Christmas in the Lost Ground
Chapter 13: New Year's Eve
By Nanaki
"It could be that I'm about to do the stupidest thing I've ever done, but I doubt it. Besides, I've set the stupid bar pretty darn high." - Kazuma, right now
Kazuma stood on the balcony in the main visitor reception area of the Tairen manor, a glass of champagne in hand, idly looking down at the crowd below. Unlike Christmas Day, which was a relatively private affair, the annual New Year's Eve party at Ryuho's usually attracted several hundred people, and this year was no exception. However, mingling was the last thing on Kazuma's mind right now. Right now, his mind was focused on what it was almost always focused on these days: Kanami.
As usual, he found it hard to keep a grin from appearing on his face as he recalled the events of the past nine days. If they hadn't gotten any farther than they had on the night of the 23rd, when Kazuma had finally told her he loved her, this would still have been the best Christmas ever, by a long shot. Instead, they had gone much, much farther than that. Plus, as if that wasn't great enough, their relationship really hadn't changed all that much. They were still the same great friends they'd been for years, except now they headed off to the same bed at the end of the night, instead of separate ones. It was only when they were alone together that the vibe changed, but it was a good change overall, Kazuma thought. As much as he loved the classic smartass Kanami, he loved the new super-affectionate Kanami who let him touch her fun stuff a lot too.
He had no idea how he was going to make it through the next three months without her.
On January 2nd, she was heading back to the mainland with Melissa, back to school. They'd talked it over several times, but when she'd finally, tearfully, told him that she really did want to go back to school, he'd played it cool. He'd said that he managed to survive waiting this long, so he could survive the wait until spring break too. However, he'd been less stoic later when he'd complained to Cougar.
"You're not going to get any sympathy from me." Cougar had shrugged. "Besides, three months should be nothing for you, compared to twenty three years."
"Yeah, but before, I didn't know exactly what it was that I was missing." Kazuma had explained. "And there was at least the possibility that I might have too much to drink and do something I'd regret."
"Well, that possibility technically still exists." Cougar had smirked.
"No way!" Kazuma shook his head vigorously. "Even if I wasn't so sure I was a one woman man, do you KNOW what she would do to me if I cheated on her?"
"Make you pull down your pants and play the drum solo from 'Wipeout' on your butt cheeks?" Cougar had ventured a guess.
"That's just the tip of the iceberg!" Kazuma laughed. "But seriously, that's a complete non-issue for me. I'm returning to a celibate lifestyle until spring break rolls around."
Now, as Kazuma took another sip of champagne, he reflected on how grateful he was that he still had another thirty six hours or so until that celibate lifestyle returned. Plus, he was about to do something that should ensure he would be getting even more action than he had been for the brief time that remained. Though that definitely wasn't his main motivation. No, his main motivation was that he was already completely, one hundred percent sure that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kanami, and he wanted her to know he felt that way.
However, his confidence had been shaken a bit when everyone he talked to about it had unanimously declared him to be an idiot. Cougar had bluntly asked if he was taking stupid pills. Even Mimori, who seemed to have made up her mind about who she wanted to spend her life with when she was eleven years old, had told Kazuma that he should probably wait a while.
Even so, as Kazuma absently checked his pocket yet again to make sure that the small box containing the engagement ring was still there, he couldn't shake the instinct that it just felt RIGHT. Now he spotted Kanami off in one corner of the dance floor, gabbing with Melissa about something. He started heading down the stairs, amazed to find that he didn't feel all that nervous. Then again, if he did get a negative response, he was confident that it would be accompanied by a well thought out reason, and wouldn't just be a simple "Ew, no."
He was skirting around the edges of the dance floor, and was about halfway there, when Ryuho suddenly appeared at his side, as if from nowhere. "Hey, ready to get back to work on the third?" He smirked.
"What are you talking about?" Kazuma asked absently, trying to keep his eyes on Kanami. "I haven't missed a single shift since Kanami got back."
"Only because you traded around a lot and got other people to cover for you." Ryuho reminded him.
"Which everyone seemed to be cool with, so I don't know what your problem is." Kazuma shot back, though he still wasn't looking Ryuho in the eye.
"Hey, it's not MY problem." Ryuho shrugged. "I'm just saying, you really haven't been paying attention at work, so you're lucky Kenjo hasn't reappeared, or he probably would have gotten the drop on you."
Kazuma snorted in a condescending way. "Are you seriously lecturing ME about this? Do I need to remind you about the time right after you got together with Mimori, when I had to take down an entire alter gang by myself, because you didn't get there in time?"
"That's... only because you started the operation early!" Ryuho pointed out.
"Because they were about to kill somebody!" Kazuma waved his arms. "And it was three minutes early, not thirty."
"All right, I suppose you have a point there." Ryuho grudgingly admitted.
"Anyway, I'll be ready to work my butt off after Kanami leaves, if only to keep from thinking about her every single second of the day." Kazuma nodded. "But for right now..." He stepped around Ryuho, only to discover that Kanami and Melissa had vanished from where they'd been standing until just a second ago. "You have GOT to be kidding." Kazuma grumbled.
He hurried over to the main entrance and scanned around, but didn't see anything. As he wandered toward the front door, he heard laughter coming from the kitchen, and headed over that way. As he was turning the corner, Melissa just about plowed into him, and though she managed to dodge to the side, one of the two champagne bottles she was holding swung around at just the right angle and nailed him in the crotch. Kazuma emitted a noise that sounded something like "Puh-blurgh!" and instantly dropped to the floor.
"Oh my god." Melissa tried to sound sorry, but couldn't help giggling. "Uh, Kanami!" She called out. "I think I just dented your most prized possession!"
"Melissa..." Kazuma hissed through gritted teeth. "Have you been drinking?"
"Define 'drinking'." Melissa responded cheerfully. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter, because the answer is yes." She looked to her right at the sound of approaching footsteps. "Anyway, I'll leave you in Kanami's capable hands." With that, she hurried off back toward the dance floor.
"Kazu-kun!" Kanami shrieked as she came around the corner, seeing him crumpled on the floor with both hands on his crotch. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kazuma grinned, sitting up with his back against the wall. "It did hurt for a second, but... Well, she missed the sweet spot, let's put it that way."
"Ah, so you were just trying to make her feel bad?" Kanami guessed as she sat down next to him.
"Yeah, but it doesn't look like it worked." Kazuma shrugged.
"Oh, she'll apologize tomorrow." Kanami assured him. "That is, if she doesn't get so drunk that she forgets all about it."
"You've seen her like this before, I take it." Kazuma surmised.
"Oh yeah." Kanami nodded. "I mean, not all that often." She backpedaled, apparently trying to defend her friend's honor. "But a couple times, yes. After a few more drinks, she'll start trying to make out with anything on two legs, or a reasonable facsimile."
"Well, go Cougar." Kazuma smirked. Kanami started to stand back up, but he put a hand on her shoulder to keep her where she was. "Say, as long as we're alone, there's something else I want to ask you about." He said smoothly.
"Oh? What is there that we still haven't talked about?" She grinned.
"I can think of at least one thing..." A grin appeared on Kazuma's face as well. With a smooth motion, he reached his left hand into his pocket and pulled out the ring box, then snapped it open. "Kanami, will you marry me?"
"Oh my God..." Kanami's hands went to her chest. "Kazu-kun, are you serious?"
"You think I'd joke about this?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm completely serious."
Kanami looked back and forth between the ring and Kazuma's eyes several times. "Oh my God..." She whispered again. "Oh, Kazuma... Of course I will!" With that, she threw herself into his arms. It wasn't lost on Kazuma that she had used his proper name again, and he took it as a compliment. But what Kanami said next took him by surprise. "I wasn't expecting... I didn't think... You really do love me as much as I love you!" She exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes.
"Of... course I do." Kazuma replied as he held her, somewhat puzzled by that last statement. "I thought I'd made my feelings pretty clear by now." He smiled again.
"You have, you have!" Kanami assured him. "It's just that... Oh, I don't know how to describe it. I guess I just thought that NO ONE in the world could love anyone as much as I love you."
"Well then," Kazuma smiled gently as he brushed a tear away from her eye, "You thought wrong."
Just then, they heard footsteps coming around the corner, followed shortly by Cougar's voice. "Oh boy, what'd he do?" Cougar asked right away.
"Just... everything." Kanami sniffled, earning her a rare look of puzzlement from Cougar.
"Hey Kanami, your spring break starts on March 20th, right?" Kazuma double checked.
"That's right." She nodded.
"Cougar, what are you doing on the 21st?" Kazuma asked.
"Hopefully not what I think you're about to ask me to do." Cougar took a step back, holding his hands up in defense.
"I'm about to ask you to be my best man, you jackass!" Kazuma shook his head in exasperation.
"Oh. Well that's okay." Cougar breathed a sigh of relief. "So, I take it Kanami is taking stupid pills as well." He observed.
"Well, you COULD put it that way." Kazuma admitted. "But a BETTER way to put it would be to say that this beautiful young lady has agreed to marry me."
"Hm... That does have a nicer ring to it." Cougar nodded. "Anyway, I knew she would."
"What? Then why did you say it was such a stupid idea?!" Kazuma demanded.
"Because it IS stupid!" Cougar shot back. "You two have only been a couple for... what? A week?"
"From a certain point of view." Kanami admitted. "But from MY point of view, we've already been living together for ten years."
"Exactly what I was thinking." Kazuma nodded.
"Anyway," Kanami turned back to Kazuma, "Did you just sneak a wedding date in there while I wasn't paying attention?"
"Yeah, March 21st sounds good to me." Kazuma shrugged. "You know, first day of spring! New beginnings, rejuvenation, all that crap!"
"True, but that's not a lot of time to plan a wedding." Kanami pointed out.
"Hey, it'll work out somehow." Kazuma assured her. "Because it's for you, Ryuho and President Ongola will both pull any strings that need pulling." Kanami still looked skeptical. "AND I'll ask Mimori for help." Kazuma added.
"Okay, now we're talking!" Kanami grinned. "All right, I can get a wedding dress on the mainland, and Ryuho can pick out a tuxedo for you-"
"Hey!" Kazuma objected. "What makes you think I can't pick out a good tux?"
"Because, knowing you, you'll forget about it completely until midnight on the 20th, and you'll show up in that mud-splattered rental that you had to buy." Kanami explained.
"Okay, good point." Kazuma conceded.
"As for where we're gonna have it..." Kanami trailed off. "You know what? We can talk about the details later. Right now, it's time to celebrate!" She grabbed Kazuma's right arm and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, let's go dance! But you better not step on my toes."
"No promises." Kazuma shot back, but he allowed Kanami to lead him out to the dance floor.
.
Later in the evening, as it was getting close to midnight, Melissa found Cougar up on the balcony above the dance floor. The lights had been turned down a bit, and the volume of the music had been turned up. The classy part of the evening was over, pretty much, and now it was almost all rock music being played. Right now a techno song had just started up that was clearly going to take a while to build up to the good part, so she didn't need to shout to make herself heard. "Hey, what're you doing up here all by yourself?" She asked him.
"Ah, I'm not much of a dancer." Cougar shrugged.
"Well CLEARLY, neither is Kazuma, but that isn't stopping him." Melissa pointed down at the dance floor. "But if you're self-conscious about looking like a dork, a little booze'll ail what cures you! Or something like that..."
"Are you drunk?" Cougar asked calmly.
"I sure hope so." Melissa said dramatically. "Because otherwise, this whole room is a-spinnin'!"
Cougar found himself laughing, which wasn't something that happened all that often. "Ah, Melissa, I am gonna miss hanging out with you. Things have been pretty fun since you got here."
"Yeah, I'd agree with that." Melissa smiled. "When you see stories about the Lost Ground on the news, they want you to think that any non-alter user will be killed the instant they set foot on this island. But instead, I've only seen one dangerous jerk while I've been here."
"Kenjo?" Cougar guessed.
"Yeah, him too." Melissa nodded, and Cougar laughed again.
"Ridiculous." He snorted. "The vast majority of our population is non-alter users. Though the birth rate of alter users is steadily increasing all the time."
"And what is that birth rate?" Melissa wondered, even as she put an arm on the balcony railing to steady herself.
"About eleven percent right now." Cougar replied after thinking about it for a second. "It was increasing by over one percent a year for a while there, but it seems to have leveled off a bit lately. The mainland should be relieved about that."
"But that statistic is probably skewed a little bit," Melissa looked thoughtful, "Since only one of the four most powerful alter users has had kids yet."
"Oh?" Cougar raised an eyebrow. "Who are the four most powerful alter users?"
Melissa frowned, surprised that he had to ask. "Well, Kazuma, Ryuho, Kanami, and you." She explained.
Cougar shook his head. "Well thanks, but I'm pretty sure that the eldest Elian Zigmarl is stronger than I am. If not now, then he will be soon. And Kenjo is stronger than Kanami, at least right now."
"Nah. Bad guys don't count." Melissa dismissed his statement. "Besides, there's more to it than raw power. I know that nobody on this planet can top you when it comes to speed."
Cougar smirked. "Well, that's not true for EVERY aspect of my life."
"Oh no?" Melissa raised an eyebrow.
"No, there are some areas where I like to take things nice and slow." Cougar's smirk got bigger.
"Ah, I see what you're getting at." Melissa nodded, and took a step closer to him.
"Well I hope so! I wasn't being very subtle." Cougar laughed.
"Subtlety is overrated." Melissa declared. "And on that note, I just realized I never thanked you properly for that diamond necklace you got me for Christmas."
"That wasn't very subtle either, I suppose." Cougar admitted.
"And this won't be either." Melissa grinned, then threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss.
Cougar's eyes widened for a second, but they quickly started to close. In his head, responsibility and instinct had a quick argument. 'Hey, she's drunk! This isn't right!' Responsibility scolded him.
'But Jesus Christ, it's been damn close to a DECADE since I made out with anyone!' Instinct shot back. 'And it's been even longer since I got past first base.'
'Even so, you're supposed to be a gentleman!' Responsibility reminded him.
'Yeah, but- Good lord, this kiss is lasting a while.' He realized. 'Is she chewing on my lip? Oh my God, she's chewing on my lip, and I am LOVING it. There must be something wrong with me. No there's not, I'm a single guy.' He decided. 'You know, this would be fair if I was drunk too.' He suggested.
'Works for me!' Responsibility quickly caved.
"Wow..." Cougar looked thoughtful as their lips parted. "Where'd you get the gin? Ryuho doesn't drink hard liquor..."
"Want me to show you?" Melissa asked cheerfully.
"Yeah, what the hell." Cougar shrugged. "Let's go get hammered, AND dance like dorks. Might be fun."
"Now you're talking!" Melissa grinned, then grabbed his right arm and started pulling him down the stairs.
.
Out in the middle of the dance floor, the music had gotten soft again since it was just a few minutes until midnight, and Kazuma and Kanami were now just slowly rocking back and forth in each other's arms. "You know something, Kana-chan?" Kazuma asked softly.
"Don't call me that." She said instantly, though her voice remained quiet.
"Not even now?" Kazuma was surprised.
"Nope. That is a strictly bedroom-only nickname." Kanami informed him.
"You know, that doesn't quite seem fair." Kazuma observed dryly.
"Well, too bad." Kanami smiled. "This is one thing I'm not compromising on."
"Anyway, I just wanted to say, this has been the best year of my life, and it's all because of you." Kazuma said in that same soft voice.
"Well that's nice, but this year was just the beginning." Kanami finally opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I promise you, the next year is going to be even better."
"How could it get any better than this?" Kazuma smiled at her.
"Well, we'll finally be a family OFFICIALLY." Kanami pointed out. "We'll have at least a couple months in summer where we'll be together all the time." Now, her smile turned a bit devious. "Plus, I have a feeling that on our wedding night, it'll be later."
"Later?" Kazuma looked confused. "What'll be later? I- oh..." A look of comprehension appeared in his eyes. "You know, I might have actually been happier if you hadn't told me that. I'm gonna be turned on non-stop after you leave as it is."
"Aw, poor Kazu-kun." Kanami smirked. "But you know, I think there's something I can do to console you in the meantime."
Kazuma scanned around the room. "Where's the nearest walk-in closet?"
Kanami slipped out of his arms, but then took him by the hand. "The FARTHEST walk-in closet, you exhibitionist."
"If you insist." He shrugged. As they were moving down the hallway, they could hear the gathered crowd suddenly start counting down from ten. "Huh. Well, happy New Year, Kanami."
"Happy New Year, Kazu-kun." She turned to smile at him. "May we be together for many more."
"Oh, don't worry." Kazuma smiled warmly back. "We will be. I promise."
.
(Nanaki's note: All right, I've met my first self-imposed deadline for completing this story! Look for the next chapter on the 16th.)