Partially Awake
Chapter 5: Daughter
Author's Notes: As usual, thank you for all the reviews for the last and the previous chapter. :) I enjoy writing as it is, but seeing that people actually read this and like it makes me enjoy it even more.
For LJers (and everyone else), I created a Yzak/Shiho LJ community. It's located at (Replace the three – with / since doesn't show links or just go through the link in my profile). Hoping to see many of you there, writers, readers and Yzak/Shiho fans. :)
Saturday mornings had to be the most wonderful thing since before sliced bread and white chocolate. Even the sun was behaving on this particular Saturday. Although the warm rays of light had pulled her gently from sleep they were not so blindingly strong that they forced her out of her bed. Shiho was perfectly fine where she was, snuggling up against her fluffy pillow and practically buried underneath the thick covers.
It was the perfect morning.
The only thing that did not fit in was the constant ringing on the doorbell.
At first Shiho hid her head underneath the pillow, hoping that it might drown the sound out and that whoever was ringing the doorbell would just give up. But five minutes and a whole lot of sighs later Shiho rolled out of her bed rather clumsily. She wrapped the covers around her, attempting to keep the warmth of the bed with her, and dragged her feet as she made her way to the front door.
"Coming... it's only eight for crying out loud..."
Too tired to look through the peephole, she unlocked the door.
Upon seeing who was standing on the other side she instantly regretted her actions and asked herself how a perfectly, wonderful Saturday morning could suddenly go so wrong.
"Well, about time you answered the door," Keiko scoffed and walked right past Shiho and into the apartment.
She was followed by what seemed like a train of maids. At least a dozen of them entered the apartment, all of them dressed in the exact same gray maid uniform. Shiho stepped back to get out of their way but blinked a few times as if she was trying to make some sense of what was going on. The maids had already scattered across the apartment, each of them seemingly occupied with their own task. Some started to dust her bookshelves, others tidied up and she swore that she saw one of the maids polishing her stereo.
"I was starting to think that you had slept somewhere else," Keiko went on, oblivious to her daughter's confusion.
"Had I known you were coming I would have," Shiho murmured to herself.
"Did you say something?" Keiko asked absentmindedly, picking up a plain vase and inspecting it carefully.
"Nope, not a word," Shiho said quickly and dodged a maid who made a beeline for her bedroom. She drew the cover closer to her, longing for the perfect silence and warmth of the bed. "Why are you here this early?"
"Early!" Keiko repeated, shocked. "It's eight o clock!"
Shiho was just about to argue that that was exactly the point when one of the maids yanked the covers away from her. She was left standing half freezing in her T-shirt and pajama bottoms while glaring furiously at the maid who headed into the bed room with the covers. Meanwhile her mother had made her way into the kitchen and was right in the middle of inspecting the contents of her refrigerator.
"My goodness, do you have anything that's edible and hasn't been expired for the last three years in here?" Keiko exclaimed dramatically. She snapped her fingers and two maids came into the kitchen instantly.
"Yes, Mrs Hahnenfuss?"
"After you finish here you will go to the grocery store and buy some food for my daughter."
"Yes, Mrs Hahnenfuss!"
Slightly creeped out by the uncanny resemblance between the maids and worker bees, Shiho edged closer to her mother. But Keiko, who was finished inspecting the kitchen moved on to the bedroom and Shiho had no other choice but to follow. Upon entering her bedroom she saw that her bed had been made and that the blouse she had carelessly discarded last night was no longer lying on the floor where she had left it. Keiko walked straight over to the closer, opened the door and started to go through Shiho's clothes.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Shiho asked for the second time, crossing her arms.
"I'm trying to find something for you to wear to the engagement party tonight," Keiko asked. "White, gray, black, gray, navy... do you have anything that wouldn't be acceptable at a funeral?"
Ironically, just as she said that she pulled out a black leather top that looked more like a bra that even Catwoman would be ashamed to wear in public. Keiko looked at the top questioningly before Shiho quickly snatched it away from her.
"Costume party," she explained quickly, fiddling with her hair in an awkward way.
Satisfied with the explanation or perhaps just not wanting to know more, Keiko returned to going through Shiho's closet. After a while she stopped and sighed rather loudly.
"We'll just have to go shopping," she declared. "God knows how I managed to raise a daughter who doesn't know how to dress herself. It's a good thing that you have Yzak now, he seems to have noticed that you look so much better wearing a little more color."
Reminded of how she had been forced to wear a pink skirt and sandals all night only to have Yzak's plan backfire, Shiho said nothing.
"Go and get changed," Keiko ordered, placing a white buttoned shirt and a pair of black dress pants in Shiho's hands. "We have a lot to do today."
A few blocks away, Yzak was right in the middle of enjoying his Saturday morning. Like Shiho, he spent it in his bed and enjoyed the warmth and comfort that came with it. Unlike Shiho, he had the luxury of not being disturbed by dozens of worker bee maids running how in his apartment. Unlike Shiho, Yzak opened his eyes to see a large, robotic man towering over him.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
Falling off the bed, Yzak reached for the closest thing he could use as a weapon, which happened to be a very round and safe alarm clock. From the other side of the bed Kevin just gave Yzak an odd look.
"Is something the matter, Mr Jule?" he asked in his wooden voice.
"...y...you!" Yzak stuttered, pointing at Kevin with the alarm clock and a shaking arm. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment!"
Kevin straightened his suit, not that it was needed. A wooden plank would look curvy and soft when in comparison to him.
"I was simply sent to wake you up," he responded. "Mrs Jule has made breakfast."
"Breakfast?" Yzak repeated, almost whispering.
That's when he felt it. The smell of eggs and toast. Slightly burnt toast, but at that moment it was not exactly the most important thing on his mind. Scrambling to his feet and still clutching the alarm clock like it was his last lifeline, Yzak slowly moved out of his bedroom, pressing his back against the wall to stay as far away from Kevin as possible. The latter did nothing but stand there quietly, making a very good imitation of a statue.
Yzak stumbled out of his bedroom and into the combined living room and kitchen. Standing by the stove was his mother, wearing a squared apron and in the middle of making scrambled eggs. She noticed Yzak almost immediately and flashed a smile towards him.
"Good morning!" she chirped. "Did you sleep well? You look a little tired, but considering how long we stayed with Friedrich and Keiko it's not strange. Are you hungry? Why don't you sit down and eat?"
His mind too fuzzy with tiredness to think, Yzak only heard the last bit. Without a word he sat down by the dining table and watched how his mother brought him what looked like the Mount Everest of breakfast plates, although he had to admit that it smelled good.
"Mother, how did you get in here?" he asked, trying to rub the sleepiness away from his eyes. "I didn't hear you ring the doorbell."
"Oh, that's because I didn't," Ezaria explained cheerfully. "I thought that you might be asleep so I asked Kevin to unlock the door for me. Did you know that he's trained to do these kinds of thing, picking locks and breaking in? Not mention that one of his references says that it comes with territory since he's also one of the best when it comes eliminating people in their sleep. Isn't that just the funniest thing you've heard?"
While Ezaria giggled to herself, Yzak was staring wide eyed at her with shock and thinking that what she had told him was far from the funniest thing he had heard. In the corner of his eye he could see that Kevin was eyeing him suspiciously. A chill running down his spine, Yzak grabbed a fork and started to eat the food his mother had made for him. Ezaria saw this and smiled.
"I'm so happy you're like my cooking!" she said, delighted as she sat down on the other side of the table. "You better eat as much as you can, we have a very big day ahead of us, not to mention something very important to do before the party tonight."
"What important thing?" Yzak questioned, not wanting another unplanned surprise to hit him like it had last night. Come to think of it, his whole life had been an unplanned surprise ever since his mother had decided to set him up with Shiho.
Ezaria leaned forwards slightly on the table, an almost crazy look in her eyes that made Yzak want to go back to his bed and crawl underneath the covers.
"It will be one of the most important moments of your life," Ezaria spoke in a whisper, as if she was afraid that she would taint the oh-so-important moment by speaking about it in a normal tone. "You better make sure not to mess it up, if you do... well, I will be less than happy."
Yzak froze completely, his spoon stopping halfway to his mouth. Ezaria leaned back in the chair, her cheerful manner returning again.
"You're so lucky to that I'll be spending my entire day helping you prepare for this!"
Her hands closing around the warm cup, Shiho took a deep breath and inhaled the wonderful, rich smell of hot chocolate. Unknown to herself, her lips formed the smallest smile just before she brought the cup to her lips and took a careful sip of the chocolate.
"I see you still haven't tired of it."
Shiho put the cup down on the table to see her mother looking at her, or to be exact, the cup of chocolate. The two of them were sitting at a small but classy café at the mall having breakfast seeing as Keiko had deemed the food Shiho had in her apartment inadequate. Several breakfast rolls had been ordered and stood nicely arranged on a large plate, although Shiho hadn't touched any of them yet seeing as she had been too distracted by the cup of hot chocolate she had ordered. Keiko had not eaten anything yet either but by the looks of it she had not even sipped her tea.
"Hot chocolate," Keiko clarified. "You still enjoy it that much?"
"Yup, still do..." Shiho answered and felt uncertain upon not knowing exactly what her mother was trying to say.
"It's a miracle you can still drink it after all these years and not get tired of it," Keiko scoffed, eyeing the tea spoon as if trying to decide if it was sanitary enough for her to use. "I used to take you out for breakfast every Saturday morning when your father was working and you never wanted anything but hot chocolate. Not milk, juice, tea... always hot chocolate for breakfast."
Shiho shifted in her chair, suddenly feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"Well, I thought we should go through what needs to be bought for tonight," Keiko said suddenly, changing the topic entirely. "You'll need a dress, of course, and shoes to match. A bit of jewellery perhaps but we shouldn't go beyond wearing necklace but a discreet one, we wouldn't want it to steal all the attention. And about your hair..."
Shiho sipped her chocolate again, only vaguely aware of what her mother was talking about. Deep inside she was fully occupied remembering and thinking about why this was the first Saturday in seven years that mother and daughter had gone out for breakfast and hot chocolate.
Maggie reminded him of Miriallia.
It wasn't the hair, because Maggie was blonde. It wasn't the eyes because they were green. It was certainly not the body, because Maggie was taller than Miriallia and a little curvier. It had absolutely nothing to do with the dress, because Maggie was wearing something pink that Miriallia would rather die than to be seen with. But Dearka knew exactly why he thought of Miriallia when he had first met Maggie.
"I was planning on heading into journalism before I joined," Maggie had told him. "I like writing."
Writing. Journalism. It was not difficult to connect those two things to photography and that girl who took photographs for a living.
That girl who was so far away from him.
That girl who captured the present yet could not bring herself to live in it.
That girl who never bothered to give back his heart.
Dearka sighed quietly to himself and finished the last of his champagne. A waiter walked by and Dearka placed the empty glass on the tray he carried. The waiter did nothing but offer Dearka a sympathetic smile, he knew from walking by several times just how many glasses Dearka had finished that night.
"Is everything alright?"
Dearka looked to his left to see Maggie standing beside him, her champagne glass more than half full seeing as she conversed more than drank. He forced a trademark smirk to his lips.
"Of course it is," he lied. "My best friend is getting married, I'm at his engagement party and you're here with me."
Maggie blushed slightly at his words.
"I'm going to go over to captain Hahnenfuss," she said shyly upon noticing that Shiho had been somewhat attacked by a group of guests consisting of Keiko's friends. "Got to offer my congratulations to the happy bride, right?"
"If you ask me she doesn't look that happy," Dearka noted. Shiho was unusually dressed up for this occasion, wearing a halter neck dress and her hair partially put up in a simple but elegant bun. But Dearka knew Shiho and could tell that she was not happy with what she was wearing that dress and that she preferred a million of other things above talking to her mother's friends about the engagement that she in reality wanted no party of. "Wouldn't be that strange though, considering everyone she's forced to talk to."
"I'll go over and save her from the old ladies then," Maggie laughed.
She left Dearka's side and he stood right in the middle of the garden all alone despite all the people who were at the party. In the corner of his eyes he saw his parents talking to Ezaria and he overheard how his mother reprimanded his father for once again bringing politics into the conversation. Other than them Dearka saw no one else he could talk to, all the other guests were friends of Shiho's parents and Yzak's mother, most of them affiliated with the Supreme Council in one way or the other. Despite the calm atmosphere of the party and the quiet music being played in the background, one could not help but to notice how this was a social gathering for the parents as much as the not-so-happy couple.
"Dearka, I need your help."
Dearka jumped upon turning a little to his right and seeing Yzak standing there as if he had appeared out of nowhere.
"God, you scared the hell out of me!" Dearka hissed in a hushed voice. Yzak said nothing in response, he only stood there quietly and staring intensely at something. It was then that it occurred Dearka that this was the first time he had seen Yzak all night, despite that Dearka had arrived at the party about two hours ago. "Where have you been?"
"I need your help," Yzak repeated in a robotic voice, paying no attention to Dearka's question.
Dearka looked at Yzak curiously and crossed his arms.
"I get that already... What's the problem?"
When Yzak still didn't answer, Dearka just sighed.
"Look, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on."
Yzak finally took his eyes of whatever he was looking at and turned to Dearka. He still had not said a word and rather than opening his mouth he just stared at Dearka with the most serious face that he had ever put on. The saying actions speak louder than words actually applied for once when all Yzak had to do was to give him a look and show him what was in his hand. No words, no explanations. Upon seeing this and gaining full understanding of what was going on, Dearka just nodded and gave his friend a smirk and reassuring smile combined.
"Don't worry, I'll cover you."
He proceeded to walk through the crowd immediately, Yzak silently following him with a bit of safe distance between them. Neither of them stopped until they found the people they were looking for. In Dearka's case, it was Maggie.
"How wicked of you ladies to distract my date," he said in his most charming voice and smile to the old ladies surrounding Maggie and Shiho. He slipped his arm around Maggie's waist more affectionately than usual, causing Maggie to look slightly confused. However, none noticed this as most of the ladies were too busy with Dearka.
"Dearka Elthman, you're every bit the charmer that your father was when he was your age," one of them complimented with a chuckle.
"Thank you, but you have to admit that I look a whole lot better than him," Dearka replied, winking.
It was a trick that worked with every woman he had met, save for the one that he couldn't get. But the ladies, fully distracted by Dearka and his smooth talking, did not notice how Yzak snuck up behind Shiho and grabbed her by her arm. Shiho just had the time to look at Yzak questioningly before being dragged away from the group. He lead her through the garden quickly, deliberately walking around so that as few people as possible would notice them. Before Shiho knew it she found herself indoors, standing right in the middle of the kitchen inside the house.
Yzak closed the door behind him.
"What are you doing?" Shiho asked, massaging her arm a little from his rough treatment.
"I need to talk to you," Yzak answered stoically.
Shiho just rolled her eyes.
"Couldn't you have said it without dragging me all the way in here?"
"I needed to talk to you alone."
"Well, newsflash Yzak! We're not alone!"
The solemn and serious look on Yzak's face disappeared to be replaced with confusion and it took a few seconds for him to realize that even though they were alone in one section of the kitchen, there were at least three maids and just as many waiters standing on the other side watching them with great interest.
Suddenly the urge to slap himself was very tempting.
"Let's go," he muttered, grabbing Shiho's wrist and pulling her out of the kitchen.
Despite her struggling against him, he managed to drag her into the lounge easily. There he looked around carefully, making sure that they were alone before letting go of her. Shiho drew back from him but he hardly noticed because he was back to looking very solemn and serious again. No yelling, no glaring and absolutely no signs of repressed anger. Seeing him like that awoke a strange feeling in Shiho and although she could not describe it, she imagined that it felt similar to the way one would feel if they saw as absurd as a black and white rainbow.
A phone bill that was actually less than expected.
Drinking coffee without knowing that it was cold.
Snow in July.
Or her mother eating a burger with her hands rather than with a knife and fork.
Weird examples or not, something was not right with Yzak.
"What's going on with you?" she asked, frowning. "You're acting weird."
Yzak said nothing and had been staring down so much that Shiho wondered if there was some mysterious spot on the carpet that he just couldn't take his eyes off. She looked down as well and before she knew it Yzak had seized that single moment and moved over to her. By the time she looked up he was standing just a couple of inches away from her, way too close for any respect of private boundaries. Her heart skipping a whole lot faster than it should, Shiho opened her mouth to say something but for once no words came out.
But speaking was not something Yzak seemed to be able to do either, all he did was look at Shiho wordlessly.
Suddenly Shiho felt her cheeks redden and breathing became a little more difficult than usual.
She looked away from him and let her eyes settle somewhere safe such as the pocket of his jacket. Still very much aware of the faster beating of her heart and the blush on her cheeks, Shiho bit her lip and silently reprimanded herself. She was acting like a schoolgirl! All because of something as little as Yzak standing much closer to her than usual.
I'm being ridiculous, Shiho thought to herself and bit her lip.
Only moments after thinking that, she felt his hand reach up and his fingers make sweet contact with her bare arm, sending an unexpected surge of warmth through her body. All thoughts and silent reprimands suddenly disappeared and became forgotten. The only thing she could feel was the sensation of his fingers against her skin, how they caressed her as he slowly moved them down her arm with a touch that left something inside her screaming for more.
He took her left hand with his own and with the gentle caresses of his thumb opened her closed hand. She closed her eyes. Breathing became even more difficult than before.
Don't stop.
Cold metal. Pain.
Shiho pulled away from Yzak upon feeling those two things. Her eyes wide open and blush gone, she looked down on her hand where she had felt it. The magic of the previous moments were completely gone and Shiho felt how her entire body went rigid upon seeing her hand.
There was a ring on her finger.
A big, diamond ring.
Shiho looked up at Yzak, her eyes full of shock and disbelief.
"What. Is. This?" she asked, emphasising each word of the question and holding her hand up right in front of Yzak's face.
"It's an engagement ring," Yzak replied simply.
"Yes, but what is it doing on my hand?" Shiho questioned, clenching her other hand in a desperate attempt to repress her emotions.
"My mother forced me to buy one today," Yzak told her and stuck his hands in his pocket. With the way he spoke one could have mistaken him for talking about something as insignificant as the weather. "She said that we couldn't be at our engagement party without a ring."
"And you listened to her!" Shiho hollered. "Hello! Were you not with me when we agreed to get out of this marriage or did you just not understand?"
"Of course I did!" Yzak shouted back, automatically raising his voice upon hearing Shiho's less than happy tone. "But what was I supposed to do? Tell her that you are allergic to metal?"
"You should have done something, anything! Because of you I'm stuck with the golf boll of a diamond on my finger!"
Shiho tried to yank the ring off her but the ring was very snug on her finger, explaining why she had felt pain when Yzak had put it on and why she was wincing now when she tried to pull it off. After a while she just gave up and threw her hands in the air in a frustration groan. Instead she started to pace back and forth in the room and Yzak just watched her feeling mild amusement in the midst of all the aggravation. It was like she was trying to compensate not getting the ring off her finger by walking back and forth in the room.
He watched her for a while and tried to think of something to do that would better the situation. But the ring was there and even if they did manage to get it off her it would not do any good. Ezaria knew about the ring which meant that everyone she came in contact with also knew at this point. Shiho showing up anywhere without the ring would raise questions and in the end Yzak would only suffer his mother's wrath for not being able to give his fiancée a ring without managing to somehow screw things up.
"We're losing to them," Shiho said, after a few minutes of pacing. "They have the upper hand and we still haven't managed to inflict any damage. We need to do something big to counter this."
"Like what?"
Just as Shiho was about to answer him, they heard footsteps coming from another part of the house. Both of them stayed complete silent and heard Keiko's voice from the kitchen.
"Has anyone seen my daughter and her fiancée?"
One of the maids answered her shortly and Shiho and Yzak exchanged a look as they heard footsteps from more than one person walking down the hallway. A thought coming to her mind out of no where, Shiho took Yzak's hand and pulled him close to her.
"What are you doing!" he hissed, half panicking because of the close contact.
"Inflicting damage!" Shiho whispered back.
Yzak stared at her, confused.
Three seconds later, when Keiko, Friedrich and Ezaria entered the lounge just in time to see Shiho punching Yzak right across his face.
The latter fell back against the couch, looking as dazed and gone as one would after being punched right in his face by his elite soldier fiancée.
"Yzak!" Ezaria called out, rushing to her son's side.
"Shiho, have you gone mad!" Keiko exclaimed.
It was at that crazy but crucial moment that Shiho chose her course of action. She stared at Yzak, saw how he seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness, heard the panicked shrieks of Ezaria, felt the shocked and horrified looks of her parents. It was at that moment that Shiho sank to her knees and brought her hands up to cover his face.
"You... you ask him!" she sobbed. "He... he cheated on me!"
One of the reasons of why she hated wearing make up was that it simply got in the way of many things. Fake crying was a good example. Any crying would have sufficed but seeing as she did not cry often and fake crying was what she had done most recently, the latter was a better example. But fake crying made mascara run and in turn made her look like a prom queen from hell. Shiho sighed at the sight of her own reflection and quickly washed all make up off her face.
But at least it was over and done with.
Damaged had been inflicted.
Looking up at the clock she saw that it was nearly midnight. The engagement party had ended early for both her and Yzak. After the incident in the lounge her parents and Ezaria had agreed that it was best that they made a quick exit before anyone noticed and make a scene out of the whole thing. Shiho had then spent the last half an hour in the back of the limousine with Yzak and Ezaria, who did her best trying to make her and Yzak reconcile.
"It was before the engagement, dear," Ezaria had said to Shiho in her most comforting voice. "You two weren't even friends back then. Even if he still has this girl's phone number it doesn't mean anything and most importantly, she means nothing. Isn't that right, Yzak?"
Had Yzak not been half unconscious and had about two dozen ice packs lying on his face, he probably would have said something in response.
Shiho, however, had continued to play the role of unforgiving and heartbroken fiancée right until she had been dropped off at her apartment. Only after she was inside the apartment, with the front door closed and locked behind her, did she take a deep breath and smiled to herself in relief.
Standing before the bathroom mirror, Shiho took a long look at herself. The make up was washed away, all that remained as a reminder of her mother's makeover was the hairdo and the dress. Not bothering to hide her yawn, Shiho reached for her tooth brush. She was too tired to take a shower now and would do it in the morning instead. After all, she had been forced to get up at eight earlier that morning and then dragged all around PLANT to find a dress that she had worn for less than six hours.
A while she left the bathroom, pulled the high heeled sandals off her feet and proceeded towards her bedroom. Passing the TV positioned before her bed, she turned it on to get rid of the silence in her apartment. Witty and fast dialogue between a spunky girl and her love interest reached Shiho's ears as she pulled down the zipper of her dress. Getting the expensive and fancy dress off her and changing into an oversized T-shirt was undoubtedly the best thing she had done all day. With a bit of pulling and tugging her hair was let down, finally free from the constrains of dozens hair pins.
All that was left now was the ring.
Shiho sighed to herself, looking at her left finger as she sat down on the bed. It was a very beautiful ring, platinum with stepped shoulders and two small heart shaped diamonds on each shoulder. The third diamond was in the center and was without a doubt the largest diamond Shiho had ever seen. Sure it was impractical and there was not really a point in having such a flashy engagement ring other than that it was pretty and expensive.
Lying back against the pillow, Shiho brought her hand out of sight. There was no use thinking about things now, it had been a long day and she was tired. The noises from the TV still went on in the background and she was vaguely aware that the commercials were on now. She lay there for quite a while, watching TV but with only a small portion of her attention. Her mind was somewhere else and though she tried not to, it was occupied with something closer to her own reality.
Some time later her eyelids began to feel heavy and just as she gave into closing them she heard the most aggressive use of her doorbell.
The ringing didn't stop, it went on as if the person outside kept pressing the button.
Shiho sat up with a gasp, startled by the sudden sound.
She immediately jumped up on her feet and ran to the door. Just as she was about to unlock it, she remembered how she earlier that day had regretted opening the door without seeing who it was. With that in mind, Shiho calmed down despite the constant ringing and looked through the peephole.
It was Yzak.
Frowning, Shiho unlocked the door and opened it slowly.
She had only opened the door by a few inches when it was pulled open from the other side and Shiho almost pulled out as well since she was holding onto the door handle. She stumbled and lost her balance, only to be stopped by a pair of strong and firm arms. Looking up, her eyes caught Yzak's.
The moment itself would have been quite romantic, if not for the fact that two seconds later Yzak pushed her back on her feet and forced her to retreat further into her apartment. She looked at him strangely as he closed the door and came to the conclusion that he didn't look quite right. To best honest she thought that he looked like a manic with his bloodshot eyes but she didn't want to be that mean to him at the moment. After all, there was a fresh, red horizontal mark right across his face from when she had punched him, ironically tracing the path of his old scar. In the craziness of it all, Shiho discovered that slashing fiancée's faces while punching was another good use of a pretty, expensive engagement ring with a giant diamond.
"Are you okay?" she asked cautiously.
There was a single moment of silence.
Then Yzak slammed the front door shut so forcefully that it looked like it was about to fall off its hinges and all hell break loose.
"OKAY!" he yelled right in her face. "WHO'S OKAY HERE! ARE YOU OUT YOUR MIND?"
"Calm down, will you?" Shiho urged, feeling like her ears were about to suffer permanent damage.
"CALM DOWN!" Yzak repeated, stepping closer to Shiho and forcing her to step back. "I'M PERFECTLY CALM, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE!"
"It was a part of the plan," Shiho replied, stepping even further from him. "We had to do something drastic to make them reconsider the whole thing!"
"Couldn't you have said that before you slashed up my face!" Yzak hissed, trapping Shiho between him and a table so that she couldn't back away anymore. He placed both hands on the edge of the table, locking her completely. "I just spent the last half an hour with my mother in the car, listening while she repeated over and over again that if I ever made contact with that girl I supposedly had a relationship with she'd make sure I'd live to regret it! Then I had to RUN all the way HERE to find out WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE THINKING!"
Shiho swallowed and tried to convince herself that it was because of Yzak's temper rather than the fact that he was standing so close to her. Her lips felt dry and she said the first thing that came to mind.
"...you could have just called."
Yzak's face turned completely white and for a moment Shiho was unsure whether he wanted to strangle her or would faint on the spot.
"T-that's not the point!" he stuttered, his voice more nervous than angry all of the sudden.
Using the opportunity, Shiho gently pushed him away from her to gain some distance between them.
"It's working... at least a little, right? I can't imagine my parents be as happy about getting you as a son-in-law as they were before."
She smiled slightly but Yzak was still scowling.
"Why did it have to be me who has contact with an old girlfriend?" he muttered. "You're making me seem like a two timer."
"That's exactly the point," Shiho replied, heading back into her bedroom. "And because you forced me to wear a skirt yesterday."
"Hey, where are you going!"
Yzak followed Shiho into the bedroom and eyed her suspiciously as if he was afraid that she was going to grow fangs and eat him. Instead Shiho just faced him with a smile, reached up and touched the red mark on his face carefully with her fingertips. She saw him withhold a wince when she touched him, how typical of him to not want to show that such a small thing as a ring had managed to wound him.
She almost felt guilty for punching him and noted to herself that if he ever needed to be punched again, she would make sure to take off the ring first.
"I have some salve that might help," she said. "Sit down, I'll go and get it."
Yzak blinked in surprise, then strangely enough sat down on the bed without a word. Shiho headed into the bathroom that was connected to her bedroom and turned on the lights. Standing on the tip of her toes, she reached up and looked at the top shelf. She knew that the salve was somewhere, she had used it last time when she had accidentally burned herself using the oven. Granted, that was almost a year ago and she had no idea if the salve had expired or not, but it was the nice thought that counted.
After a good ten minutes of looking and digging through the pile of objects on her shelves, she finally found an old, bent tube. Checking the expiration date and seeing that there were still three months left, she turned off the lights and headed back into the bedroom.
"Here, found it... It's a little old but it says it still should work so..."
Shiho stopped right in the middle of the sentence.
Amidst all the noise from the TV, there was the sound of slow breaths.
Yzak was no longer sitting but lying on the bed, already fast asleep.
A quiet chuckle escaped from Shiho's lips. He must have fallen asleep not too long ago but judging by how deeply he appeared to be sleeping he must have been pretty tired. But then again, he had been forced to buy an engagement ring, been punched by an engagement ring and then run all the way to her apartment.
I guess he's had a long day too, Shiho thought and put down the tube on the bedside table on his side.
Then she walked over to the other side of the bed, turning of the TV and the lights on her way. She sat down on the bed very slowly, careful not to disturb Yzak. He stirred a little due to the weight shifting in the bed but did not wake up. Taking a deep breath Shiho lay down on her side and closed her eyes. Her hand automatically reached for the covers and found it quickly. But when she pulled it, she discovered that it seemed be stuck in something.
Opening her eyes, Shiho saw that somehow Yzak had managed to hog half of the cover in his sleep. The serene look on her face turned to one of annoyance as she closed her eyes and settled with what she had.
"Jerk," she muttered softly and fell asleep.