Chapter One

She expected to feel colder. The air near her face was chilly, but her body was wrapped up with blankets in a snug, familiar way. She wiggled her toes, finding her nerves awakening, slowly electrifying her sin. Her eyes subtly adjusted to the darkness, and she saw a shadow in the farthest corner from her, like it was scared to approach her. It was a man; she could tell by his tall and broad silhouette crouched on his ankles, knuckles on the hardwood floor, balancing himself. The rumble of a nearby train shook the bed she was in and as the vehicle lights reflected across the walls in passing, it was too painfully clear where she was.

Chikako Ootori-Akiyoshi, newly wedded wife and business partner to Kyoya Ootori-Akiyoshi, was back in the bedroom of the teenage love of her life, Jake Lawrence. She moved her eyes back to the silhouette. His hair, his composure, even his barely audible sigh was all so classic Jake that she wanted to cry. Licking her lips, she opened her mouth to speak, but a soft, strained squeak was all that emerged from her scratchy, dry throat.

The silhouette jerked awake and those bright green eyes shone through the darkness, the same eyes that made her homesick for something he could no longer provide. He shifted his weight as he stood, like he wanted to approach her but something was pulling him back. He seemed to cling to the wall and the first thing Chikako heard was English. Having not spoken it in a while, the memories came back too suddenly, deluging her with the past.

"I'm sorry, Chi-Chi."

Mr. Ootori cracked his knuckles loudly, breaking the silence in the room. "Now onto more pressing matters; Chikako is a flight risk. We've known this from the start, but the extent was unclear until last night."

Finally, after hours of business planning and wedding clean-up conversations, each one leading nowhere important, Kyoya looked up and spoke in response to his father's reference of his new wife. "You're implying Chikako ran away?" It was not meant to be a question, despite its implication.

"Of course she ran away, Kyoya," Mr. Ootori exclaimed, laughing humorlessly as if it was so obvious. "What could have happened to a young, unhappy bride who-?"

"Who said she was unhappy?" Kyoya interjected.

Mrs. Akiyoshi sighed. "She never wanted to marry you, Kyoya. I'm terribly sorry, but that's the truth. She resented the marriage from day one. Wasn't it obvious? I mean, how did she respond to your, er, wedding ni-?"

Kyoya interrupted her with a swift, "Nothing happened."

Mr. Ootori rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Maybe that's why she ran off."

Kyoya shot his father a bold glare that was not well received .While the two silently battled it out, Mrs. Akiyoshi rung her hands together, nervously. "Could we refocus on finding my daughter? She has a modeling job after her 'honeymoon,' which is cancelled, I presume?"

Mr. Akiyoshi laughed, harshly. "I paid for a cruise for two and my daughter better be on that boat with her husband by next week." He held his wife's hand, the only display of affection he ever allowed. "We'll find her and bring her back." Out of the corner of his eye, Mr. Akiyoshi glanced at Kyoya and the young man knew that it was up to him to find Chikako.

Kyoya stood up. "She couldn't have run away because all of her things are still in her room."

"Perhaps she was in a hurry," Mrs. Ootori suggested.

"She forgot her phone and pictures. Those would have been her first choices," Kyoya explained, calmly, remembering the day he helped her pack for their honeymoon. She had unabashedly thrown clothes, lingerie, and shoes past him into her never-ending array of suitcases. She had pointed out to him how she never traveled without her phone or photographs on her mirror. "I believe she was taken by the same American terrorists that intervened last time." He turned to his father and father-in-law. "Do either of you have a problem with anyone in America? The Stanford University area, perhaps?"

"Stanford?" Mr. Ootori echoed, suspiciously. "Why so specific?"

"Chikako told me that's where the drug they used on her came from. She heard them talking about the experimental drug during her rare moment of wake."

Mrs. Akiyoshi gasped. "Experimental?!"

Mr. Ootori pressed his lips together as Kyoya silently considered how little the Akiyoshi's knew about their daughter's last kidnapping. "Our company once tried to go global in the Western hemisphere, so we started in California, but the budgets for the operation backfired so we had to pull out."

Kyoya knew where this was going. "How many jobs were lost?"

Mr. Ootori held his chin to hide his shame. "Almost three hundred."

Mr. Akiyoshi gave a low whistle. "That's a large chunk of angry, unemployed people on your hands, Yoshio. I can easily see one of those men orchestrating a kidnapping of this caliber, can't you?"

Mr. Ootori clasped his hands together, controlled. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

Kyoya shook his head before his father-in-law could answer. "It isn't about who's at fault; it's about who's going to fix this. First off, if there wasn't a scream or struggle, Chikako must have known her kidnapper. At least, that's my take on the situation. Was there anyone in America she befriended?"

Mr. Akiyoshi shook her head. "We never went to America. Regardless, she wasn't all that skilled at English, either."

Kyoya knew that that was a lie and he realized how large a mystery Chikako really was to her parents. From their tutoring sessions, Chikako was a better English speaker than Kyoya, accent, slang, and all. She also was genuinely attached to pictures, so she couldn't have left them behind willingly. Kyoya wished he knew more about her past, because it would help him find her now. Her parents were going to be of absolutely no help, though.

Mr. Ootori pulled Mrs. Akiyoshi aside while Kyoya and his father-in-law discussed Chikako's situation. Mrs. Akiyoshi unintentionally shied away from the man as he spoke to her in hushed tones. She reminded him so much of Chikako, except she was smart enough to know when and when not to speak. There was still just as much fire as Chikako in her eyes, however. "What about this boy, Jacob Lawrence?" Mr. Ootori whispered.

Mrs. Akiyoshi's eyes widened. "How did you-?"

"This boy has been avidly trying to contact your daughter for two years. You would think someone, after a while, would take the hint and move on. I believe he's obsessive compulsive toward Chikako and he could be capable of doing something like this."

Mrs. Akiyoshi shook her head. "Sure, I never approved of him, but I don't think he could…I mean, he loved Chikako. Why would he…?"

"How would we go about getting in touch with this boy?" Mr. Ootori asked.

"Chikako's cell-phone, I presume. He should be in there as a contact."

"Then I'll get him on the phone," Mr. Ootori ordered. "We'll track him from there. We'll get our daughter back."

Mrs. Akiyoshi huffed, indignantly. "We'll get Chikako back all right, but no marriage between children will ever make her your daughter as well, understood?"

She spun on her heel and marched back to her husband, leaving Mr. Ootori to acknowledge how alike Mrs. Akiyoshi really was to her rebellious, outspoken daughter. A small, crinkled smirk yanked the edge of his mouth briefly before he returned to the conversation at hand.

Something hit her and Chikako found her strength to sit up again. Her head pounded, stomach churned, nerves tingled, and spots shot across her eyes, but her anger forced her to grip through it. Scrambling for the right language, she finally stuttered in English, "Y-You drugged me!"

Jake's face fell in the moonlight. "Yes, I…I did."

There was a long pause in which Chikako tossed the covers off of her. She was in a new pair of pajamas, a pair she specifically remembered leaving at Jake's before. She was so angry that the chilly air did nothing to her red hot complexion. "D-Do you know what t-that drug does to me?" she spat through gnashed teeth. "I shut down, I can't sleep, can't breathe, can't think! I was just getting better…" she trailed off, remembering all her nightmares, her tutoring sessions she braved through, snapping at Kyoya and him just taking it like—

Kyoya.

She immediately looked down at her left hand to see that blinding gold wedding ring. Rubbing the metal on her ring finger, she whispered, "I'm married."

Jake's brow furrowed and eyes narrowed, as if betrayed. "I know."

Chikako tried to remember Kyoya's face, Haruhi's smile, the twins' laughter… She shook her head in a daze, telling herself over and over that she would be back there with all of them soon. "Why am I here?" she whispered. "Is it for you? For us? Did you miss me?" she narrowed her eyes. "Or is this for someone else entirely?"

Jake was quiet, biting his lip in worried thought. His face was pale, his eyes were glistening whenever the headlights of a car outside flashed at his green irises, and Chikako had to bite her own lip to keep herself from yearning for everything he was. Not again, she told herself. She swallowed hard and her crackled voice rasped, "I'm such an idiot, you're such a traitor, and I just want to go home."

"You used to think of here as home," Jake murmured.

Chikako felt the comment pierce her throbbing heart. "Jake…"

"Chi-Chi, listen, I…" he sighed. "I just wanted to see you again. I never meant to hurt you and I won't let them touch you, either. I still love you, Chi, you've got to believe me."

Her head's inner storm was too much to bear, the drug's effects rattling her brain in her skull, but still she couldn't stop herself. "You drugged me, Jake! Kidnapped me on my wedding night!"

He gripped his hair and started to pace the room. "I know, I know, I'm sorry."

"When are they coming?"

Jake knew who she was referring to and he shook his head. "They won't stay for long. You're…" he wrinkled his nose. "Their 'insurance.' I'm supposed to keep you hidden and safe."

"So, you're my jailor," Chikako remarked, dryly.

He shrugged. "I guess so, yeah." Cracking that old familiar smirk, he added, "At least I'm not some fat old man jingling his keys drunkenly and only feeding you scraps, right?"

Despite her fear, anger, and pain, Chikako found herself giggling. "No, you are certainly not that." There was a pause. "So, I'm really back in England, in your flat, your bed…" She was more so speaking to herself, remembering the love and vast warmth this room once emitted. She hugged the blanket to herself and turned to look Jake in the eye.

He took a deep breath. "You've changed, Chi-Chi. You're very calm, sober, and … oh I don't know, I feel like you're planning something quite clever. I can't tell what you're thinking anymore and that…that scares me a bit."

She smiled, thinly. "Sounds like my fiancé. Well…I mean… my husband?" It was odd to refer to him with such an intimate title. It seemed to almost fit—almost.

Jake looked down at his feet. "You love him now instead of me, I guess?"

She looked away.

"Do you love him?"

Chikako chuckled. "I barely even like him, Jake."

He didn't smile back. "Do you love him?" he repeated, slowly.

She pressed her lips together, the smile fading as every essence of Kyoya flooded her mind, her every thought and feeling encasing her in a sea of complacency, cleverness, and tangy warmth. She remembered every smug smirk, hospitable word spoken to a client, their many countless arguments about the social structure of the Middle East or the presidential election in America. They could ramble and debate about any topic for hours on end, and he aggravated her sometimes like no other, but still…

She shook her head. "I don't know."

Jake considered this answer and the two sat in anxious silence. Finally, he nodded and started toward the door. "Then that's that, I guess."

Chikako clutched the covers to her chest, eyes wide. "Jake, wait!"

He paused, hand on the doorknob, frozen in place. "Why? I've waited all this time and look where that got me." When Chikako was silent, he glanced back over his shoulder, finishing his thought, "An ex-girlfriend stolen away from me that I worked so hard to find and win back who might be in love with someone else. Bloody peachy, isn't it? Like a fuckin' fairytale!"

Before she could say anything in her own defense, he was gone, door slamming behind him, the lock echoing across the room. She was petrified, like she had been slapped hard in the face. In a way, she had been. Times like this, Chikako would have wished for Jake. Now, she didn't know who or what she wanted, but it wasn't this.

She curled back into her blankets, squeezing her eyes shut and slowly inhaling the confusingly lovely scent of Jake. The throbbing in her head never steadied and she heard herself softly moan in pain, the sound bouncing off the four walls around her. She yearned for a peppermint and perhaps some instant coffee the Club made. But she would have to do without. To think she had spent the entire year wishing to be back with Jake, back in London, in that room, in that bed again, smelling that aroma…

But not like this. Never like this…

A/N: Hello again, my lovely readers! As always, reviews are highly appreciated, so let me know what you loved, hated, or where impartial to in this chapter; also, let me know what you're looking forward to and what you expect in this sequel! Hope your school years are going well!

~ Kit Koko