "I think I am jealous of Tamaki and Éclair."
"Say what?"
He placed a hand under her chin and made her look up at him. "I want a third child."
"Why? So you can control its life as well as the ones we have?"
"No. Because it means that, no matter how much we argue, it's another reason that you can never leave me."
She stared at him in shock. "Leave you? What are you talking about? Maybe I shouldn't let you drink anymore, ever again."
He snickered again. "It's not the alcohol. It's just that I've been having this thought in the back of my head, that keeps telling me that someday, with the way things are going, you'll leave me." He hugged her close to him. "And I don't want that ever happening."
"And you think having a child would prevent that?"
"Are you saying that it's crossed your mind?"
She giggled and hugged him tight before he could release her. "No, it's never come to me. Look, I know we argue a lot, and yes, sometimes you make me so crazy that I just don't want to look at you. But you're my husband. Father to my children. And I would never leave you."
That made him smile.
"And I won't let you leave me if it ever crosses your mind," she said, pulling him away and slapping him playfully on the head with wrapping paper that she'd found beside her. "Come on. It's time for bed I think."
She took his hand and he followed her to their bedroom. They didn't bother changing before getting into bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, watching her retreat to the bathroom. When she came back, she realised he was still dressed, and smiled at him. He urged her to go towards him, making her sit on his lap.
"I love it when you drink," she giggled, placing a soft kiss to his dry lips.
He kissed her back passionately, putting her down on the bed and laying atop her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and shared the same passion.
He dropped his head into the crook of her neck. He seemed to be deep in thought.
"Are you okay?" she asked, patting the back of his hair.
He nodded. "I'm going to keep you to your word. You're not allowed to leave me. Ever."
She smiled and nodded, hugging him closer. "I won't. I promise."
The next day, they slept in until it was quite late. After they woke up, they only lay in bed, keeping each other warm, hugging as close as they could beneath the covers, and not taking their hands off the other for a single moment.
"Merry Christmas," Haruhi whispered to her husband.
"Merry Christmas," he replied.