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The door leading into Kyoya's room from the balcony was thankfully unlocked. Éclair was able to slip inside. She was bruised and shaken and the pain in her shoulder persisted, but she shrugged it off. She was infinitely more concerned about the boy lying on the bed, hooked up to a seemingly endless assortment of tubes and wires of all colors. He looked so small…so fragile among the machines that were keeping him alive. It tore at her heart to see Kyoya this way, and to know that she was the cause.

Éclair quietly made her way over to the bed and knelt down beside it. She reached out and touched Kyoya's pale hand. He was so cold.

Kyoya's eyes opened slowly. He blinked and looked over, not knowing who in the world would be touching his hand so affectionately. His eyes widened when he saw who it was. "Éclair," he whispered, sitting up slightly. His heart picked up speed. "How...How did you get in here?" Surely the guards would have stopped her if her father had been serious about not letting her back in. Or was he simply saying that to discourage his son?

Éclair stood and added a few pillows behind Kyoya's back to help him sit up. She let a teasing grin sneak over her lips. "Magic." She knelt back down next to the bed and took his hand in hers again. "How are you feeling?" it was a silly question, but still, she was concerned.

"Tired," he admitted, "but I am unable to fall asleep. It's also rather hard to breathe, which is why I have this." He gestured to the nasal cannula he was wearing that connected to an oxygen tank. "According to one of the nurses, I passed out while my father was here…" His voice trailed off and his eyes widened. "You made it in here…My father promised that if you did, I could legally have visitors." Kyoya laughed slightly, though the sound was weak. "Tamaki can visit now, thanks to your 'magic'."

It felt like Éclair had been hit again. She schooled her features carefully in order to hide her intense disappointment. It made sense, of course, that Kyoya would want to see Tamaki over her. Now that his condition was more stable and he was getting oxygen, Kyoya was probably back to thinking rationally. It was his best friend that he wanted to be with; not the careless girl whose fault it had been that he was now lying in the hospital.

Éclair stood up and forced a smile. "In that case, I'll go find him. I'm sure that he and Keiko-san haven't gotten too far yet."

Kyoya quickly grabbed a hold of her hand and locked eyes with her. "He can find his way," he assured her. "Please…stay." Yes, Tamaki was his best friend, but at the moment, he was grateful to be spared from the blonde's excitement. He'd rather it was just him and Éclair for the time being. Besides… "I wanted to see you first."

She knelt back down, quietly pleased by Kyoya's sentiments. She held his hand close to her. "I wanted to see you too." There was a pause when Éclair cleared her throat. "Kyoya…I'm sorry. It's my fault. I know that it should be me lying there."-

"Not at all." Kyoya shook his head. "I couldn't live with myself if I allowed you to get hurt while I only watched. You've had enough medical excitement already, and I was not about to let you be burdened with more." He grew quiet for a moment. "I couldn't let you get hurt, Éclair."

Éclair blinked, tears beginning to clog up her throat. No one had ever sacrificed anything for her before. Kyoya's act had rocked her to her core. She couldn't wrap her head around the idea that somehow her well-being was more important to Kyoya than his own security. "But why? The sensible thing to do was to listen to your self-preservation instincts. I don't understand what would possess you to put my safety above your own.

"Did you not understand me in the ambulance?" Kyoya offered an exhausted but genuine smile. "I thought it was rather obvious…I love you, Éclair."

While Kyoya could scarcely believe that he had actually told her, he did not regret it. Everything that had happened over the course of the last week, from the incident at the art gallery until now, had proven to him that he loved Éclair. He had even gotten into an argument with his father over the fact that he had fallen in love.

Éclair's face turned a dark red. She hadn't been mistaken, then. Hearing those words from Kyoya…it was more than she had ever hoped for. Those few words made everything that she had endured over the past few months—no, everything she had endured for her entire life—worth it. Just to hear that Kyoya Ootori loved her…she could have died happy in that instant.

One or two tears slipped out of her blue eyes and down her cheek. "For the life of me, I don't understand why. There is no merit in loving someone like me." She wasn't beautiful or incredibly intelligent. She either acted cold and calculating or hotheaded and impetuous. After today, she was certain her financial resources would suffer. She had nothing to offer Kyoya except her feelings.

"Whatever degrading things you're thinking about yourself, they're not true. There's no part of you that I do not love, Éclair…And at the core, I love you most for your grand heart."

Éclair's tears flowed more freely with Kyoya's declaration; it was so heartfelt and sweet. She didn't think her heart was that large, except when it came to Kyoya. She would do anything for him. But evidently, the Shadow King had seen more in her than she had ever been able to see, and he still cared about her.

"Kyoya, I love everything about you. The more you've lowered your walls for them, and the more I have seen inside of you, the deeper my feelings have become. Warts and all, I think you are the single most wonderful person that I have ever met. If I could only stay close to you…I would be so very happy."

"Then stay," he said quietly, running his thumb over her knuckles. "You can stay here for as long as you'd like." Having his feelings out in the open, finally, felt exhilarating. He felt like he was free to say what he'd like in Éclair's company. There was no risk of judgments or the need for sturdy walls; he could finally be Kyoya instead of an Ootori.

Éclair smiled and nodded, happy that Kyoya would let her stay with him. That's all she wanted to do. Her tests and business obligations meant absolutely nothing right now, and they may very well never hold the same importance to her again. She wanted this new life that she had discovered: the one where she could be an ordinary woman, surrounded by friends and able to stay at the side of the man that she loved.

Kyoya's eyes shifted to something on Éclair's face that he hadn't noticed before because of exhaustion: a slight discoloration on her cheek. "What happened…?"

Éclair blinked, having completely forgotten about the mark. She brought up her free hand to cover the spot on her skin, which was beginning to bruise around the edges. "It's nothing, really."

Kyoya's eyes narrowed as he developed a hypothesis, the bruising on his own cheek still evident. "Did…my father do this to you?" He wasn't sure why he was asking at all when he knew the answer. Yoshio had been speaking of her in such a degrading way that Kyoya would not have been surprised if he'd lifted a hand to her. That didn't mean that he wouldn't be furious if he found out that it was the truth.

Éclair bit her lip softly. She didn't want to make Kyoya upset. However, she wanted to lie to him even less. She slowly nodded in the affirmative. "That's why I wasn't here sooner. Your father was furious. He accused me of trying to kill you on purpose and then he threw us all out of the hospital. We had to find another way to get in and it took a while."

So his father had hurt Éclair. Not only that, but he had banned them from the hospital! Kyoya clenched his teeth. His heart picked up speed through his fury, and he forced himself to take a deep breath. Getting angry with his father was precisely what had led him to passing out before. "…I'm sorry that you had to endure that with my father."

Eager to relax Kyoya, Éclair rubbed his hand and made soothing, hushed sounds. "It's all right. I'm fine, really. All that matters is your recovery. Don't overexcite yourself."

"I'm trying not to," he replied with a sigh. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly to quell his heart. "My father is just…aggravating. He only cares for his reputation. He used a few minutes to talk to me after getting hit by a bus to simply reprimand me for what happened at the National Meeting." Kyoya shook his head irritably.

A deep sadness passed through Éclair's eyes. All Kyoya wanted from his father was acknowledgement and a small amount of kindness, but even that seemed too much to ask from Yoshio Ootori. "I'm sorry, Kyoya. I'm sorry that he can't see you." The businessman was missing out. Anyone who could truly 'see' Kyoya Ootori knew how patient and hardworking and intelligent he was. But for some reason, his own father was completely oblivious to his son's brilliance. "And I'm also sorry if I overstepped my boundaries at the National Meeting. I honestly didn't mean to embarrass you or to get you into trouble."

Éclair Tonnerre had never done so much apologizing in her life. Before befriending Kyoya, Éclair's pride had been astronomical. She had held herself in very high regard. This arrogance had been a dam to withhold the overwhelming flood of expectations from Éclair's father and his peers. She had been able to smother her feelings of inadequacy for a long while. However, as she came to desire Kyoya's approval, she had come to realize how dreadfully out of his league she was. She wasn't good enough.

Kyoya shook his head and squeezed her hand, bringing Éclair out of her thoughts. "I am grateful that you intervened. I felt as though I was going to pass out if I was to spend another moment in that room and my father intended to keep me there until I did. You gave me a moment to catch my breath amidst the chaos. Of course, I do wish that it wasn't at the cost of damage to your company's name. You risked a lot of potential business partners with your display." He was eternally grateful to Éclair for helping him, but he felt guilty for having backed her into such a decision in the first place.

She shrugged it off. "I'll get by just fine. My father will be upset, but realistically, what can he do? Disown his own heir?" She chuckled. "He still has his pride to maintain. I'll get a reprimand, but that will be the end of it. My father doesn't have a terribly high opinion of Japanese businessmen anyway. He measures people by stocks, and if he deems that number too small, he will just buy them out. It really isn't as large of a blow to our company as it seems." She was downplaying the facts, but they were fundamentally true. "Besides, there is only one person's opinion of me which really mattered." She smiled and kissed Kyoya's hand softly.

"Now you're just not thinking realistically," Kyoya laughed, stroking Éclair's cheek. "I will still do what I can to salvage some of your reputation. After all, if there's no one that will do business with Grand Tonnerre then you will have no reason to stay here…and I wouldn't want that." He did hope that Éclair's father would not reprimand her too harshly. He certainly knew the effect that such harsh words could have on someone.

Éclair's cheeks began to burn again. It was true that business affairs were her excuse to her father for staying in Japan. And Kyoya didn't want her to lose that reason. He didn't want her to leave. She brushed a lock of hair out of her face, wondering how disheveled she looked after her fall. "I'll focus on fostering relationships with business heirs who are my own age. Our generation looks upon arranged marriage and corporal punishment less favorably than those currently in power. The future powers of our industry are more likely to look sympathetically at my actions anyway, though I still don't regret them." She let out a soft, pleased sound and moved into Kyoya's touch. 'I know I'm not acting pragmatically, but that is because I have acquired different priorities."

"Better priorities," he agreed with a gentle smile. He stared into her eyes for a moment, the blue that he would once have described as 'icy' now reflecting passion and wonder and a kindness running so deeply in her heart that he could only wonder why he had once hated her. He reached his hand to her chin and gently guided her toward him as he sat up closer and finally his lips met hers.

A hospital is hardly a romantic location for a first kiss, but Kyoya could no longer hold himself back.

When Kyoya's lips touched hers, Éclair's pulse sped up so rapidly that she could hardly keep track of the beats. A shiver of pleasure swept through her entire body. Kyoya's lips were so soft and warm, and it was as if he was transferring all of his affection into her body through the kiss, like currency into a bank. She felt warm and wanted and loved.

She climbed onto the bed, next to Kyoya, and wrapped her arms around him, mindful of his fractured ribs and broken arm. She kissed him with a depth and passion that she could scarcely believe was within her power. Kyoya Ootori was her one and only love and she wanted him to know it.

Kyoya broke away from the kiss, needing air quicker than Éclair did. He chuckled lightly and brushed some stray bits of hair out her face. Her beauty glowed before him as though someone had finally turned on the lights in the world around him. With her in the room, she was all he could focus on; his broken arm or breathing problems meant nothing so long as Éclair was there with him.

"I love you," he repeated softly as he cupped her face and kissed her again, this time shorter. When he released his lips from her, he rested his forehead against her own and smiled.

Every breath Éclair took seemed like it was her first. It was as though she had never lived before Kyoya's love. She had been going through the motions: eat, sleep, work. But she had never really been alive. She had had nothing to live for. Things were different now. The whole world was open to her and it was beautiful. However, nothing in the infinite cosmos was more beautiful than Kyoya. She would trade away the entire universe for just one of his dazzling smiles. "I love you more than anything in the world, Kyoya."

It was this scene upon which Yoshio Ootori intruded: Éclair Tonnerre on top of his son in his hospital, the sun having long set. He had never been so furious in his entire life. He flipped the light switch on so hard that it made a deafening noise. "What…in the hell is going on here?!"