"Target secured. One hostile neutralized. Bravo team holding second in custody. We're continuing sweep of the area but no signs of anyone else." The commander of the Haninozuka team's voice crackled over the computer speakers, filling the silence of the war room. The mission was a success, but no one could cheer – to a man they were transfixed on the sound of the medics shouting in the background.
"..bleeding heavily. Miura – gets some pressure on that wound!"
"Risa? Risa, can you hear me?"
"Pupils dilated, possible concussion. Hand me that neck brace."
"Where the hell's that stretcher!"
The words swirled around Kyoya, wrapping around him like strangling vines. He'd never expected there could be something worse than the gray fog of 'waiting,' but the feeling of 'almost' – of having done everything you could, exerted every last ounce of effort, and to still find yourself on the verge of failing? That was the sensation of ice cold waters stealing the air from his lungs, stopping his heart, and closing over his head like a tomb.
They had been so close! While the Haninozuka Alpha Team's assault on the red push-pin location only resulted in scaring a middle aged manager and his mistress out of their bed, Bravo Team's descent on the blue push-pin was greeted by a wide open door and a man clutching his head with one hand and his family jewels with the other. From his near-incoherent babbling they discovered that Risa had escaped on her own and left one of her kidnappers with a concussion and, if there were any justice in the world, sterility.
Deciding that speed trumped stealth when the rescue operation turned into a search, Bravo Team had called in helicopters from the prefecture emergency services department and summoned Alpha Team to assist. As they journeyed on the road to the cabin where Risa had been held, the Alpha Team Leader saw lights in an area where no one should be. He left half his convoy to investigate and, with the help of one of the helicopters, the team quickly found Risa – but not before the bastard that was with her had done some damage.
So. Damn. Close.
Kyoya forced his thoughts away from dwelling on events he couldn't change, martialed all his will and forced himself to come back to the present. Risa still needed him, he couldn't fall apart now. Besides, regardless of the circumstances, an Ootori did. Not. Break.
"…unresponsive. Working to stabilize her condition," the commander was stating, finishing his report. "No time to wait for an ambulance, we'll transport to the Ootori Hospital in Kofu using the van."
"Starting IV drip now – Miura, keep up that pressure on the wound."
"The police are on their way, Commander, and will provide an escort," Honey chirped back, "They'll need to talk to you about the shooting too."
"Alright, men, on three. Let's get her off this hill. One… Two…"
"Understood. Bodycams will show it was justified, sir." Somehow the Commander's voice managed to convey his opinion that death had been too good for the man. "Bravo Team wants to know what to do with their prisoner."
"Oh, I think he can wait for the ambulance. Don't you?" Honey's sunny voice was shot through with shadows that caused shivers to run down the spine of everyone in the room.
"Yes, sir," The Commander drawled, "We'll make sure he has a nice, scenic ride."
Honey released the man to his tasks and turned to the person standing silently next to him. "Kyo-chan," he said laying his hand on top of his friend's crossed arms, "Our on-site medic is really, really good."
Kyoya nodded, but there was no conviction to it.
"Kaicho," called out the guard at the monitor just to Kyoya's left, "The van has reached a destination but we still have three more potential targets in flight. What do you want us to do?"
Kyoya turned, his mouth gaping open. What the hell was this idiot going on about? The van? It took a second for him to even remember the pursuit of the thieves. Weariness bore down on him – didn't anyone realize just how fucking unimportant all of that was now?
Before he could open his mouth and say so, Tamaki stepped in front of him and shoveda headset into his chest. "I have the chopper on the roof, they'll take you and Honey straight to the hospital."
Kyoya paused just long enough to shoot a look of gratitude at the idiot who understood him better than anyone else. He strode over to the Ootori patriarch, still glowering from the chair he'd been consigned to. "Father, I'm sure you can handle things from here. " Kyoya tossed the burner phone Ryan had given him at the older man, who caught it deftly.
Without another word, he and Honey bolted from the room.
~oOoOo~
The hospital director, an overweight man in his sixties who had to clamp one hand on his head to prevent his toupee from blowing away, met them at the landing pad. Kyoya couldn't decide if that was a good or bad sign. If Risa was doing well, the director would want to take credit. If she wasn't, the man would be there to prevent the ire of an Ootori from falling directly onto his staff.
"Ootori-sama," the man shouted over the noise of the copter as the two occupants debarked, "Your wife arrived fifteen minutes ago." Bending down to keep low, the three men walked swiftly towards the roof-top entrance. "She has a broken wrist, possible concussion, and is showing signs of stage one hypovolemic shock and mild hypothermia. Our main concern is the puncture wound in her left side. She's in the OR now with my top trauma surgeon."
"Take me to her," Kyoya ordered as they reached the stairwell. The door into the hospital swung shut behind him with a slam, adding an emphasis to his statement.
The director stopped in his tracks and blinked. "I'm sorry, but that's not possible," he blurted out.
"I assure you, Director," Kyoya said, clipping his words, "I am no stranger to an operating room."
To his credit, the Director didn't back down under the younger man's glare. "I mean, Sir, that it wouldn't be advisable." He took a deep breath as if to muster his nerve. "The minute your wife came through the doors, she became my patient and it's my responsibility to make sure she gets the best possible outcome. Right now, that means not having my best staff distracted from doing their jobs by their employer looking over their shoulder."
Kyoya's mind acknowledged the sense of the words, but it did nothing to ease the tension running through every fiber of his body. Standing at the top of the stairs, he could feel himself physically wavering back and forth as the need to keep doing something thrummed through him.
"Ootori-sama," the Director continued in the calming voice one might use on a dangerous beast, "We aren't as big or prestigious as the branches in Tokyo. But what we are is a hospital specializing in the needs of the agricultural and timber industries and mountain tourism. We are experts in treating exactly the type of trauma your wife has received. I have my best people in there with her – please just let us do our job."
Kyoya's mouth opened to agree, but he couldn't speak the words. He felt a hand reach up around his back to grip his shoulder. "C'mon, Kyo-chan," Honey said softly, breaking the impasse, "Let's go to the waiting room, 'kay?"
His head nodded, but Kyoya's mind rejected the very thought of waiting. Thankfully, at an Ootori Hospital there would be plenty to do to keep him occupied. Without further objection, he allowed his Sempai to lead him inside.
~oOoOo~
Thirty minutes later, the elevator doors wooshed open onto a busy hallway. Men in tactical gear wandered around drinking tea, staff in hospital uniforms assembled around the nurse's station looking conspicuously busy, and clusters of grave-looking men in bespoke suits blocked the corridors. At the center of it all was a tall, black-haired man with an excruciatingly polite smile on his face that never touched his eyes.
Stepping off the elevator arm and arm, Tamaki and Haruhi took one look at their friend and then looked at each other. "That's not good, is it?" Haruhi stated, chewing worriedly on her bottom lip.
"No, it's not." Tamaki returned his gaze to his best friend, noting the almost imperceptible twitching of Kyoya's cheek as he talked to the oily-looking man giving off the scent of a politician. "When he gets that vapid look on his face, he's about a second from doing something terrible to someone." He reached up and squeezed the hand his wife had tucked into the crook of his elbow. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Haruhi rolled her eyes. "I doubt it. Whatever you're thinking probably involves elephants, magicians, and a full three-ring circus."
"Of course, it doesn't!" Tamaki protested. His face fell and he muttered, "Its monkeys, not elephants."
"Tamaki, no!"
The Host King made a whining noise in the back of his throat. "Awww… you never let me have any fun. Fine, we'll do it the boring way." Leaning down, he murmured his plan in Haruhi's ear.
When he was done, she nodded in agreement. "Ok. You go get ready, I'll take care of my part."
Tamaki dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. "Alright – operation: Save Kyoya from Himself is a go!" He gave his wife a small smile and conspiratorial nod, then turned and loped off down a side hallway.
Squaring her shoulders, Haruhi sailed through the milling horde with the absolute confidence that they would part before her that only a woman six-months pregnant could have. Stepping up behind Kyoya, she contrived to stumble against his side. "Oof!"
Kyoya felt the impact and instinctively turned to catch the woman falling towards him. "Haruhi? When did you get here?" He wrapped his left arm around her shoulders for stability. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, I think so. Thanks for the save." She righted herself, clutching hard against his forearm. "We just arrived - I guess the ride here was more tiring than I thought." She put her right hand in the center of her back and rubbed at it. "Do you think you could show me to someplace I can sit down away from all these people?"
"Of course." A part of him breathed a sigh of relief at the excuse to stop talking with the self-important blowhard who'd been monopolizing his time for the last fifteen minutes. "Mr. Mayor, if you will excuse me?"
The mayor couldn't refuse under the circumstances and made some noises about setting up a meeting at a better time to continue discussing the charitable donation for community improvements he wanted. Kyoya turned aside the offer without a comital.
He started to guide Haruhi down the hallway, but she stopped and pulled on his arm. "Umm… Tamaki went to get me something to drink back down that corridor." She pointed down one of the junctions branching off from the elevators. "Is there a place I can wait down there?"
It was a bit out of the way, but it suited his desire to step away from all the people clamoring for his attention so he didn't argue the point. "I believe so." Turning, he began walking in the direction she indicated. "If not, I'll make them find one. It's one of the few advantages of being part of the family that owns the place."
Halfway down the side hallway, his only warning that something was amiss was a flicker of motion in the corner of his eye. Suddenly, the door they were passing flew open and an arm reached out to grab him. Simultaneously, the duplicitous brunette at his side hip-checked him and Kyoya soon found himself jerked inside the emergency stairwell, whirled around, and his back slammed up against the wall.
He tried to move, but a pair of strong hands were pinning his shoulders back trapping him. His eyes blinked in disorientation once. Twice. And then came to focus on the blonde moron standing in front of him. "Tamaki, what the hell are you doing? I don't have time…"
"Kyo!" Tamaki ordered, "Just… stop!"
The authoritative tone in his best friend's voice startled Kyoya into shutting his mouth.
Sensing that Kyoya wasn't fighting him anymore, Tamaki relaxed his grip slightly. "You've done your best, mon ami, but now it's time to stop. To let it go. There's nothing more you can do. You don't have to play the part of the third Ootori son, or the company chairman, or even the general leading the army to the rescue. You can just let yourself be what you are – a husband worried about his wife."
Kyoya shook his head back and forth slowly in denial, but his Tamaki's words were piercing through all the layers he'd put in place to insulate himself from the dark cloud of fear which had been pressing in on him since the minute Risa had vanished. Raising his left arm, he laced it over Tamaki's to clutch at his friend's shoulder. Whether it was to push him away or pull him closer wasn't something he could say for certain.
Tamaki squeezed Kyoya's shoulder in response and dropped his other hand away. "Things are out of your control now and I know just how much that must terrify you. Not even you can keep carrying that burden alone."
His friend's concern bore down on Kyoya, winding the spring of tension that had powered him all evening tighter. And tighter.
"Mon frère," Tamaki pleaded, his eyes filled with empathy, "You've always been there, supporting me. Supporting all of us. Please, just this once let me help. Let yourself lean on me for a change."
The spring wound tighter. And tighter. Until the weight pressing down on Kyoya became unbearable and, with no more warning than that, it snapped.
The fall began almost imperceptibly. First the ankles trembled, then the knees lost the ability to bear weight, the torso slowly fell forward from the hips, and Kyoya's forehead landed squarely on Tamaki's shoulder.
And, for the first time in his life Ootori Kyoya couldn't do anything but sob.
~oOoOo~
Kyoya straightened his back and put his glasses back on when the stairwell door opened. Seeing it was just Tamaki, he took them back off and relaxed back into his seat on the steps.
"Here, you look like you could use this." Tamaki held out a can of something cold in front of Kyoya's face.
Kyoya grabbed it and pressed it against his aching eyes, hoping it would reduce the swelling. "I really hate you right now," he grumbled.
"No, you don't," Tamaki replied confidently and plopped down next to him, popping the lid on his own drink and gulping it down with a contented sigh. "Secretly, you want to thank me. I don't care what people say behind your back, you aren't inhuman. No man could bear the amount of pressure you've been under tonight without cracking. I figured, as your best friend, that doing it herewas preferable to letting you have a truly spectacular meltdown in public."
Kyoya shrugged one shoulder indifferently and grunted a begrudging acknowledgement. He'd never admit it, being able to let go of his control had… helped. Even though none of his worry had diminished, a part of him felt the burden had eased just a little. Opening the can of juice, he drained it. The cold soothed the rawness in the back of his throat, but he couldn't help wrinkling his nose in disgust at the cloying peach flavor.
The two men settled into silence for almost a full minute before Tamaki was unable to resist filling it. "It's a bit of a shock, isn't it? Realizing that you love someone, I mean."
Kyoya opened his mouth on an instinctive protest, but stopped himself. There was no point in lying about it anymore – not even to himself. "Yes, it is."
Tamaki's face lit up with a 'told-you-so' grin, but for once he had the good sense not to gloat.
Staring into his empty can, Kyoya swirled it around a little with his hand as if to shake loose a few drops from the side. "It definitely wasn't anything I ever planned on," he mused, "I'm rather surprised to find I have it in my nature at all."
"I'm not." Tamaki laughed at Kyoya's look of surprise. "No, really! You are the most possessive person I've ever met. Once you decide someone is important to you, you act as if their happiness is your own. If that's not a capacity to love, I don't know what is. You've always underestimated yourself."
"Perhaps you're right," Kyoya said on a weary sigh. He lifted the empty can to his lips as if trying to shake the last few drops left. "Not sure what good it does me to know that now." He fell silent, staring at the floor as if it were a far distance. "What am I going to do, Tamaki? What do I do if…"
Tamaki lifted his hand to Kyoya's shoulder. "I don't know. I can't even imagine. The only thing I know is that, if things were reversed, you would be there for me until I got through it. No matter how long it takes. Just like I'll be there for you."
The only acknowledgement Kyoya could give was to briefly place his hand over his friend's before dropping it back to his lap.
"I also know that thinking that way doesn't help anything," Tamaki said with forced cheerfulness, "She's in the best hospital getting the best care and that is all because you didn't give up. All because you used everything in your power to find her. Whatever fate has in store, don't forget that."
With a parting squeeze, Tamaki dropped his hand from Kyoya's shoulder and tossed back the rest of his drink. "But I, for one, refuse to believe in worst case scenarios. This story is clearly a romance. Haruhi and I are the main characters – but you and Risa are the B-couple so everything is going to work out!"
"You're such an idiot!" Kyoya muttered with just a hint of a chuckle.
Tamaki nudged him with his shoulder. "Hey, just be grateful you've been promoted from homosexual supporting cast."
Whatever Kyoya would have said next was interrupted by the sound of the door slowly opening. Haruhi stepped through, an inscrutable expression on her face. "Kyoya, Risa's out of surgery. The doctor's won't tell me anything – they want to speak to you."
A/N: Thanks to all new favoriters and followers and again to all the awesome people who leave reviews. No responses today, just know this is for all of you who wondered when Kyoya would finally figure out his feelings.
About three more chapters left…
