Chapter 10

A few days later

After all the trouble she went to avoid him, she managed to once again get herself trapped in a room with Kyoya. And again, she was crying, this time because of being trapped. He is only a foot away from her and she is in hysterics mumbling for him to leave her alone, and he disregards this.

"You had your brother beat me up and I didn't use my family connections to somehow damage your family's company. I think I at least deserve an explanation as to why you don't want this." He was, well, annoyed. She had seemed happy with him, content even. Then all hell broke loose and managed to screw everything up. He had gotten jealous and conveyed his feelings for her, only to have her get scared and run away as she had done many times before. But she had always come back. This time, she hadn't. So, naturally, he found her and cornered her and now he wanted an explanation.

"Thank you for that, just…leave my family out of this." She said.

"I wasn't intending on including your family in this." He answered. Looking up at him, he could see that that had somehow managed to calm her a bit.

"But…" She trailed off. He closed the distance between them, holding her in a tight embrace.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone. Now, please tell me what the hell is going on." His eyebrow twitched, more annoyed that she was still withholding information than anything. Shaking her head, she buried her face into his shirt. She wasn't willing to tell him anything. With a growing annoyance and an already short patience, Kyoya forced her to look at him; taking her chin with his hand and moving it upward.

"Tell me." Onyx pierced cerulean. She shook her head.

"No." Looking away, she tried to avoid the question again. Kyoya once again forced her to look at him, this time crashing his lips onto hers. She didn't return the action, but Kyoya kept up, stopping and then kissing her again until she began to kiss him back. Truthfully, he was surprised; he hadn't expected her to kiss him back at all. Breaking apart, she sighs, defeated.

"Now, if you wouldn't mind, you infuriating woman, could you please tell me what this is about?" Kyoya chuckled and she smiled back. She motioned to the couch and they sat down.

"Well, years ago, I was in Italy, studying abroad and following my parents around on their travels. We stopped in southern Italy for about two months and in that time I came to know a particular boy very well. We would hang out and it got serious pretty fast. Our romantic involvement soon came and it was great. But, it was short lived, and I knew it. I had to leave to go to the next city with my parents and I accepted it. He, however, didn't. When I told him, he was furious and completely irrational. The night before we left town, he snuck into our house and killed my parents in their sleep. He then snuck into my room and tried to get me to run away with him. I refused and he attempted to stab me in the heart. But he couldn't, he was sobbing and couldn't go through with it, only managing shallow wounds that didn't even scratch the breast bone. Those are the scars. He tried three times. And then he killed himself in front of me. After that, I was sent here to live with my aunt and uncle, who took over the Monimoto name and business until I turned eighteen." She explained. Kyoya looked skeptical.

"Why didn't I hear about this? Something like that would be in the news." He questioned. Sighing, she continued, "My family wanted to keep it quiet and the boy had connections to the Italian mafia, so it stayed pretty much underground. Kimiko, also, isn't really my sister, and she hasn't really accepted me as a part of her 'family.'"

Kyoya nodded, taking it in. He understood why she was afraid of getting close to people now.

"It's nice to have someone know. I'm sorry for…well, everything, I guess." She smiled, and then blushed.

"Now what exactly…is…uh….this now?" She asked, looking up at him. A hopeful gleam shone through her cerulean irises, revealing her softer nature.

"Well, we could announce a relationship. Emotions attached." He suggested, playing with her fingers. Raya grimaced. Kyoya had seen that reaction coming.

"Kurogane…." She sighed, "He already doesn't like you…"

"And Tamaki…he'd be more troublesome than ever." Kyoya added, threading his fingers with hers. Her mouth perked up and she brought their intertwined fingers to her mouth, lightly kissing them as he had done so many times before.

"Well, we'll face it. I'm sure it will turn out fine." She smiled. A real smile. No worry daunted her brow, no stress threatened her gleaming eyes, and no fear overwhelmed the corners of her pink lips. The fox had come out of hiding. And it was beautiful.

A/N: Thanks to all of you who made it to the end. I appreciate you and I'm glad you stuck around. I'm also dreadfully sorry that this got progressively worse as it went on. I promise to make a better effort in my later stories. Hetalia should be up next. Ciao!