A/N: Hi all, thanks for all your reviews and +alerts, it means a lot :) Also, after reading the manga I realised that I sort of prematurely wrote the part about her travelling to England as she got all this training. Well, this will happen but just not right now. Here is the next installment, enjoy.
Unexpected Gift
Chapter 3
Misaki watched as her son had completed his fifth 1000 piece puzzle. She was certain that he'd only been given that puzzle yesterday...it dumbfounded her just how smart he was. Even she herself had tried doing a puzzle of that magnitude for something to do at home when she was still in high school but it had taken her weeks to complete.
After a month of continuous recommendations from Hiroki's playgroup, she realised that he was too smart to be hindered there and so she organised for a tutor to be with him during the week. She wondered if she was making a mistake by doing what had been done to Takumi, but it was for the best, wasn't it?
It took Misaki weeks to think it over but she knew it was the best for him. Even though she had come from a poor family and her ideals told her not to accept yet another thing from that man, could she really hold back Hiroki's life because she refused to get help from someone of high status?
After all, Tora Igarashi was the one paying for the best tutor in town (for Hiroki's currently level) but she still wondered, why was he going to these lengths to help her like this?
When she looked at Hiroki, she saw a young boy who would turn into a gifted man that she couldn't selfishly keep to herself. Not for long anyway.
"He's very dejected," said the tutor as she walked up to Misaki. "But brilliant, I think."
It was the tutor's third day and she was reluctant to leave him alone but at the tutor's insistence, she had to stop popping her head in during sessions.
Misaki nodded at the tutor. She was in her mid thirties, Misaki surmised, but she was friendly and appeared to be good with Hiroki.
"I must say, I'm surprised. He is by far the smartest child of his age that I have ever tutored but he is the most quiet and can function quite well individually," said the tutor, smiling at Misaki.
Misaki nodded again, not really listening to what she was saying. "Mrs Yako, please tell me he'll be okay-"
"Oh there's no need to worry about Mr Igarashi's family member," said Mrs Yako, placing a hand on Misaki's shoulder. "You seem quite attached to Hiroki despite only being a friend of Tora's."
She ignored the comment, telling herself to not let it get to her.
After Tora had convinced her that a tutor was best and that she couldn't allow his progress to be stunted because she was being stubborn and not accepting his help, she agreed that Hiroki would be known as Hiroki Igarashi (not legally - but on paper). Hiroki Igarashi was Tora's cousin's son and that's the story they stuck to, even if there was a change of tutor.
She was his MOTHER! Misaki wanted to voice, but knew she couldn't. If anyone knew of her true relation to Hiroki, Takumi Usui would find out straight away and that didn't bode well for her if Takumi found out via people whom associated with the rich and famous rather than from her.
Misaki sighed. "Yes, I suppose you could say that. I am just caring for him for now but I just worry. I'll be studying in the kitchen so let me know if you need anything," explained Misaki as she walked over and placed a kiss on Hiroki's head.
He was in the middle of doing some mathematics, writing down a result on the page. He was already up to that stage at five years old.
"Hiroki, honey, I'll be in the kitchen. You okay?" she asked, causing his green eyes to look up at her and give her a small reassuring smile.
"Yes okaa-chan," he said before going back to his work.
Misaki nodded, squeezed his shoulder and walked off, closing the door to his bedroom behind her.
OOO-OOO
Misaki felt nervous about this supposed 'office party' that she was meant to go to tonight. She'd asked Tora what she was supposed to wear and what she was supposed to do when suddenly Takumi's old friends from Miyabigaoka High School (whom had tried befriending Takumi as soon as he started there five years ago) showed up at her door.
They barged in and straight away began snooping around the place, making off handed comments at how plain her living area was.
Tenryuu Arashiyama looked over at Misaki with an odd gleam in his eye and began to unbutton his shirt. Misaki's eyes widened as he comically ripped it off and began racing toward her, which didn't take him long since he was only metres away.
It was a blast from the past, since she had seen him do this several times to her sister whom he believed was the epitome of beauty and often chased her around Seika High School with his hair and beauty products.
He stopped in front of her, the others giggling in the background, his face becoming very close to her own as he inspected her features.
"Gomen, Ayuzawa-san," he said, closing his eyes and stepping back a bit, placing his index finger and thumb to his chin in deep thought. "You are...BEAUTY ITSELF!"
Kaon Umekouji sighed and Misaki whom was sweat dropping from Arashiyama's antics, noticed that the girl was still holding that ridiculous teddy bear as she strode around the room, still snooping around.
Tomu Umekouji tried not to take any notice of his friends as he laid on Misaki's couch and listened to his music, his usual headphones that he'd had since high school were adorned over his ears.
"I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT SUCH A SPECIMEN HAD BEEN HERE ALL ALONG!" exclaimed Tenryuu, dancing around Misaki in a childish manner.
Li Yi Hua smiled, watching as her husband danced around like an idiot before stopping in front of Misaki once more, a serious expression on his face.
"But alas, its time to get to work-"
Misaki was over the nostalgia and finally got her head back into gear. "I'm sorry, Arashiyama-san, but I'm fine, honestly. I can get ready on my own," said Misaki, her face determined not to get help from people she rarely saw. Especially them.
She had seen them over the years, due to her association with Tora but not to the extent to know them well enough for this type of situation to play out.
Kaon groaned, her face almost in pain at looking at some photos of Misaki and her son that sat on her kitchen table. "We don't care. Igarashi-kun wishes for you to attend this event which mind you is no small affair and therefore you must look the part even though you never will."
Misaki narrowed her eyes at this comment. She knew what Tora's friends thought of her but she truly did not care one ounce. She was her own person, she knew she didn't belong in the world of the rich and famous. It was Tora whom kept dragging her into it, not her.
"That being said, we will try our best. You will accept the help because you need it. While we're here, you will need to learn some things before tonight," explained Kaon further, her eyes focused on the girl in question.
Misaki's hands clenched into fists by her side, her eyes closed in silent rage at their incredulous demands.
"Firstly, I am doing this as a favor for Tora. Secondly, I don't need to learn anything! I won't be striking many conversations with anyone and therefore, will not be talking about things I have no idea about. And thirdly...why are you still carrying around that stupid teddy bear?!" exclaimed Misaki, the last comment was purely out of curiosity.
This started a full blown arguement. "Nani?!" screamed Kaon, rushing over to Misaki as the two began to argue about unnecessary and irrelevant things.
Li began to sweat drop and went over to sit on the couch with Kaon's brother whom was ignoring the whole situation. It was Tenryuu who came in the middle of the two girls to stop them wasting precious time. He was going to make Misaki look like a beautiful maiden and no one would get in his way of beauty.
"Enough! We have precious little time. Kaon, sit over there with the others while I work out the colours I am going to use," said Tenryuu.
Kaon huffed but eventually did as he asked, muttering insults as she plopped herself onto the opposite couch, her teddy bear in hand.
Misaki eyed Kaon the whole way and then set her eyes on Tenryuu.
"Lets get started."
Misaki was about to voice her objections once more when Tenryuu placed his hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Let us do this. After everything Tora has done for you, at least give him this," he said seriously.
These words alone stopped her dead in her tracks because she knew he was right. Finally she nodded once and he smiled.
OOO-OOO
Misaki stared at herself through the full length mirror in her room which was behind the door of her wardrobe. Her brown orbs went from her high heel open toed black strapped shoes up until she looked into the mirror at her face.
The dress alone that she wore was something she'd never dreamed of wearing in her life. It was black, the straps sat a bit down from her shoulders and had a sweet heart shape around the breast area. It hugged her form tightly around the middle and all the way to her legs with a slit down one side. The back had black lace which had a gap going from her lower back in a 'v' shape up to her neck, so was very exposed. More than Misaki liked but she had to do this for Tora.
She had a simple heart shaped necklace on, one that she'd had since high school, not realising (since she'd worn it for so long) that it was the one that had been given to her from Takumi when they'd played the 'couple' game at the festival a long time ago.
Her hair was pulled up and was in a loose bun to one side. And her makeup was lightly done with a slight bit of foundation around her face. Her eye liner was thick at the top, to accentuate her eyes more and flicked up in the corners and her eyeshadow, a light brown colour.
Never in a million years had she ever expected to look so...so girly. She really did look respectable and she was probably able to at least fit in with the other women who would undoubtedly be at this party.
Misaki stopped her admiration of Tenryuu's work and looked at her watch. It was 6.00pm, almost time for a car to pick her up. She walked out to the kitchen, grabbed her black satin clutch and pulled out her phone.
She dialed a number and Satsuki answered. "Konbanwa, this is Satsuki," said her old Manager on the phone.
"Hey, Satsuki-chan," smiled Misaki though the phone.
"Oh! Misaki-chan! How are you? Are you ready?" asked the older woman.
"Yes. Can I please speak to Hiroki?"
"Oh of course, dear. Hang on," replied Satsuki before she heard some rummaging over the other line.
"Okaa-chan?" asked a voice from the other line.
"Roki! Are you okay, honey?" asked Misaki, worry in her voice at leaving her son on his own for the night with Satsuki.
"Yes, I'm okay," he said quietly.
"Are you sure? You'll be okay for the night? I'll be coming to get you around eleven thirty but I'll try and come sooner-"
"Its okay, Okaa-chan, I'm doing homework. Yako-sensei believes it will take me all week to finish these problems but I'm already half way though," he said solemnly.
Misaki smiled again at just how lucky she was to have a good boy. "Don't forget to have fun, why don't you watch a movie?"
"I don't really like Hyoudou-chan's movies, they're weird," explained Hiroki to which she could hear Satsuki start exclaiming about how beautiful they were in the background and then began to cry and whine.
"They're beautiful and full of love and romance! Oh what would a boy of your age know about love, you are yet to have the experience!"
Misaki laughed at her old Manager, remembering how Satsuki always went on about her romance novels and movies.
"I understand, honey. Well please try to enjoy yourself. Play your ipad for a while," said Misaki as the bell rang at the door. "Mummy loves you Roki, I've got to go, I'll see you tonight."
"Love you, bye bye," said Hiroki before the line went dead.
Misaki walked to the door, placing her closed phone into her clutch. She opened the door to reveal Kanade Maki. He politely smiled, not really even looking at her to which she was thankful for. She hated people staring at her and she had a feeling there was going to be quite a bit of that tonight. She shut the door behind her as they walked to the car.
OOO-OOO
Misaki and Tora Igarashi agreed to come separately because she didn't want people to get the wrong idea about their relationship. She got the feeling he was slightly miffed about it, but he agreed all the same.
As she entered the large well established and upper class art gallery, she knew that Tora had forgotten to mention something.
"I thought...I thought this was just a small office function," hissed Misaki to Kanade as they were greeted by two young men wearing what she could easily describe as butler uniforms. But these uniforms had a penguin tail at the back, making them look more sophisticated and formal.
Maki smiled at her naivety and low class ideals.
"Not at all. This is the quarterly financial party that the Igarashi's put on every three months. The purpose is to let all the share holders know about how Igarashi Financial is going for the year, however, it has branched out to be a gathering of the rich and famous and anyone who associates with the Igarashi's are welcome," explained Maki with a knowing smirk.
Misaki inwardly cringed. She was so not prepared for this. She'd got a bit of training from Kaon, Li and Tenryuu about current events, practiced some dancing and mannerisms but nothing really was going to prepare her for what was to come.
They walked through the art gallery and passed a few high level dignitaries and a few famous people whom she recognised and whom were having a brief look at some art before entering the main event. Some of them greeted Maki but they continued onward with Maki making the excuse that they needed to head on to speak with the CEO.
As they entered the main function area, it was filled with various groups of people with flutes of champagne in their hands. Their eyes began to linger on the new arrivals, as was a normal practice, however, a few of them - mostly male - lingered more than necessary on Misaki.
Her cheeks began to tint a rosy colour from the attention she was getting and suddenly regretted allowing Tenryuu to do what he'd done to her.
There was some classical music in the air from the band which played up the back of the hall. It was very dignified and classy and everyone seemed to be talking and laughing. It was probably a better atmosphere than she was expecting.
"You made it then," said a voice from behind her. It was Tora Igarashi.
Misaki smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said but as she noticed Tora's gaze began to scan her body her cheeks began to heat up. The look in his eye was not something she liked to see.
"Y-you look beautiful, Misaki," he said, his eyes now back on her face, not even noticing Maki standing next to her.
She smiled awkwardly and nodded. "Arigatou," she said quietly.
She allowed her own gaze to cast itself on Tora. He wore a black, expensive looking suit with a black shirt and white tie. He was handsome looking and could understand why quite a few women were eying him right about now.
But to Misaki, it was like looking at her brother dressing up for a formal.
He grabbed her hand and linked his arm with hers as he walked over to the bar.
"Tora, I don't want people to get the wrong idea," whined Misaki, looking up at him as they walked slowly up to the queue.
Tora nodded and let her go. "Before you get settled in, I need to tell you something," he said solemnly, looking down at her.
Misaki frowned, what could it be that would make Tora so worried.
"Takumi Usui is here."
OOO-OOO
Takumi Usui hated these events, however he had to keep up appearances. Unfortunately, his family had ties with the Igarashi's, much to his dislike and so, since he was here in town he had to attend.
As Reika and himself entered the function area to the party, he noticed all the government dignitaries, some recognised leaders of some very influential and successful companies and some rich and famous stars.
Almost as soon as he entered, people started talking to him as if they knew him.
So yes, he hated these events immensely. The most popular question was about Reika and her association with him. She always boasted that she was his fiance, much to his chagrin.
Half an hour passed and just as he'd gotten a drink, another group of people felt the need to talk to him about life in England and whether certain companies were going to be favored by the Walkers and what that meant for the economy.
He was facing the door when his eyes widened slightly at whom just entered the room. She wore the tightest dress he'd ever seen, which accentuated all her features to a point where the blood in his body seemed to start gathering in one place. He swore to god her breasts were bigger too, remembering how they weren't exactly big when he'd left for England.
And as she turned to talk to Tora Igarashi, he noticed how much skin she was showing on her back.
It was Misaki Ayazawa and now she was being led by Tora to the bar, noticing how Tora grabbed her hand and linked her arm with his.
"-Usui-san?"
Takumi frowned and looked over at the man. He didn't even know whom he was speaking to or what he'd asked.
"Uh, gomen, excuse me a moment, would you? I'll be right back, Reika," he said quickly before rushing off.
He had to go to the bathroom and gather his thoughts. What the hell was she doing here?
OOO-OOO
Tora had spotted Usui straight away and his mind hit the panic stations. He was sure that Usui wouldn't attend but with all the preparations for the event it had totally slipped his mind at the possibility.
Misaki hadn't arrived yet and he couldn't very well tell Maki to take her back home. She was probably going to arrive any minute, anyway. He couldn't lie to her about it since she would eventually spot him.
The only solution was to tell her the truth and hope that would cause her to leave before any conversation could be had between the two. She loathed Usui so there was no chance that she would willingly talk to him.
The situation wasn't that bad though, it would also serve as a nasty reminder to Usui that he was no longer a part of her life.
When she arrived, to say that he was knocked off his feet was an understatement. She was so beautiful, she clearly had no idea at how she looked to people. He cursed Tenryuu for picking out such a dress since it would cast the spotlight on her.
As he greeted Misaki, he looked across the room to see that Usui's green orbs were fixated on her. And so he grabbed Misaki's hand and linked her arm with his, guiding her to the bar to get a drink.
"You're joking, right?" hissed Misaki, angrily looking up at him. "You-you said you'd keep him away!"
Tora nodded. "I know, I know. I didn't expect him to show up, to be honest," he said, his eyes full of regret. "I understand if you want to leave-"
Misaki's eyes widened, taking it as a challenge.
"No. I'm not going to leave. I don't care about Takumi Usui, if he wants to be here so be it. I'm here for you, Tora. I have a debt to you and I won't leave because that man is here," she said in low tones, looking up into his eyes with determination.
Although she sounded tough, on the inside, she was quivering in fear. What if Usui found out about Hiroki? What if he went up to her and humiliated her?
All she could do is wait and see, there was no use dwelling on it now. She turned to scan the room and as she did, she saw a tall young man with blonde spiky hair rush to the bathroom. She didn't see his face so it could have been anyone.
Tora held a bewildered expression since his plan wasn't working. "Are you sure? I don't mind, I have other ways to collect my payment," he smirked, moving forward as the line progressed.
Misaki nodded. "I'm sure. He doesn't get to me...he doesn't." Liar.
OOO-OOO
Tora reluctantly left her to her own devices for a few minutes, apologising and asked that Maki wait with her. They stood there silently while the music played elegantly and the background chatter filled their silence.
Suddenly some people came up to Maki and began to make conversation about the Igarashi company. It was when the conversation turned more social that they smiled at Misaki and included her in conversation, to which she responded well. Just as she'd been instructed to do.
"And you're a good friend of Igarashi-kun?" asked the elderly man whom apparently was the CEO of a rival financial company.
Misaki smiled and nodded. "Yes, we're friends," she replied, looking over at Maki whose smile reminded her of a snake's. Just what was he thinking?
"Ah I see! Tell me more about yourself, how did you meet him?" asked the man curiously, clearly Misaki had been the subject of a lot of gossip tonight.
Misaki pursed her lips, thinking of an answer that would please them.
"In high school, actually," said a voice from behind her, whom then stood beside her.
Their eyes moved from her to the person next to her. She looked up and her eyes widened at the sight.
Takumi Usui. "Ah! Usui-san, do you also know Ayuzawa-san?"
Usui nodded and then his eyes landed on her surprised ones. Her surprise soon passed as inwardly, she wished it were just the two of them in the room so she could really get violent.
But her violence was in the past, however, she could dream, couldn't she?
Their gaze deepened and if you could see it, there would have been sparks. And on Misaki's end, they weren't not nice ones.
"Ayuzawa-san?" asked one of the group.
This caused Misaki to come back to reality. She turned and smiled. "Hai. We used to be friends, a long time ago," she said distantly but to Usui, it sounded sad.
"But then things happened and we lost touch. It turned out that we were very different people and misunderstandings were inevitable," she continued on before smiling. "Gomen, if you'll excuse me, I must go to the powder room."
Usui was surprised at her reaction. If it were the old her, she would have flown off the handle at him not caring if she embarrassed herself or others. But the woman walking away now acted as though she didn't care for him one aota. She was a survivor, she was strong. She was still very much the woman he loved.
"Sorry, I must take my leave," he said quickly, not even looking at them and walked briskly after her.
"Ayuzawa!" he said, running after her.
She stopped for a moment and turned her head slowly, narrowing her eyes up at him. They stood in the hallway with no one around and it was then that Misaki knew the situation she was in.
"Don't call me that," she snarled, her true colours showing from the dignified woman back inside the function room to the woman who had been scorned by someone she'd loved.
Takumi paused with a frown. "Then what should I call you?"
"Don't call me anything and I will do the same," she said formally, turning around since she didn't want to speak to him any longer than possible.
She could feel herself reacting to him and at any moment knew she would break down. Misaki did not want him to see her cry especially knowing that it was because of him. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"I don't want to do that, Ayuzawa," he said softly, walking forward. He reached his hand out, about to touch her shoulder when she turned and swatted it away roughly.
"Don't. Don't you dare," she snapped, still looking away from him. "You think that just because you're in town that you can talk to me...pretend that we're friends and that we know each other-"
"But we do, don't we?" he said in confusion. His green orbs looked down at her and he knew...he knew that he'd caused this. She was in pain, still, from five years ago.
"No. We don't. I thought I knew a man that loved me, that always protected me and cared about me. But that man is gone. All those times that he saved me and said all those nice and wonderful things, it was all just a ruse-a lie," she said, her voice shaking.
Takumi continued to observe her and the guilt was almost too much to bear. "It wasn't a lie...he isn't gone-"
"Then why did you do that?" asked Misaki, looking up at him finally with tears in her eyes. "Why did you say what you did?"
Takumi shook his head slowly. Yes, he felt guilty, but it was all for her, couldn't she see that?! "I-"
"Actually forget it, because I just don't care anymore. Hiro-" she began but her eyes widened. She put a hand to her mouth and gasped at what she'd almost just revealed.
She was going to say 'Hiroki and I don't need you'...what a fool she was!
"Hiro?" asked Takumi, puzzled. "Ayuzawa, you don't understand-"
"What's there to understand?!" she exclaimed, her brown orbs furious and hurt.
In her mind, she was angry with herself for letting Takumi get to her like this, but, she was foolish to think that even after five years she would be over him.
"I said what I said-" began Takumi but again Misaki cut him off.
The woman was frustrating and although he was level headed and always had been, the desperation for her to find out the truth was outweighing his usual characteristics.
"I don't care!" she said, lowering her voice a little since she was getting overly worked up and didn't want someone to catch their argument. A few seconds after she said this she rushed passed him toward the function room.
He turned and raced after her. Suddenly he was in front of her, blocking her path.
Although Misaki was in heels, she was pretty sure she could take him on. And in her mind, she had it all planned out how she would do it. But she could see a few people from in the function room looking in their direction.
"Let me pass," she said quietly, trying to hold back her anger. Misaki didn't want Tora to be embarrassed by her behavior.
"No," he said nonchalantly as he moved toward her slowly. He was like a little boy with a toy he would not give up and the odd look in his eyes scared her.
"There you are, Misaki," said a familiar voice, pulling Misaki behind him.
It made her reminiscent because Takumi had done that to her so many times in the past when he'd protected her from Tora himself. And now the tables had turned.
"Oh dear, it seems Maki wasn't paying attention," said Tora with a smirk as gold eyes met green. Usui's eyes looked down at Tora's offending hand as it held Misaki behind him protectively.
The testosterone was about to reach its limit with these two staring each other down.
"Can't you see she doesn't want to talk to you?" he said. "Well, after what you did to her, can you really blame her?"
Takumi was about to reach his limit. He clenched his jaw in annoyance but his face still displayed indifference. Perhaps he had been too rash to approach her tonight, although, it had been spur of the moment since he hadn't expected her to be here.
In fact, why was she here?
"Why is she here? You have a fiance-"
"Oh yes, but so do you, right?" countered Tora, getting obvious satisfaction from Usui when his eyes widened ever so slightly and then looked down at Misaki's puzzled expression.
Misaki shouldn't have been jealous or upset by this information because of course she knew that Takumi would have had to have been with another woman since the incident five years ago.
But it did hurt. It really did.
She tried not to show that it affected her and so simply looked away. "Tora...gomen. Can I...can I go home?" she said ever so quietly, her voice almost breaking.
He could feel her head rest on his upper back and one of her hands gripped a bunch of the material on his jacket and so Tora knew that it had actually hurt her feelings - the fact that Takumi Usui had a fiance.
Tora felt regret creep into his heart at what he revealed and nodded. "Go out the back, there's a car. I have to stay though," he said softly, leaning his head toward her as he spoke.
Usui watched the exchange and for the life of him couldn't understand how Tora Igarashi had changed from the insane, playful and perverted guy he'd been in high school. He didn't look at Misaki with that possessive crazy gaze he'd once had, no, it had progressed much farther than a game.
Misaki automatically looked up into Takumi's eyes without realising that she'd given away the fact that the information she'd just learned had in fact upset her.
"Arigatou," she said softly as she walked down the hall toward a back entrance.
"Ayuzawa!" said Takumi loudly but Misaki didn't stop.
And so then he was going to let all his anger out on the person in front of him. For all his meddling and the fact that he suspected he'd had something to do with the reason why his brother was so adamant about getting rid of Misaki to begin with.
"I'm glad you sent her away, Igarashi," snapped Takumi, his eyes focused on his opponent.
Tora sneered at him. "Its funny. When you leave your girlfriend to go to England because you care more about your status in society than her, of course she'll be snatched away."
And that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
OOO-OOO
Takumi wiped some blood away from his now split lip. When did Igarashi actually get a hit in? When he was in high school, no one would be able to manage that feat. Not in a million years.
He looked over at Tora whom smirked at him, despite his red eye (which would later bruise), bruised ribs and split knuckles. Whilst Takumi only had his split lip so far.
They stood a metre or so away from each other in a combat stance, waiting for the other to attack. They were in the alleyway out behind the art gallery whilst everyone inside happily gossiped and drank the night away.
Misaki had left about ten minutes ago in the car that Tora had waiting for her.
"When you punched me in the face earlier, it gave me a reason to kick your ass," said Tora with an amused tone.
Takumi clenched his jaw, his rage at a pretty high level right about now.
"You think you can just touch her?!" exclaimed Usui as he took a few quick steps forward, then turned, jumped and round house kicked Tora in the chest.
It was too fast for Tora to block and so he was thrown backwards from the force of the kick, but managed to back roll back to his feet. Tora gripped his chest, rubbing it where Takumi had hit him.
Damn it was sore, but he couldn't show his weakness.
"Hit a sore spot, did I?" sneered Tora as he lunged forward into a boxing style stance and threw a few quick jabs to Usui's face, which he automatically blocked but then Tora slammed his fist into his stomach causing Takumi to let down his guard for a second. Tora used this moment to upper cut Takumi on the bottom of this jaw.
Takumi recovered quickly and blocked all the small jabs that Tora threw his way before side kicking him skillfully in the chest again and then turning for a round house kick again. Tora yelled in pain as was pushed back, but Takumi wasn't finished. After all, he was pissed off.
Takumi ran forward, blocking a few more punches and a kick from Tora and finally as he blocked another punch, slammed the bottom of his palm up against Tora's nose, causing it to immediately start bleeding.
Tora grabbed his nose, pulling his hand away from his face to find that there was blood on his hand. It wasn't gushing out, so it wasn't broken, but Usui was the obvious winner in this battle.
Instead of the reaction Takumi was expecting, Tora began to laugh hysterically. When he finally stopped after a few awkward seconds, he looked up to see Usui's calm yet fiery green eyes staring back at him.
"Look at us. We're grown men, leaders of companies, dressed to the nines and yet here we are fighting over that girl," said Tora with an odd smile. "And on the night of my company's quarterly party, mind you."
Takumi Usui sighed, uninterested in what they wore, who they were here with or who they were. But now that he was back to reality, his anger some what simmered to what it used to be, he couldn't believe that he'd punched Tora.
Even before when Tora always tryed to make a pass at Misaki or almost raped her in his office, he'd never gone this far. Not the point of beating him up.
But when he'd seen him keep touching her all night then Tora had revealed something he wanted to keep a secret from her and then they'd spoken to each other as if they were close - he couldn't let that slide.
And so here they were. Their jackets had long since been discarded on the ground randomly, their bloody shirts were half out of their dress pants and they were sweating.
"You knew I didn't want to push her away, that's why you said 'thank you', all those years ago," said Usui. It was a statement, not a question.
Tora's lips curled slightly. It wasn't a smirk or a smile; more of a confirmation.
"Then you shouldn't have pushed her away then-"
"You think I wanted to?! Do you have any idea- but of course you do," snarled Usui, his anger rising again.
As he looked over at Tora, whom had pulled out a white handkerchief to wipe the blood off his face, there was a calculative look in his eye. A knowing look, like, he was up to something.
"You planned it all along, right?"
Silence filled the air because Tora didn't want to confirm nor deny the allegation but he was silently letting Usui know that he was right.
"You would go that far to play a game with Misaki?! She isn't a toy!" exclaimed Usui angrily.
A few metres away, Reika had found where Takumi had gone to. She opened her mouth to voice her entrance, however, noticed the state both men were in and how they had been fighting and so stopped to listen to the conversation.
They were too focused both on each other and their thoughts to notice anything else.
"I know," said Tora, the playfulness in his voice, gone.
His golden orbs focused on his opponent's green ones and they stared each other down.
"But this game...it ended years ago. It ended when I won," said Tora his eyes full of dominance. He wiped the last of some blood off his face before throwing the cloth to the ground, unceremoniously.
"Tch. You think that, do you? If only Misaki knew that you were involved in what happened back then-"
"But she won't because you don't even know what I've done, if, I did anything that is. The fact is, Usui, everyone always thought you were the smart one; always knowing what was going on. Oh how wrong they were, if only you knew just how stupid you really are." If only you knew about your son.
"You care about her, don't you? She stopped being a game, a prize. If you really won, back then, you would have had nothing to do with her from then on. But you didn't-"
"Don't even try to guess what I'm thinking because I guarantee, you'll be wrong. I don't care about her. She's in the palm of my hand, everything she has, including herself, belongs to me. Do you know why she was here tonight? Because she was indebted to me and she always will be. She won't ever leave me, not even for you," spat Tora, attempting to keep his utter fury at bay.
He walked over, grabbed his suit jacket off the ground and shook it to get the dirt off.
Reika watched Usui, noticing that he was shaking and clenching a fist at his side but hadn't stopped glaring at Tora.
"But she'll never love you, Tora," said Usui calmly.
Tora snapped his gaze back to Usui, refraining from narrowing his eyes.
"You think I care about that?!" exclaimed Tora, roughly pulling on his jacket, seething at the gall of Takumi Usui.
"She'll always love me," said Usui before doing as Tora had done by grabbing his jacket off the ground and shaking it.
Tora stared at Usui. No more was said between the two.
They looked toward the doorway, heading toward it and no one was there.
OOO-OOO
Misaki was panicking. What was she going to do about Hiroki? Should they get out of town for a while until Takumi left? Or should they move all together?
As she was throwing things in a bag randomly, she knew she had to just leave. It was for the best. If Takumi found out, they would take Hiroki away from her.
And there was no way she could handle that.
Finally Hiroki's bag was packed and so she started on a small bag for herself. She would have to ring the University in the morning, explaining that she was going on a little trip to attend to family matters as she'd have to get an extension on her latest assignment.
OOO-OOO
"Okaa-chan?" asked Hiroki from the backseat, buckled into his car seat.
Misaki drove from Satsuki's place and tried to think of where she could go next.
After several stops at other more cheaper hotels and motels, she could finally see a hotel coming up. It was getting too late for Hiroki so she decided that this one would have to do. It wasn't overly up market but it was pretty expensive looking nonetheless.
When she got to the lobby with Hiroki hot on her heels, she ran to the reception area to book the room. Unknowingly, she didn't notice Hiroki walk off to explore the lobby area.
Hiroki sat himself onto one of the couches, noticing there was an older man lying on the opposite couch face up with an open magazine covering his face. He wore a suit, it looked disheveled and Hiroki spotted some blood on the collar of his shirt.
There was something odd about the man across from him, from his blonde spikey hair to the fact that he was lying on a couch of the lobby for no particular reason.
"Its rude to stare, kid," said the stoic voice of the man and finally decided to pull the magazine off his face and glanced over at the boy.
The man's eyes narrowed at how similar the boy looked.
"I'm not. You should clean up though, this is a hotel after all," said the boy nonchalantly as he sat in the chair and picked up a magazine to read.
"Aren't you too young for that?" said the man absently, his green orbs observing the boy's every move, curiously.
"No. Aren't you too old to be fighting?" asked the boy as his eyes scanned the first page of the magazine.
The man's eyes widened. "You could tell, huh, kid?"
The boy smiled and nodded, his green orbs matching the man's across from him.
"Tell me, where are your parents?"
"Okaa-san doesn't know I'm here and my Tou-san...well, I don't have one. Mumma just says I don't have one. I don't mind really, Toto makes up for it," smiled the boy.
"Tch. You're a weird kid, you know that?"
"Why are you down here? Don't you have a room?" asked Hiroki, his eyes looking up from the magazine.
"No. My f-friend is staying here, she asked me to meet her here."
"Friend?"
"Do you have friends, kid?"
"I have a tutor. I was too smart for play group-" began Hiroki but a shrill shriek was heard and his eyes widened knowing that his mother would probably rip him a 'new one' in a minute.
As he turned the man beside him looked up and his eyes widened.
The woman hadn't seen him yet since her eyes were focused on the boy.
"Hiroki! WHAT DID I TELL YOU?!" she exclaimed angrily, practically stomping her way over to her son.
"I'm sorry Okaa-chan," he whimpered, throwing his magazine to the ground to run over to Misaki whom was carrying two large bags.
That's when her eyes found the person on the couch.
Green orbs from the couch took in Misaki's form. She still wore the dress from earlier in the night but wore flats now and her hair was slightly more messy than earlier but it was definitely Misaki.
"M-Misaki..." he uttered before his brain could put anything together.
"T-Takumi?!" she exclaimed without thinking, not really registering the fact that Takumi looked like shit since he'd been in a fight earlier.
And then she couldn't think, except that she had to get away quickly. She grabbed Hiroki whom didn't really question her as to what she was doing since he was too busy staring at the man on the couch getting further and further away from over Misaki's shoulder.
Misaki raced around the corner to the lift. She pressed the button continuously, constantly looking to the entrance of the lift hall. She heard footsteps from the lobby which turned into a faster pace until it turned into a run.
Usui was chasing after her. He would be here any second.
She was out of time and the lift wasn't coming quick enough so she dropped the bags and just held onto Hiroki as she ran for the stairs.
Misaki held onto Hiroki tightly against her chest as she ran up the stairs two at a time.
"Misaki!" she heard him yell at the bottom of the stairs, but she was already three flights up, she was running that fast.
She watched the doors and finally came to the fifth floor.
"Mumma?" asked Hiroki but she didn't answer.
Misaki pulled out her swipe pass as she ran down the hall. She looked behind her but no one was there. She could hear quick footsteps from the stair well, however which meant that he was gaining on her. She ran until she found their room number.
565.
She inserted the key card, which flashed red. Damn it, she inserted the card too fast.
"Come on, come on," she muttered as sweat began to form on her forehead. She kept looking down the hall but Usui wasn't there yet. Thank god.
She inserted the key card once more, a bit slower and the light flashed green. She pulled the handle, opened the door and rushed inside.
She placed Hiroki down and he closed the door behind them for her. Misaki looked over at him and breathed a sigh of relief.
The only thing was, she'd left the bags downstairs. Luckily her hand bag was on her shoulder, so she at least had her licence and money, but Hiroki's pajamas and his ipad were in there. She would have to go downstairs and retrieve it.
"Okaa-chan, what's going on?" he asked, puzzled.
Misaki looked down at him, so small and innocent looking. He rubbed his hands against his eyes, showing how tired he really was, but then pulled them down and continued to wait for her reply.
He definitely was not a normal boy, normally a child his age would be crying at how tired they were or would probably throw a tantrum or something of the sort. But Hiroki just stared up at her with his stoic, unemotional face. It was cute, but certainly not normal behavior.
"Its nothing, honey. I just...felt like some late night excercise. HA HA HA!" she bellowed loudly as she lifted her arm up to show Hiroki her tiny arms and flexed them comically.
Hiroki sweat dropped and sighed. "Okay. Can I go to bed now?" he asked.
Misaki nodded.
After she tucked him in, gave him a kiss and dimmed the lights, she grabbed her handbag and the key card and walked to the door. She had to get their stuff back so hopefully, Takumi just left it down there.
She opened the door slowly and poked her head out. No one was out in the hall, so she opened the door fully, walked out and closed the door behind her.
Misaki breathed a sigh of relief and stopped in front of the lift. She pressed the button and waited.
She wasn't looking at them when they opened and so didn't realise the man she'd been running from was staring angrily down at her from inside the lift.
