Hey, everybody, Amy here. =D I uploaded the first chapter of this story quiiiiiiiiiiiiite a while ago. . BUT! Now I'm back with a second chapter, and this chapter, the first chapter, has been mostly rewritten, so even if you happened to have read this before, you really should reread this now. =) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own.

It was a dark and stormy night.

At least, that was the way Machi would've described it, had she chosen to write a book about her life beginning right at that moment…she never had been much for story-telling.

The treasurer shivered, more out of unease than cold, as she say huddled under the blankets in the middle of her bed. She could never fall asleep on nights like this. Storms had always terrified her, ever since she was a little girl – and the fact that the incident with her younger brother had happened on such a night had only served to exacerbate the problem.

Another boom of thunder, sounding eerily close than the last, and Machi nearly jumped out of her skin, wrapping the covers around herself more securely. Every muscle in her body was tensed, eyes screwed shut already in anticipation of the next thunderclap.

These were the times that the negative aspects of living alone – though several were clear on a daily basis, all on their own – came sharply into play, more particularly the part about being alone. Company on nights like this (a pair of violet eyes flashed in and out of her mind) would have been more than welcome, even for the rather reclusive girl. There was none, of course, and many a time this still left behind an aching hole in her chest desperate to be filled. However, when considering the alternative of living with her mother, she managed to push those lonely thoughts to the back of her mind.

Noticing there'd been a surprising absence of thunder and lightning – though the rain continued to pour as powerfully as ever – Machi opened her eyes to stare blandly at the wall ahead of her in her brightly lit room. After several seconds more of silence, she slowly turned that gaze towards her unfortunately curtainless window. In the same instant, a particularly startling fork of lightning crackled its way across the sky, followed far too quickly for comfort by a pulse-pounding clap of thunder.

And then the power died.

Had she been any other girl, Machi might have screamed – but as it was, she instead inhaled sharply in a manner that sounded like more of a strangled gasp before falling off of her bed, a tangled mess of covers. She stayed there on the floor, heart beating a fierce tattoo as she futilely jerked her gaze around the dark room in an almost frenzied fashion, hoping against hope that the lights would suddenly flash back on. While she was hoping, her cell phone sprang to life seemingly out of nowhere, vibrating and ringing and making quite the fuss. The treasurer quite literally leapt to answer it, hands scrambling around on the floorboards in her search, nearly frantic. But once she had located the item, she simply stared at the flashing screen, taking in the name that spelled itself out in total silence. Then after another prolonged moment, she silenced it, dropping it into her lap with a sigh.

Manabe…

She didn't have any idea who else could possibly have been calling, really. The treasurer knew her brother meant well and was most likely calling to check in on her, being well aware of her phobia, but at that moment she could think of no one she wanted to speak with less. He tried, Machi knew that, but in the end never ended up making things any better – and she didn't want to have to deal with any attempted discussion about her state of being.

But, then….there was someone else, with whom all the words seemed to come so much more easily…

The brunette picked up her phone as it alerted her to a new voice message, staring at it for another long moment or two after it had stopped beeping. And then, almost as if by clockwork, she began punching in a number: one she'd memorized so deeply it felt embedded in her mind, one she'd been given the month before although he'd never explained why, one she'd dialed countless times before but had always lacked the courage to complete by pressing that little green 'call' button.

Her finger was frozen over that button now, hovering millimeters in the air above, so close to touching it and putting the phone to her ear; she would listen to it ring, and then finally he would answer – but what if he didn't? At the thought, Machi's heart lost track of its beat. Her grip on the cell phone tightened. What if he looked at his caller ID, realized who was calling (it never occurred to her that she hadn't given him her number – nor was she aware that her brother had taken the liberty of doing it for her) and ignored it, because he didn't want to talk to her? He'd done so much already, but…what did she even expect him to say?

Again, the girl wavered; suddenly the cancel button seemed just as appealing an option. If she made the decision not to call - the same decision as her many previous attempts – she could merely set the phone down, crawl back into bed and cower under the covers until morning came – another thing she had done any number of times in the past. Never moving forward, stuck in the same constricting cycle, now self-imposed rather than demanded of her…

Machi took the plunge. The moment the other end of the line began to ring, however, her every doubt resurfaced in an instant; she considered hanging up, turning her phone off and simply forgetting about the incident altogether. Except it wasn't so simple. He was sure to notice she'd called; even if he didn't go to get it right away, he'd wonder why the caller had hung up so abruptly, and when he checked his history…

He'd try to call her back. Even if he didn't truly wish to speak with her, he'd call back to see what she'd wanted – for if not a prince, Yuki Sohma was most definitely a gentleman – and she'd be too mortified to answer. But if she didn't answer, he'd surely ask her at the next Council meeting, and then everyone would question –

There was no longer any choice; she'd sealed her fate. All that was left was to wait and see what happened. Gulping, Machi slowly lifted the phone to her ear, only barely able to listen over the banging of her heart. As the phone rang on, the treasurer felt a surge of hope. Maybe he wouldn't answer. Maybe he was asleep – he had to be. Why wouldn't he be? So that meant the phone would just ring on. Or maybe it wasn't on at all. Maybe he had turned it off, and as soon as the answering machine kicked in, she could hang up and he wouldn't have any idea she'd called. Maybe –

Her hopes were dashed at the sudden, obvious cut into silence that signified the phone being picked up; breath catching in her throat, she knew almost immediately that she wouldn't be able to speak. She took in another gulp of air, the combination of both her own nerves at the current situation and the already present tension from the weather doubling her apprehension.

Several more anxiety-ridden seconds passed before the quiet breathing on the other end of the line actually developed into words; the voice that finally surfaced was scratchy and laced with sleep, but Machi recognized it immediately as Yuki's despite how unused to the tone she was.

"Hello…? Whozzis?" The treasurer would possibly have giggled at the way his speech, usually so refined, slurred together due to his half-roused state, if such an action was not so far removed from her nature – not to mention the fact that her voice was still lost.

"Hello?"

Her mouth worked, trying for several moments to form her thoughts aloud, but nothing would come out; she was caught, her mind a blank. More than anything, she was desperately wishing she had not been so foolish as to actually call, especially without a plan.

As the continued silence between the two of them stretched on, punctuated only by the continued crashes of thunder and lightning which caused Machi's breath to hitch without fail each and every time, her president eventually spoke again.

"Hangin' up…" came the mumble – and, contradictory to her previous thoughts, the girl could not move quickly enough to stop him. Her voice returned in a single, near panicked word.

"Wait." A pregnant pause followed the treasurer's sudden exclamation, and when Yuki did respond, he sounded much more alert – at least to Machi's ears.

"Machi? Machi, is that you?" His tone was filled with equal parts confusion and curiosity; this time, he seemed fully content to wait for her to come up with an answer.

"…it's me," was what she settled for at last, voice quiet, hesitant, guarded. A reply came about almost instantly.

"What is it, Machi? Is something wrong? Has something happened?" The treasurer felt a little overwhelmed by the sudden, urgent barrage of questions – or rather, the genuine concern that lay beneath them. He's worried for me? Lurking behind this disbelief, however, was a self-deprecating thought.

Of course he would think there was a problem. Why else would someone be calling at this time of night? Without warning, Machi was struck with embarrassment: embarrassment over her pathetic fear, embarrassment that she had even called him about it. After all, what could he do? It was the middle of the night. It was storming. It wasn't as if –

"I'm coming over."

And before she could quite register what the boy had said, he hung up. When it dawned on her seconds later what, exactly, he'd just told her, the phone slipped from her loose grip to drop onto the mercifully soft blanket; she barely noticed.

Eyes wide, the brunette could only sit there for the longest while, staring at nothing in particular while her heart performed rather impressive somersaults. He was coming over. Now. He was coming over now. With a sharp intake of air, she shot to her feet, taking a blanket along but leaving her cell phone to tumble the short distance onto the floor. Then she hurried out of her bedroom and into the living room, taking a seat on the couch; she felt flushed.

In spite of all her reservations, she wanted to see him. He gave her an indecipherable sort of feeling, but a pleasant one – one that left her warm, left her longing for his presence. She didn't know what to make of it; so, for the time being, it merely continued to inch along steadily, becoming more and more prominent.

She wanted to see him and didn't. The latter was due strongly to the fact that she was certain to make a complete and utter fool of herself. It had happened a number of times, most recently and significantly when she'd told him of her past. But…at the same time, that was a good memory, too… Those were things she'd never told anyone. And he'd accepted her nonetheless.

Still. Something about his presence always affected her, to the point that she wound up either flustered into snapping at him or flustered into saying embarrassing things…and that alone was enough to make her wish more fervently than ever that he simply wouldn't show.

Eh? Eh? What'd you think? I think/hope it's improved… Review and let me know please! And onto the second chapter! Thaaaank yoooou!