Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran or any of its associated characters.
This is a one-shot about the meeting and affair between Tamaki's parents, because I've always found it fascinating. It's all pure speculation, and mentions Anne-Sophie's employment at the Tonnere house, so I guess it's anime-based. Enjoy the pure teeth-rotting sap! 8D
Surrounded by the glittering splendor of the ballroom, they dance. They spin and twirl, unconscious of all around them and unconscious of what may lie beyond this first dance. Her skirt twirls and glitters like frosted sugarplums, and in his dark suit he looks every bit as regal as a foreign businessman should. She keeps close to him, wondering if all this is wise, throwing caution to the wind. It is a bittersweet and fabulous dance, and he twirls her around like a windup doll, caught up in a whirlwind of enchantment.
"You look just like a princess," he tells her, smiling at her with his mouth and with his soft brown eyes. They seem to see straight through her, and it makes her wary. She doesn't feel like a princess, what with the strict bun her mother talked her into wearing her hair up in, though the sparkling dress seems to cancel it out. Such idle compliments fall on her ears and leave her wondering if this enigmatic young foreigner can be trusted.
"I'm sure you say that to all the ladies, Monsieur Suoh," she tells him slightly dryly, and he laughs, a deep and warm sound. In a circle he twirls her, round and round until she can't help but feel dizzy, and without warning he draws her up to his chest and gives her a long, cryptic look.
"Only to you, my dear. And please, call me Yuzuru," his eyes glitter again, and she tries her best not to be drawn in by those impossibly bright eyes. He reaches behind her head, and with one quick flick of his nimble wrist, he frees her blonde hair from the bun. It slides down her back in waves, and for a moment she feels like a girl from a fairytale, swept up in the glamorous world of forbidden trysts.
"Some would say you're far too forward… Yuzuru," she tries out the name and finds that it slides from her tongue all too easily as though she has spoken it a million times before. A spicy, exotic name that gets her excited all over again.
"And some would say I'm just forward enough," he replies, leaning in far too close. Her blue violet eyes widen, and she knows she should pull away and move back into the world of sanity.
"I… should really get back to the other guests," she says clumsily, suddenly aware of just how close he is to her at the moment. She can feel his warm breath skittering across her lips. "There are many gentlemen my mother still expects me to dance with…"
"Then please, make sure to save a dance for me," Yuzuru said with an almost princely smile. And when he kisses her, she knows there is no running from him now. She sinks into the world of intrigue he has presented her with, and she couldn't escape if she wanted to.
XXX
Over the next few weeks, she learns more and more about Yuzuru Suoh. He comes from one of Japan's most prominent wealthy families, and he has just taken over the Suoh empire following the passing of his father. He is also married, she learns to her dismay, to a woman chosen for him by his mother.
"She thinks it unsuitable for a bachelor to run the family," he says with a glitter of amusement in his eyes. "But she refuses to admit that I'm quite unsuitable for other reasons as well."
"What possible reasons could there be?" she asks him, enchanted just listening to him speak. Though his French is impeccable, there is a magical foreign lilt to his words that she finds intoxicating. She sits with her chin propped up on her hands, staring across the small table in the Grantaine estate's rose garden at him. He is still dressed as remarkably as ever, as though he is attending a cocktail party rather than playing escort to a lovestruck French girl.
"Well, I'm not conventional, for one," he says, and she takes that he means having flings with other women when he goes away on business. "I know eventually I'll grow up and become the kind of man she sees fit for succeeding my father. But for now, she is rarely pleased with me."
"I can't imagine you ever being the kind of man any mother would see fit," she tells him, and he gives that deep, amiable laugh once more. She gets stuck in the world of his glittering brown eyes, and barely notices when he pulls her across the table to kiss her passionately, drawing her to him. It's a kind of passion she has never experienced from the awkward suitors that have courted her in the past, the kind of passion she supposes comes from an affair between two bored rich people looking for something new. They are both young and oh-so frivolous, and when he begins to undo her blouse, somehow she doesn't care. His warm hand slides across her flesh and leaves a tingle behind, and she is powerless to resist the things his touch kindles in her.
XXX
Weeks pass, scattering like the petals of the roses he so often gives her when he comes to call in the evenings. They make love almost more than they go out now, it seems, because there is a fire between them that neither can possibly extinguish. They meet in secret, most often in the gazebo in the rose garden, and they intertwine with a passion that is almost terrifying. He knows exactly how to please her, and she has never felt so unbelievably happy around anyone before
She begins to realize, as the weeks unravel into months, that things cannot always be this way. This is a simple fling, not a real relationship. She has to tell herself this constantly, when he looks deeply into her eyes and she feels that connection that she cannot sever, when he catches fireflies for her or brings her roses. He is full of surprises and so much more playfulness than the other men she knows. Falling for him is unwise, and she knows it, but she cannot help it. A love begins to grow deep within her, burning with a kind of steadfast hope within her heart. Maybe things really can stay this way?
"Anne?" he asks her in the silence of a warm, rose-scented afternoon as they lie in each other's arms among the blossoms, clothing still carelessly pushed aside from their lovemaking. She lifts her eyes to his and finds them watching her intently. She blushes for a moment, and is furious with herself for this reaction, as she has been nearly every time she has allowed it.
"Yes, Yuzuru?" she replies, and is aware of the warmth that radiates from his gaze.
"I do believe I've gone and fallen in love with you," he says in a voice so very sincere that for a moment she nearly cries. Instead, she falls gratefully into his embrace and relishes the feeling of his heart beating against hers, of his tender lips on her forehead.
"I love you too."
XXX
She has known that the fairy tale cannot last, but when it falls apart she is stunned, almost to the point where she feels as if she is floating. His eyes are devoid of their usual glitter and he holds her at arm's length, a kind of sadness etched into his youthful features.
"I have to go back to Japan tomorrow," he says in an unusually solemn tone. "I've been asked to act as superintendent to a private school that my family helped finance. It's a rather prestigious school, and it really isn't an offer I can refuse."
"I see," her heart is shattered to pieces, and she knows that she is losing him. She cannot come along, because there is no place for a silly French mistress in the normal life of a wealthy man of status like Yuzuru. The affair screeches to a halt just as the leaves begin to turn brilliant reds and yellows, and her heart falls with them. "I suppose this is… goodbye then."
"For now," his smile is a sad one, and he holds her close for a moment before backing away. She desperately wants to hold onto the luminous world they have created, but she feels it slipping from her grasp. She wants to scream like a madwoman and cling to it, but it is hopeless. "But my heart will always be here with you."
She allows the tears to come, allows all of her weakness to escape as she clings to him, as she holds onto this goodbye with everything she has left in her power.
"I know you'll be busy with balls and high society life," he says, and a familiar glitter comes back into his eyes. "But remember… save a dance for me."
XXX
A few weeks after he leaves, she learns that she is pregnant. A bit of the hopelessness drifts away, and rather than obsessing over Yuzuru she focuses on caring for her unborn child. Nine months fly by quickly, and though she feels the disapproving stares of the other high society ladies on her, she is happy. There is a piece of him left, after all.
The child is born healthy and surprisingly energetic. She names him Rene Richard Grantaine, but then adds in "Tamaki Suoh" in respect for his Japanese heritage. Rene Tamaki Richard Grantaine Suoh. The name has a magical kind of sound to it. She takes to calling him Tamaki, because the name is beautiful and wonderfully exotic, and it's not long before, to the disapproval of her mother, he is answering solely to the name. She forgets her loneliness completely now, as Tamaki is her little angel who loves her as dearly as she loves him. He is a bright, excitable child with her blonde hair and indigo eyes, but his father's nature. He gains the adoration of everyone he comes into contact with, and he is the height of excitement in the Grantaine estate.
She spends her days with Tamaki, though he does need time with his tutors and finishing lessons. They lie mostly in the garden and talk to each other, and he often surprises her with roses that make her squeal with delight. They are entirely wrapped up in each other, and she finds once more the contented happiness she had with Yuzuru. Life takes on a colorful joy, and once more she lives a fairy tale.
When Tamaki is seven, her health begins to fail. He spends every moment with her and reads her books, giving up his much-needed playtime in favor of keeping her happy. She feels guilt for taking so much from him, but he will have none of her suggestions that he arrange playdates with other children.
"I will stay with you as long as you need me," he assures her, and it brings tears to her eyes.
When Tamaki is fourteen, the family has spent so much on her medical bills that they begin to go in debt. Yuzuru's mother contacts her unexpectedly, and makes her an offer that if she sends Tamaki to Japan to be "properly educated", the Suoh family will assure that her medical expenses will always be taken care of, and they will find her a position that will keep her financially secure. She would rather die than give Tamaki up, but he has his own ideas.
"I'll go, mother," he tells her with resolution in his eyes. He is a playful and sensitive teenager, but wise beyond the expectations of those around him. Somehow, he knows about the offer, and he has contacted the Suohs and accepted without telling her. She holds him close, and weeps for the first time in fourteen years as she watches her son leave for Japan, to become Tamaki Suoh and take up the life that has been chosen for him.
XXX
The years pass, and she hears from Yuzuru often, though Tamaki is forbidden from contacting her. However, Yuzuru tells her every tiny detail in their son's life. He is popular in school, he is excelling in his lessons, and he has many friends. He has even started what Yuzuru calls a host club, much to her amusement, and it fills her with joy to hear of her son's life. Yuzuru sends her pictures, and she spends much of her time thinking about him between her duties.
"Tamaki is doing well," Yuzuru constantly tells her on the phone. He tells her of his plans to see Tamaki wed to a member of his 'host club', and she listens with some amusement. Yuzuru is too afraid to go against his mother's wishes, but Anne Sophie wants nothing more than to see him and her son. She makes a wish as she closes her eyes every night that this thing will come to pass, but every day is devoid of them. She begins to lose hope
The spring season begins, and she is busy helping the Tonerre family prepare for the spring ball. It all excites her so much, and when the night of the ball finally appears, she dresses in the gown she wore the night she met Yuzuru on an afterthought. There is something nostalgic about it, and though her mother has long since passed away, she twists her hair into a bun and turns down dance after dance from attractive suitors who obviously do not know she is merely a servant.
She is more annoyed than she wants to admit when she feels someone tug her hair from behind as her hair slips down past her shoulders and tickles her back. Trying to move away, she is suddenly frozen as a hand, warm and strong, grips her arm. And then a soft voice speaks into her ear with all the tenderness her life has so long been devoid of.
"Make sure to save a dance for me."