CHAPTER 13

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KHR OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. I ONLY OWN YUKI, HER GUARDIANS AND THE OTHER NEUTRALS.

Avery was pissed off, the air around her was burning hot and she would smash anything she came across against the boardroom wall. She picked up a white vase that was decorated with tiny flowers and was just about to toss it to the wall as well when her phone rang. The guardians that were in the room with her heaved a sigh of relief when she put the vase down. It happened to have been hand made by Yuki and they knew that if she found out it was destroyed, she would be even more furious than Avery currently was. They watched as Avery picked up her phone and answered roughly. Soon, she relaxed and began to talk calmly as she usually did. Their attention to the phone conversation perked the moment they heard Avery say "use the eagle tactic." Shortly after that, Avery put her phone down and sat down on her chair with a small smile on her face. It was the questioning stares that made Avery talk, she would have preferred it if they were kept in the dark for a bit longer. "Hibari Kyoya just called me, he needed some advice." Avery said no more than that just to keep them a bit more curious. She smiled at the guardians and ordered them to continue with the report. Kei was the only one who wasn't so curious; he was just happy that Yuki's vase was safe since Avery's mood was back to normal.

Back in Japan, Kyoya was seated at his desk, watching Yuki sleep when a knock was heard at his door. He mumbled the words "come in" then watched Anna approach him silently in order to not wake Yuki up. She quietly placed their food on the desk and turned to leave when Kyoya stopped her. "Anna, wait for me in the living room with your brother, I want to try something." The glint in his eyes told Anna that she wasn't going to like this idea but she nodded anyway. It was her job to adhere to her master's every wish. Kyoya glanced at Yuki and softly shook her awake. When she finally woke up, he told her to have something to eat. During the time they were eating, they were in silence. Kyoya thought of the plan he had and silently dreaded Yuki's reaction while Yuki tried to clear the fog f sleep from her head. Once they were done, Kyoya turned his chair so that he was fully facing Yuki and she noticed that he wanted to say something to her so she gave him her full attention. "Yuki, if you are going to stay here with me, you are going to have to get used to Aaron." "I know that," Yuki softly relied. "But I just don't think I can do that right now." "Yuki, I called Avery and talked to her," Kyoya confessed. "She gave me something to try while she thinks of a less agonising solution for you." Yuki cringed because she sensed that nothing good was going to come out of this idea.

Yuki and Kyoya headed downstairs and entered the living room. Aaron and Anna were seated together with Anna looking more anxious than Aaron. Yuki approached Aaron and bowed in apology. "I'm so sorry I freaked out earlier; I'll try not to do so next time." Aaron waved his hand in dismissal, "It's alright, my lady, no need to apologise." Kyoya held Yuki's hand out to Aaron and spoke softly. "I won't consider it an accepted apology until you shake hands." Yuki looked at Kyoya with silent horror as she realised what Avery had told Kyoya to do. Aaron hesitated as he saw the pure fear in Yuki's eyes. He was just about to tell her that there was no need to do that when Yuki took in a very deep breath and shook his hand. Kyoya held their hands together for five seconds then let go. Immediately, Yuki snatched her hand away and held it to her chest. Kyoya looked at her and saw the tears that were already forming in her eyes and hugged her tight. "You are fine," he whispered in her ear. "He didn't hurt you, see?" Yuki nodded her head against his shoulder and slowly begun to relax against him. Anna and Aaron silently left the room to the couple since it seemed that Yuki just needed to be in Kyoya's arms for a while and it would have been awkward for them.

Once Yuki had completely calmed down, Kyoya left the house as he went to check on Kusakabe and make sure that there were no problems. At first, Yuki stayed in Kyoya's room but soon she got bored of being in the same room the whole time with nothing to do. She stalked down the stairs and headed to the kitchen where Anna and Aaron had started cooking dinner. Aaron was the first to see her enter the kitchen. "My lady, is there something you need?" Yuki shook her head and silently sat at the table. "I just figured I could watch you cook; maybe I could learn something." This surprised Anna very much so that she almost dropped the pan she was holding. "You don't know how to cook? How did that happen?" "I've been away from home for a long time so my mom was unable to teach me," Yuki replied, "and where I was, I was practically forbidden from stepping foot in the kitchen." Aaron smiled widely at her and prompted her to stand up. "Why don't you come here and I'll teach you how to cut the cabbage." To say that Yuki was excited was an understatement, she completely forgot that she was standing really close to a guy and listened carefully to Aaron's explanations. When she was holding the knife wrong, she allowed him to correct her although he warned her beforehand that he would be touching her.

Kyoya came back around two hours later and found Yuki happily cutting the vegetables with Aaron by her side; he was making sure she didn't cut herself by accident. Kyoya smiled and hugged her waist from behind. "You seem to be doing well around Aaron." Kyoya whispered this in her ear then kissed her neck, making her giggle in response. She turned around to face him then kissed him passionately. Aaron panicked since Yuki was still holding the knife in her right hand. He quickly pried open Yuki's fingers and took the knife out of her hand. She didn't even notice the contact; instead, the moment the knife was out of her hand, she entangled it in Kyoya's hair. Just as Kyoya was about to lift Yuki onto the kitchen counter, Anna cleared her throat very loudly making them separate, breathless. She shook her head and looked at Kyoya to address him "Kyoya-sama, please do remember that this is a kitchen and we are trying to cook. If you have no intention of letting my lady cook, please do take her to your room." Kyoya chuckled as he had never heard Anna reprimand him before, for anything. "Please, call me Yuki," Yuki said to Anna good naturedly. She was tired of being called 'my lady' all the time.

Anna smiled and nodded before going back to work with Aaron by her side. Kyoya pulled Yuki away from the kitchen. "Why are you pulling me away? I was learning how to cook," Yuki whined. "We are disturbing them from their job," Kyoya simply replied. "The only one who was disrupting was you. The moment you came into the kitchen, we all stopped working." Yuki pouted slightly and said with a softer voice, "and here I wanted to make something delicious for you to eat." At that Kyoya stopped walking and turned to face her. "Woman, you are seriously-" he stopped mid sentence and ran his fingers through his hair then turned to continue walking again. This made Yuki very curious as to what he was about to say but he wouldn't say another word to her. Night came and the Hibari household was filled with noise and laughter while they ate. Yuki found that Anna and Aaron were fun to be around and strangely, Kyoya didn't mind the noise or the company. He would smile as he watched Yuki talk animatedly with the two chefs.

Meanwhile in Italy, the official meeting between Avery and the guardians had ended a few hours earlier and Avery was now seated in her office at her desk, deep in thought. She knew what Kyoya looked like and had heard of his strange personality so she just could not imagine him being all lovey-dovey with her successor. As she thought it through, she realised she could kill two birds with one stone if she went to Japan in person. First, she could investigate the threats on Yuki's life and second, she could get to meet Hibari Kyoya in the flesh. It seemed like the perfect idea to her but she knew if Hinata caught wind of this plan, it would be shut down immediately. So, on a whim, Avery booked a flight to Japan for that very night. She quickly got up and began packing for her weeklong visit to Japan. Only Avery's husband and rain guardian, Eric, knew where she was headed and made sure she got to the airport on time and safely. When Hinata finally heard of their 9th boss' travels, it was too late to stop her. Hinata sighed and hoped and wished that nothing would go wrong due to Avery's interference.

A phone call was all it took to get Yuki into panic mode. The next morning, Hinata called to inform Yuki of their boss' impulsive actions and all hell broke loose in the Hibari household. Yuki knew that Avery would arrive with no arrangement made at all for accommodation and she most certainly was not willing to have her stay at the Sawada house. Kyoya obviously would not tolerate the idea of another person in his house so Yuki had to make calls to the best hotel she could find to host her boss. Next she had to arrange transport for Avery from the airport to the hotel and wherever else she would want to go. By noon, Yuki had made all the necessary arrangements and wondered why Eric had allowed Avery to do as she wished. She stood, waiting for Avery at the airport on her own since Kyoya refused to be around so many people at once while waiting for an overly enthusiastic woman. The moment Yuki was in Avery's sight, she understood why Kyoya had opted to stay out of it. Avery came running to Yuki and practically jumped onto her to embrace her affectionately. To those around it seemed as if Avery was acting like a child but Yuki knew that she was practically a child in a grown woman's body.