Kiss Kiss Fall In Love!

Chapter Five: Sophie's Secret Boyfriend

"Oh Kyoya! Your boys just get cuter each year!"

Fuyumi, Kyoya's older sister, hugged Toby and Ryoji and nuzzled her face against theirs. Her son, Tadashi also hugged his younger cousins. He was starting his first year at college and was—as expected of him—going to medical school. However, Kyoya often mentioned that Tadashi wasn't exactly the brightest of the Ootori's so most likely he'd be a pediatric doctor, not a surgeon. He was every bit alike to Fuyumi as he could be and Kyoya tolerated the frequency of their visits.

"It's good to see you too Obasan!" Toby said.

"Please stop hugging me…" Ryoji said as he tried to get away from Tadashi.

"Uncle Kyoya! Ryoji doesn't love me!" Tadashi whined.

Kyoya sighed as he walked through the living room, "Ryoji, spend time with your cousin."

Tadashi cheered and then dragged his cousins off to the back of the estate. Fuyumi smiled and then picked up her gift she brought for Amelie. She followed Kyoya as he led her through the home. "How's she doing, Kyo?"

"Much better," Kyoya said, "She's been going on walks in the afternoons for fresh air. We should be able to catch her."

Fuyumi put her hand on Kyoya's shoulder and turned him around. He looked down at his sister who studied his face. After a moment, she gave him a sad smile, "You've never left her side have you?"

Kyoya placed his hands in his pockets and turned back around, "She's my wife," he said, "What would I gain if she were gone?" Fuyumi teared up and hugged her brother and started telling him about how proud she was of him and that he was a great husband and father.

"Fuyumi?"

Both Ootori's turned to see Amelie walking in through one of the side doors. Fuyumi grabbed Ami's hands and said she was happy to see her regaining her health. Ami looked tired, she was wrapped in a thick shawl, by Kyoya's command, and not as bright and happy like she used to be, but…she was healthy and that was all that mattered.

"It's good to see you too, Sis!" Ami said.

"Is there anything I can do around here?" Fuyumi asked.

Kyoya sighed and Ami grimaced. Fuyumi meant well, she just didn't make a good house wife. Every time she came over she took out all of their clothes and tried to put them back. She tried to cook and nearly burned the estate down. And if she tried to clean something she'd end up burning a hole into it. The last time she tried to vacuum she blew out the power.

"Um…that's ok, Fuyumi. Having you here is enough." Ami said.

Fuyumi gave Ami her present which was a home made sweater. It wasn't the best...it was frayed and had uneven knitting...but it was from the heart.


Ryoji sat on his bed as Toby and Tadashi riffled through his book shelf. "Ryo, you have such boring books!" Tadashi sighed, "Not even any mangas…"

"Can you please stop going through my stuff?" Ryoji asked.

"I'm bored," Tadashi said, "Let's go out!"

"We have been inside all weekend," Toby said. Ryoji glared at him and he shrank away from his brother. "I'm just saying…"

Ryoji sighed and took out his phone and sent out a group text to the hosts. Maybe one of them was free today so he could get his cousin and brother out of his hair. Chiaki was out because he was attending a fashion show with his mother in Milan. The cousins were free and on their way. Soma and Yumi were both busy, Yumi was helping her mother cater a business event, and Soma was in martial arts training, so that left—Sophie. Who wasn't home and wasn't responding to his messages. For some odd reason, this bothered Ryoji the most.


The cousins arrived and soon the small group was off to spend the day at a commoners market. Tamaki had suggested that all the kids do it during their free time and Kyoya was surprisingly supportive. He said each visit would be "educational".

"I'm surprised you're not spending the day at home, Senpai…" Said Sasuke. "Isn't your mother doing better?"

"She is." said Ryoji while checking out some scarfs that were on sale. Toby looked up at his brother and analyzed him. There was clearly something Ryo didn't want to talk about, but he hated it when someone tried to push him to talk about his feelings. So instead, Toby distracted his brother with a pair of matching sweaters he suggested they get.

"We haven't matched since we were kids!" Toby exclaimed and he shined a big bright brown eyes at his big brother.

"Whatever..." Ryoji sighed, though he did smirk and Toby happily paid the vendor.

"I can't go anywhere without running into you can I?" Sophie tapped Ryoji on the shoulder and he smiled at her.

"What brings you to this commoners market, Suoh?" He bowed to her and stepped closer.

"Just call it a market, Ryoji." She laughed and tossed her brown hair over her shoulders, "And I'm here looking for clothes."

"Ootori Senpai!"

Both turned around to see Mikoto running towards him. She hugged Ryoji and once she took a step back he saw that she was still wearing boys clothes.

"You're committed to this aren't you?" Sophie asked, she looked Mikoto up and down and sighed. There was something about Mikoto she didn't like.

Mikoto bowed deeply to Sophie. They had known each other for a long time, since Sophie and her family visited the Ootori's frequently. So Ryoji knew she would have picked up on Mikoto's gender swap the very first day. Mikoto said she wasn't worried and didn't mind that Sophie knew. In fact Mikoto was happy just to get to know Sophie better.

"Hello Miss Suoh. You look lovely today!"

"My look at how handsome that young man is…"

Ryoji saw a group of girls giggling over Mikoto whose cheeks were red. She didn't pay attention to them because her eyes were on Sophie who was very discontented to be near Mikoto. Ryoji felt like something was stirring, and he liked the idea.

"Hello, Sun-san…" Sophie finally greeted her.

Before anything could start to be interesting a tall young man walked over to them and placed his arm around Sophie. He was clearly a university age man, a commoner, Ryoji didn't like him.

"Ryoji, this is…Tai, he's a university student."

Ryoji bowed to Tai, though Tai didn't bow in return. He simply lifted his head up in a juvenile gesture.

"Ryo!" Tadashi threw himself on his cousin and hugged him, "You haven't introduced me to your cute friend!" He winked at Mikoto who bowed to him.

"Mikoto Sun, this is Tadashi Yuma, my cousin. Tadashi, this is Mikoto." Ryoji sighed and stepped away as Tadashi stepped up to flirt with Mikoto. Apparently she was passable enough as a boy to trick Tadashi, who Ryoji was sure had flirted with nearly every boy in Japan.

Ryoji turned his attention back to Tai and Sophie who were talking quietly to one another. He waited for them to notice him and then Sophie walked over to Ryoji and pulled him away. "You're not going to tell your dad you saw me right?" She asked.

"You mean so he doesn't tell your father that you were out with your much older boyfriend? A man I can only assume your father doesn't like? You should listen to him to Sophie. Your father is a good judge of character."

Sophie rolled her eyes at Ryoji and then punched him in the arm, he flinched of course, not being a very athletic young man, "Don't tell!"

"Sophie you know I was bred for my looks!" Ryoji snapped at her, "I can't afford to have bruises on my caramel skin."

Sophie glared at him and said, "I hate you, you stuck up, pretty boy, American." But she did laugh so Ryoji smiled.

"You couldn't get enough of me even if you tried," Ryoji said and he winked at her. He placed his arm around her shoulder and scanned Tai up and down, "So how did you two meet?"

"At a summer school we both taught at. He just graduated High School and moved on to University recently, so he's not that much older than us."

"Three years." Said Ryoji.

"Your mom is a year older than your dad and my dad is two years older than my mom."

"Are you planning on getting married sometime soon?"

Sophie blushed and pushed Ryoji away and went to join Tai as he purchased them tea. Mikoto took Ryoji's arm and pulled him off toward the other side of the market, "You should really learn to relax, Senpai." She said, "Or you'll never learn to have any fun!"

He smiled and nodded and then they walked over to a booth where a woman was selling dresses. Mikoto picked up a beautiful pink dress with white lace details and held it up.

"I thought you were committing to being a boy?" Ryoji asked.

"Not for me, silly! For your mom!"

Ryoji stared at it a little closer now and looked at the little floral details. "She'd love this." He finally said.

Mikoto turned to the seller and asked her how much it was. Ryoji reached into his pocket to pay for it and looked over his shoulder briefly to see Sophie on her own and surrounded by a group of young men. He handed his wallet to Mikoto and walked over to the boys.

"You're a cute one. How about we get your number cutie?" the leader of the gang asked.

Ryoji pushed through them and grabbed Sophie's hand and pulled her away from them. "Back off," he said.

"Who the hell do you think you are?"asked the leader. The rest of his boys surrounded him.

Sophie stood up tall and glared at them, "Someone who's worth my time. You heard the man. Back off. I'm spoken for."

This made the leader angry and he moved to shove Ryoji but Sophie stepped in the way and took the hit and fell to her knees. Ryoji knelt to help her up and his fist balled up and he shook with rage. But before Ryoji could hit the guy—BLAM!

The gang leader hit the ground before anyone could blink and standing over him was Mikoto. "You don't hit ladies!" she barked at him.

Sasuke and Sora arrived at the scene ready to fight but the gang grabbed their leader and then ran off. Ryoji held Sophie and looked her over.

"I'm fine, Ootori," she sighed as she dusted off her clothes.

"Why did you jump in the way?" he asked her.

"You're a delicate flower," Sophie said with a laugh. "I couldn't let that money maker of yours get bruised."

She grinned and just for a moment, she looked exactly like her mother. Ryoji hugged her, "You know that was supposed to be my job right?"

"I won't tell the girls, I swear." She flashed him a peace sign though she winced in pain.

"We should get that looked at," Ryoji said, "My dad can…" She shook her head no and Ryoji understood. There'd be no way she could explain this to her overprotective father.

Sophie turned around and grabbed Mikoto's hand and looked at her fist. It was scrapped and bleeding. "Mikoto, you shouldn't have fought those boys. They were bigger than you."

"So?" Mikoto asked, "They hurt you and bullied Senpai, I couldn't let them get away with that." She finally looked up into Sophie's big blue eyes and blushed. "I'm fine, honestly!"

"We can go back to the estate and get that fixed up, Mikoto," Said Ryoji, though it really wasn't a suggestion. Mikoto bowed to him and agreed. Ryoji looked around, "Where's your stupid boyfriend? If he had been with you we could have avoided all of this."

"He ran into someone from his university and went to talk with her," Sophie said, she didn't seem too happy and Ryoji wasn't glad to hear the news either.

"Go find him, Miss Suoh, we'll be spending the rest of our time here." Mikoto took Ryoji's arm and smiled and Sophie, a little astonished to be dismissed so soon, agreed.

Sora and Sasuke watched the scene closely but followed Mikoto's lead as they decided to go somewhere else. It was no secret amongst the club that Ryoji and Sophie were incredibly close and had been since they were kids. Sophie had always looked out for Ryoji and Ryoji mostly took whatever harassment he got from other people. To him it was a part of life, but to Sophie it was intolerable. It was this part of their friendship that always made them work so well together. Her need for justice and Ryoji's ability to not take anything personally. Sora and Sasuke always rooted for the two to get together but now with Mikoto in the picture, they weren't so sure anymore. Mikoto seemed to know what Ryoji wanted without him saying anything. Being away from Sophie and her boyfriend seemed to already relax him and they went right back to shopping for his mother.

"Yo boss?" Sasuke called, Ryoji looked back at him, "You're treating us to lunch right?"

Ryoji laughed, "You wish!"

The rest of the day Mikoto spent her time distracting Ryoji and buying more and more things for his mother. Sora and Sasuke got to know Mikoto a little better, and found out that he (still thinking Mikoto was a boy) was incredibly into the solar system and wanted to study rocket science. Sasuke actually had a great time talking with her which gave Ryoji and Sora time to talk.

"I think today was actually a success for a partial club outing." Sora said as she linked arms with him.

"We'll have to find some time for all of us to be together." He said.

"How about a sleepover?"

"We're not children."

"No, we're friends!"


Sasuke called over to Sora and told her that they had to head home. She kissed Ryoji on the cheek and then the cousins went on their way. Toby, Tadashi, Mikoto and Ryoji got into the Ootori family car and drove back to the estate. Ryoji could see from the front steps that his mother and aunt were walking around and sipping tea. His mother looked happy if not a little tired and Ryoji went inside to set her presents on the bed.

Toby and Tadashi were in the entertaining room and playing a game of chess and Ryoji would have joined them if Yumi and his mother hadn't walked in. Toby stood up and lept into his mother's arms. She gave him a big kiss and hugged him as tight as she could. Ryoji stood in the door way and something in him prevented him from going forward. From hugging her and telling her he was glad to have her. And that was all he wanted to do. To run to her. To scold her for worrying him so much. To ask her if he could serve her tea and watch their favorite movie together...

Ryoji backed up and bumped into his father. He stumbled for a moment. Then turned and ran up to his room.