Golden Arrows

Chapter Nine

By the time Kizuna moved her car to park it next to the RZ-1 it seemed to her like all the courage which had brought her to admit to Kyosuke that something was wrong with her had suddenly vanished and, when she climbed out of the 350Z, she was already regretting having agreed to talk to him about it.

'So,' he said the instant she was leaning against the hood of her car. He just stood there, not too far away but not too close either, 'what happened?' he asked with a very gentle tone of voice.

'I don't even know where to start,' she replied and that was true.

'The beginning usually is a good place,' Kyosuke said encouragingly.

'It's just it's so embarrassing,' she said.

'Our moments of weakness all are,' Kyosuke pointed out, 'but that's why one needs friends to confide in so that they can help you overcome those as well as share the burden. Kizuna, I don't know if you see me as such, but I'd like to think we're friends.'

'We are,' Kizuna confirmed.

'I'm very glad to hear that,' Kyosuke said, 'so, why don't you tell me what has made you this upset? Is it because of the race or…did someone from the team say something that…'

'No,' Kizuna interrupted him, 'it's got nothing to do with that.

Kyosuke remained silent, egging her on to continue.

'It's got to do with you,' Kizuna said.

Kyosuke held his breath half in shock, half in expectation. His brain started sending messages which he had trouble understanding and, for an instant, he felt both scared and excited in a really weird way he'd never experienced before. He then swallowed and fighting to keep his cool, he waited to see what she said next.

'You might not know about this,' she continued, 'but there are a few…people, who, let's say are slightly overprotective of you,' understatement of the century, the girl thought before she carried on speaking, 'and these people…'

'Wait a minute,' he said, 'I'm already lost, who are these people? Do I know them?'

'No idea,' she replied honestly, 'but they definitely know you.'

Once again, Kyosuke remained silent.

'And,' she said, 'they were very unhappy with me when they saw me talking to you.'

'What?' he asked in dismay then, widening his eyes in realisation, he added, 'are they the reason why you've been acting all weird whenever we see each other at the MIT?'

'Yes,' Kizuna replied sounding very embarrassed about it. She realised now how stupid she'd been not telling him immediately. Even more so when, predictably, he asked her:

'Why didn't you tell me sooner?'

'I don't know,' she replied.

'What are their names?' he asked and now he sounded slightly angry, 'I want to have a word with them.'

'No,' Kizuna hurried to say, 'I don't even know their names but, even if I did, if you went to talk to them it would only make things worse. Those three girls worship you in a fangirl-like kind of way, if you went to them and told them yourself that we're friends, it would make them see me as an even bigger threat.'

'But I have to do something, I mean…'

'No,' she repeated, 'I'll deal with them myself. I don't know how yet but…'

'What happened tonight?' he asked her, 'did they do anything to you?'

Kizuna felt that, for some reason, his voice sounded clipped with anger. She found it oddly self-satisfying to hear him getting so upset over the chance that someone had done something to her but, almost immediately, she shook her head and told herself off silently for being so arrogant.

'Did they?' he insisted.

'Yeah,' Kizuna replied biting her lower lip, then, trying to laugh it off, she said, 'they put glue into the lock of my room at the dorm, can you believe it? It's so childish that…'

'Kizuna,' Kyosuke interrupted her taking one step closer to her, 'you can't stay there.'

'What?' she said.

'You can't stay at the dorm,' Kyosuke repeated, 'we need to find you somewhere else to stay, if you…'

'Kyosuke,' she stopped him getting up, 'don't be ridiculous, where am I supposed to live? I can't afford…'

'We'll find somewhere for you to stay,' Kyosuke insisted, 'if you don't let me deal with them, at least let me get you a place where you'll be safe, I'm sure I can ask my parents to…'

'No way,' Kizuna said raising her tone of voice, 'listen, I appreciate that you're trying to help but, running away it's not going to solve anything. I need to stay right where I am so that they know I'm not afraid of them and as per letting your parents pay for somewhere else to stay, that's definitely out of the question.'

'But Kizuna…'

'Kyosuke, I'm serious,' she said, 'I want to solve this my own way, okay?'

'I want to help,' he insisted, 'I need to help you, Kizuna.'

'Kyosuke…'

'Please,' he said sounding slightly desperate, 'let me do something, anything.'

'Kyosuke…'

'You can't tell me all of this and expect me to just stand by and do nothing,' he pressed on, 'you're in trouble because of me and if you don't let me do something, I'll go nuts, okay? So please let me do something.'

'You just did,' Kizuna said trying to smile.

'What?' Kyosuke asked her looking confused.

'You listened to me,' she said, 'that's more than enough for me.'

'Kizuna…'

'Kyosuke, I'm serious,' she repeated, 'I promise that if things get out of hand, you'll be the first to know.'

'But…'

'Please,' Kizuna insited.

Kyosuke took a deep breath and, turning round giving his back to her, he considered his options for a short while. He knew that right now doing what he really wanted to do would probably be a bad idea not to mention unethical. Considering how she was obviously distressed, he knew that it would be very low of him to take this chance, when her guard was lowered, to tell her about his feelings but he also knew that if he didn't do something about it, he would probably regret it for the rest of his life.

'Kizuna,' he finally said turning back to face her, 'there's something I want to ask you.'

'What is it?' she said.

'You said,' he replied choosing his words carefully, 'that they saw you as a threat, why is that?'

He saw as her eyes widened for a bit then, she trained her exotic features back to an expressionless face.

'They think I might steal you away from them.'

'Oh,' he gasped.

'Stupid, huh?' she tried to laugh it off.

'Is that true?' he ventured.

'What is?' she asked.

'What they said,' Kyosuke said fighting to keep an even tone of voice, 'that you might "steal me" away from them.'

Kizuna didn't reply for the longest time and that made Kyosuke damn himself for being so forward.

'Listen,' she finally said, 'there's one thing you need to understand.'

'Okay,' he managed to say.

'My mother,' she said, 'she used to be a racer too. When she met my father, she was on her way to professionalism and was fiercely set on achieving her dreams only that my father was equally determined to win her over and, in the end, it was my father who won that battle. Before she knew it, my mother found herself married and with pregnant with me and, of course, all her dreams had to be put on indefinite hold while she helped my father achieve his.'

'I see,' Kyosuke said, 'the same thing happened to my own mother.'

'Really?' she asked him.

'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'she wanted to go to Africa and volunteer her time with a charity organisation but my grandfather didn't let her do that and, instead, he forced her to marry my father.'

'Really?' she repeated sounding even more astonished.

'Yes,' he replied, 'it all turned out for the best and now I can't think of a more balanced couple than that formed by my parents. They've really brought the best out of each other and it's great seeing them work as a team. It's always been a source of inspiration for me and that's what I'd like to have once I get married.'

'I see,' she said.

'So,' he started, 'what you're saying is that you want to focus on your own career and your own dreams.'

'Yes,' Kizuna replied firmly, 'why are you asking?'

Kyosuke considered telling her the truth but, knowing what he'd just learned from her, he knew that now more than ever his chances with her were very grim indeed. For this reason, he forced himself to say:

'No reason, I guess that I'm going to do the same.'

'What do you mean?' she asked him sounding a little confused.

'I too will focus on my studies, after all, like you said, we do have pretty big dreams, right?'

'We do,' she replied quietly.

'But Kizuna,' he said all of a sudden, 'are you sure you don't want me to…'

'No,' she replied, 'I'll be fine. I'll probably try and get the lock replaced later. The only thing is that it's probably a good idea if they don't see us together at school, at least not until I talk to them.'

'What are you going to tell them?' he asked her.

'That they should rest easy because you're as focused on your studies as much as they think you are,' she replied then, before he could say anything to that, she said, 'do you think I'll be able to find a locksmith at this time of the night?'

'Probably,' Kyosuke replied feeling slightly disoriented at the sudden change of topic, 'there are some twenty-four/seven services, I can look it up on the directory, if you want. If you don't mind, I'd like to stay with you until they get it done. I will feel better if I know you're not out on your own.'

'Alright,' she accepted.

Several hours later, a very tired and sleepy Kyosuke drove back to the Takahashi residence after leaving Kizuna safely inside her room. He'd been happy that the locksmith they'd called took a little while to get to the dorm and, because of this, the two of them had spend a while talking to each other, sitting on the steps of the dorm and enjoying the fact that the weather was finally getting warm enough to stay outside.

Kyosuke parked his car next to his younger brother's and, for a few moments, he stayed inside his RZ-1 trying to feel grateful that, at the very least, he could still talk to her the way he did even though he'd been dying to kiss her all night long. Thankfully, his self-control managed to keep things in check so that he would not go and ruin everything. They were friends and that would have to do.

Climbing out of the car, he stepped into the house using the garage's door and, taking his shoes off, he decided to go to the kitchen to get himself a glass of water before he went to bed. On his way there, he saw that it was nearly five o'clock in the morning: he was going to get less than two hours of sleep.

It was that which made him look so tired that even his cousin noticed when he joined her at the breakfast room where she was by herself. He was about to pour himself some coffee when she jumped off her stool and went to stand by his side with the sort of smile that made him want to run away as fast as he could.

'Someone got home very late,' Ryoko commented slyly.

'I did,' Kyosuke admitted.

'And was that because of a certain…'

'She had a problem and I helped her fix it,' he simply said, 'there's nothing more to it.'

'A problem?' Ryoko asked him now looking a little worried.

'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'she found herself locked out of her room at the dorm.'

'She's staying at the dorm?' Ryoko asked him looking slightly alarmed.

'Yes,' Kyosuke said.

'That's not safe,' she decided.

'I agree,' Kyosuke said before he could stop himself.

'Why is she staying there?' Ryoko asked him.

'I guess because it's the cheapest alternative,' he replied, 'I told her she should get her own place but she said she can't afford to. I even told her that we could help her but she doesn't want our help and I think I can understand that.'

'Well, I can't,' was Ryoko's predictable answer, 'we have to get her out of there, I mean, why did she get locked out in the first place? Doesn't the administrator have spare keys or something like that?'

'Yes,' Kyosuke replied, 'I guess they do but, that wasn't the problem, it was…'

'What?' Ryoko pressed on.

Kyosuke let out a long sigh and, probably because he was tired and probably because he knew that he really wanted to do something to help Kizuna and he was desperate for ideas, he finally confessed:

'They pulled a prank on her and put glue in the lock.'

'WHAT?' Ryoko exclaimed.

'Shush!' he told her off.

'She can't possibly stay there,' the girl said trying to lower her tone of voice, 'you know that, right?'

'Of course I do,' Kyosuke said, 'but you heard me, she doesn't want our help, she doesn't want my help.'

Ryoko didn't say anything to that, instead, she looked as though as she was concentrating on something and, for some reason, that made Kyosuke feel a little relieved. His baby cousin could be very pushy and sometimes downright persistent but she was also a very resourceful girl with very strong persuasion powers.

'I have an idea,' she finally announced, 'come with me.'

Kyosuke didn't really have an option and, walking after her, he saw that they were going to the studio his parents used to work from home. Knocking on the door, they heard his father's deep voice saying:

'Come in.'

They did and, the instant they were both inside the room, Ryoko said:

'Uncle Ryosuke, I'm sorry to bother you while you're working.'

'It's okay,' he said smiling at his niece, 'what can I do for you?'

'Listen,' she said, 'I remember that not long ago you and Aunt Akiko got some small apartment block so that you could provide with accommodation for the nurses and the interns who work at the hospital, am I right?'

'Yes,' Ryosuke replied, his smile widening a little.

'Are they all occupied at the moment?' Ryoko asked and Kyosuke started understanding what the girl was trying to do. He could only be impressed at the speed her brain worked in this kind of situations. He then waited until his father checked something in his laptop computer and, after a short while, the doctor said:

'There are a couple of them which are free.'

'So,' Ryoko said, 'say we had a friend who is in desperate need for some free accommodation, do you think we could use one of them temporarily, you know, until we come up with a definite solution to the problem.'

Ryosuke thought about it for a moment, he then asked her:

'Is this one of your girlfriends?'

'Yes,' Ryoko only half-lied, 'in reality, she's a kohai of Kyosuke from college, but she's my friend too.'

'I see,' the doctor said.

'Please Uncle Ryosuke,' the girl begged in the way which most people, including the former White Comet of Akagi, could not resist, 'she's in trouble and we must help her. She's half-American and she came all the way from the US by herself. We can't leave her where she is, it's just not right.'

'Where is she now?' Ryosuke asked her out of curiosity.

'She's at the dorm,' she replied sounding scandalised, 'at the dorm! Can you believe that?'

Ryosuke let out a soft chuckle then, sobering up a little, he nodded once and said:

'Alright, I guess it shouldn't be a problem if we let her stay there, mind you the apartments there aren't much bigger than the room she probably has now. Also, they're about twenty minutes walk from the MIT, I don't know if that's going to be…'

'It's perfect,' Ryoko decided, 'she's got a car anyway so she'll be fine.'

'Okay,' Ryosuke said, 'in that case, let me know when she's ready to move in and I'll get you the keys.'

Ryoko smiled so wide that it made Kyosuke smile too. She then walked around her uncle's desk and, planting a kiss onto his cheek, she gave him a quick hug too before she said:

'You're the best uncle in the whole world.'

Kyosuke bit his lip trying not to laugh when seeing his ever-so-stoic father trying hard not to blush. It was probably because he was losing that battle that the doctor told both his son and niece to leave him alone so that he could work in peace. The two of them then made it back to the breakfast room.

'Ryoko,' Kyosuke said while they walked, 'you do realise that convincing Kizuna will be a lot harder than convincing my father, right?'

'Not really,' she replied.

'But…'

'Kyosuke,' she said, 'I only need to talk to her, just make sure she calls me so that we can meet up, okay?'

'Are you sure?' he asked her, 'she's very stubborn, you know?'

'More than Akito?' she clearly challenged him.

'No,' Kyosuke replied, 'there aren't many people as stubborn as he is.'

'That's right,' Ryoko said.

'But you have an advantage with Akito that you don't have with Kizuna,' Kyosuke observed.

'No,' Ryoko said, 'if anything, it's Akito who has an advantage that Kizuna-san doesn't have.'

'What do you mean?' Kyosuke asked her feeling confused.

'I love Akito,' Ryoko said, 'and because of this, if he says no, it's no. If Kizuna-san says no, then I'll just have to try harder.'

With that, she left him standing there and, once again, he thought that his baby cousin was definitely no longer a baby. If anything, she was growing to be a woman as determined and caring as her own mother. Kyosuke thought that Akito was a very lucky guy and that Ryoko was even luckier that her boyfriend never abused the power he obviously had over her.

That same afternoon, Kizuna did something which surprised even herself: she went to look for the Evil Trio.

She found the three girls sitting together at the cafeteria enjoying a late-afternoon snack while they talked about the latest piece of gossip and, seeing her there made them look at her with a nasty smile on their faces. One of them, the one Kizuna had singled out as the "leader", glared at her and said:

'What do you want?'

'Nothing much,' Kizuna replied, 'only to tell you that I got the warning loud and clear and to reassure you that Kyosuke told me himself that he's going to focus on his studies and that you have nothing to fear.'

'You called him with his first name!' the girl cried.

'How dare you!' one of the other two helped.

'I dare,' Kizuna replied calmly, 'because I'm half-American and where I come from, we use our first names.'

'But…'

'Kyosuke,' she repeated enjoying the way they flinched, 'is just a friend, like I've told you before. We will talk as much as we want because we're both studying the same course and, before you think of another silly prank to pull on me, be sure that he'll be the first to know and, unlike this time, I don't think I'll be able to stop him. I'm sure that's something we all want to avoid, am I right?'

'You little…'

'Hey,' Kizuna interrupted her, 'mind your manners or I'll let him know just the kind of vixen you three are.'

With that, she took the old and now useless key she still had with her and, throwing it on the table, she left the three girls looking startled, scandalised and very, very afraid. Kizuna found herself enjoying while seeing those expressions then, surprised at her own evil streak, she shook her head and walked away from them.

She had almost made it to the door when her phone told her she had a text and pulling it out of her pocket, she checked it and saw it was from Kyosuke himself. She pressed the button to read it:

"Please call my cousin, she's been pestering me about wanting to meet up with you all morning!"

Smiling, Kizuna tried to imagine Ryoko chasing Kyosuke around telling him to ask her to send that message and that made her laugh softly. Then, remembering she still had the little card in one of her pockets, she started rummaging through them until she found it. She then looked at it and that made her smile too.

The card was soft pink and it had Ryoko's name and surname spelt in both kanji and western alphabet. It was styled in a way which made it obvious that the cards had been ordered at some expensive stationery shop, not just printed with one of the many machines one found at the stations and convenience stores.

While she dialled the number written on it, she wondered just how much money they had cost.

'Hello?' the younger girl's voice replied.

'Hi,' Kizuna said, 'this is Kizuna Ethridge, your cousin said you wanted me to call you.'

'Yes,' Ryoko replied sounding very happy, 'do you have any free time this afternoon?'

'Well…'

'Please say yes!' Ryoko insisted sounding so cute that it made Kizuna smile.

'Okay,' she said, 'I don't have anymore lectures today, I was going to do some self-study but I guess we could go and have some coffee somewhere, do you have any place in mind?'

'Yes,' Ryoko replied, 'do you know where the Arakawa Hospital is?'

'Er…' she hesitated, 'I guess I can find it if it's on the map.'

'Okay,' Ryoko said, 'then, shall we meet up there at around five?'

Kizuna glanced at her wristwatch, it was nearly four.

'Yes, sure,' she said.

'Cool,' Ryoko said still sounding very happy, 'I can't wait to meet you!'

With that, the younger girl closed the call leaving Kizuna standing there with her phone in her hand. She really didn't know what was with this girl but she had a way of doing things that made one's brain too confounded to think straight. For some reason, Kizuna noticed that she didn't feel scared of Ryoko and she guessed that it was just that which made people lower their guard whenever the girl was around.

At exactly five o'clock, Kizuna drove her car towards the Arakawa Hospital thinking that it would be very difficult to find Ryoko in such a big parking area. To her surprise, the girl was standing just outside the main entrance, looking like she was right at home but she didn't even have the time to start thinking about it that Ryoko was already getting inside the car.

'Oh,' Kizuna gasped, 'are we going somewhere?'

'Yes,' Ryoko replied busying herself with the seatbelt.

'Where?' Kizuna asked her.

'We need to go to this address,' Ryoko said showing her a piece of paper.

Kizuna took the paper and saw that it was a normal, random address without the name of any café or bar or anything, feeling a little confused, she typed the address into the navigation system in her car which told her that the place wasn't far away at all. In fact, they could easily walk there.

'Let's go?' Ryoko asked.

'We could leave the car here,' Kizuna said, 'it's very close and…'

'I'm already strapped in,' Ryoko said pointing at her seatbelt which, indeed, was firmly fastened.

Sighing a little, Kizuna inserted the first gear and then started following the indications from the navigation system. Less than two minutes later, they were parked outside a fairly new apartment block and that made Kizuna's mental alarm go off but before she had the time to protest, Ryoko was already out of the car.

'Come on,' the younger girl said.

'What are we…'

'Please,' Ryoko said, 'it's a surprise.'

'A surprise?' Kizuna asked still refusing to get out of the car.

'Trust me,' Ryoko said, 'you'll be happy you came here.'

Sighing again, this time for a bit longer, Kizuna decided to turn the car's engine off and, undoing the clasp of her four point seatbelt, she went to join Ryoko outside the apartment block. She then pressed the auto-lock button on her car's key and, after making sure the alarm was inserted, she said:

'Alright, where are we going?'

'Up,' Ryoko replied mysteriously.

Given no choice whatsoever, Kizuna followed the girl into the apartment block, finding it odd that the concierge had absolutely no problem letting them get onto one of the two elevators. Kizuna was fairly impressed that the place looked even better inside than it did outside and, soon enough, she realised that the building was a high-standing one of the sort where rents cost an arm and a leg.

'Where are…'

'Almost there,' Ryoko announce and, a few seconds later, they arrived at the fourth floor. She stepped out of the elevator and walked a few steps ahead stopping right in front of a very solid looking door, opening it with a key she had just produced out of her tiny but pretty looking handbag.

Kizuna no longer understanding anything, followed her inside the apartment which turned out to be one of those posh looking studios, with one bedroom, a small but comfortable living room complete with a kitchenette and a full bathroom with a bathtub large enough to accommodate her tall body. The whole place was fully furnished to the point of having a huge TV with a satellite receiver placed under it.

'So,' Ryoko said smiling after having completed the mini-tour, 'what do you think?'

'What do I think of what?' Kizuna asked her.

'This,' Ryoko said indicating the living room where the two girls stood, 'do you like it? I know it's a bit small but…'

'Wait a minute,' Kizuna said finally catching on, 'has Kyosuke…'

'No, no,' Ryoko interrupted her, 'this has nothing to do with my cousin. He just happened to mention that you had problems with your…accommodation, and I knew we had a couple of apartments here which are empty and I think we will all sleep better at night if we know you're here, instead that at the dorm.'

'Ryoko…'

'Like I said,' she interrupted her, 'it's not huge and it's a bit far from the MIT but I think that you'll be much happier here than where you are now and…'

'I can't afford to pay the rent in here,' Kizuna finally said.

'What rent?' Ryoko asked her now sounding confused, as if she didn't understand the meaning of the word.

'Living here will cost a fortune,' Kizuna explained, 'and I can't…'

'Oh,' Ryoko laughed, 'silly me! I forgot to tell you that you won't have to pay for anything. This place belongs to our family, we bought it for the medical staff who works at the Arakawa Hospital but, as you can see, this unit is vacant so I asked my uncle and he said it's cool if you stay here.'

'I can't…'

'Kizuna-san,' Ryoko said now sounding a little sad, 'my cousin was so worried about you, you know?'

'He was?' Kizuna asked.

'Of course,' Ryoko said, 'and I don't blame him, after what happened to you! I simply can't have you there at the mercy of some vandals who think it's fun to put glue inside your lock. No, no, I won't sleep at night if I know you're there.'

'Ryoko-chan, come on, let's not exaggerate,' Kizuna said trying to make the girl reason.

'Please,' she begged, 'do it for me.'

'Ryoko-chan…'

'And for Kyosuke, he won't sleep at night either and then his marks will drop and he won't be able to graduate and then…'

'Alright, alright,' Kizuna said, 'I get it.'

'So,' Ryoko said smiling again, 'when are you moving in?'

'You will not take a no for an answer, will you?'

'Nope,' the girl replied shaking her head.

Kizuna stared at her for the longest time trying, and failing, to come up with a way out of this bizarre situation but, checking the place out, she realised that she had a really good deal in front of her. She really didn't want to leave the room at the dorm because she feared the Evil Trio would see it as her running away but, again, having her own place was something she'd dreamt about for while and, this one was free.

'Kizuna-san?' she heard Ryoko say.

'I can't accept not paying anything for it.' Kizuna said, 'it's just not fair, even the dorm isn't free.'

'That's cool,' Ryoko said, 'because from what I understand, you'll have to pay for the electricity and the gas, I think the water is included in the apartment but, in any case, it won't be free-free, you'll still have to cover your expenses and then there's the food. You'll be okay with that, right?'

'I guess,' Kizuna said running some figures in her head.

'Cool,' Ryoko repeated, 'you're doing me such a big favour by moving in here, you know?'

'Am I?' Kizuna asked sounding surprised, 'I should think it's the other way round.'

'No,' Ryoko insisted, 'because I really want my cousin Kyosuke to be happy and he would not be happy if you had stayed at the dorm,' then, speaking with a studied casual tone, she said, 'he cares about you a lot, you know?'

Kizuna went mute.

'As much as you care about him, am I right?' Ryoko asked cheekily.

Kizuna didn't reply to that either which, to Ryoko, was the best way to get the confirmation she needed. Because of this, her smile widened while she proceeded with the second part of her not-so-secret mission.

'By the way,' she said, 'I know Kyosuke is at the Centre right now and I'm going to need a ride there.'

'Ryoko-chan…'

'Please,' the girl said, 'this way you can tell him yourself about the happy news.'

'You still won't take a no for an answer, will you?'

'Never,' Ryoko said firmly.

Kizuna let out a soft chuckle and surrendering to the inevitable, she nodded and said:

'Alright, let's go the Centre.'

Ryoko smiled like a cat that had just caught a mouse and while she followed Kizuna back to her car, she sent a text to her cousin Seisuke with only two words: "Mission Accomplished."

To be continued...