Chapter 10:

Yuki sat in his room with the happiest, lightest feeling he had ever experienced. Never had he felt so triumphant and yet so serene at the same time. The time he spent with Hana at the cheesecake stand was…unforgettable! Hana had been smiling along with him the whole time, Yuki finally felt like she opened up a part of herself to him. Not prince but him! He actually had the chance to make her laugh, although it was more of a chuckle.

Well, the important thing was that Hana and he had gotten along marvelously on that one night, the same night he got married to her. They didn't care of what other people thought; the simple fact that they were married for the night made their time so much more comfortable. He looked down at the hand that held the brush delicately to the canvas, the silver band still glimmering.

Yuki had a secret. A secret that no one else knows of except for Shigure and Akito; Yuki was an artist. He was an all around Picasso but he didn't want anyone else to know. He was excellent, but he never trained or learned how. He was an idiot-savant. He hated the fact that he was an idiot-savant. It just showed him how much more of a free loader he was! How spoiled he truly was! It disgusted him. But Shigure wanted Yuki to keep on painting.

For some reason, the dog was encouraging and supportive towards his unwanted gift. He couldn't understand but all year long, Shigure would give him paints, canvases, and all other art materials. He rarely used any of them. Sometimes he did, just to see if he was still an idiot-savant. But to his dismay, he still was.

But now it seemed like all of that has changed. He didn't even mind the fact that he was painting! All he knew was that he felt like painting! He paused when his glimmering ring led his eyes to stray towards the canvas and he turned beat red. In front of him was a sketch of a beautiful Hanajima with her hair flowing down to its full length. She held herself close. She looked much like the way she did when she was asleep and Yuki would watch over her, wondering what she was dreaming about.

The shoji door slid open and a face peered in. "Yuki-ku—" before Shigure could continue putting Yuki's name into a song, "PANG!" a thick book hit him square on the face. Yuki's hand was still outstretched from the action of throwing the nearest thing at the invading inu.

His eyebrow twitched with annoyance and he quickly, before Shigure could recover, kicked the canvas and brush and everything else into his open cabinet where he hid everything he held dear.

"Get out!" Yuki demanded sternly as the book slid from Shigure's frozen figure. When the book fell, it revealed Shigure's swirly eyes and bleeding nose.

Quickly, Shigure snatched a Band-Aid from behind him (it magically appeared) and put it over his broken nose. "Ma, ma…is that anyway to treat your elders?"

Glad that the dog didn't see what he was doing, Yuki calmed himself and looked icily at the annoying pervert. "What do you want?"

"Well, I was just going to tell you that it was raining outside." Shigure gestured to the window. Yuki peered outside, indeed it was raining. But he didn't see anything important about that.

He looked back to Shigure, "And?"

"Well, what about you precious little garden?" he asked.

At that, Yuki's eyes widened! OH NO! HIS SECRET GARDEN! He had completely forgotten about it! With one swift motion he pushed Shigure out of the way and ran down the stairs. He ignored Shigure's whining but stopped when,

"Souma-kun!" he turned around to stare at Tohru, who had a large plastic cover in her hands and a raindcoat over her body. She looked just as surprised to see him. It seemed that they both realized about the garden at the same time. Yuki nodded in understanding and took the large plastic cover. They both ran to the secret garden, Yuki didn't even care that he was sopping wet. All he had in mind was his Secret Garden.

The rain was getting stronger, Tohru held down her end and so did Yuki. The wind was harsh and had no mercy, Yuki was just glad they got to the Garden in time. But as Yuki calmed into his spot, he looked at Honda-san and found that she was like him; sopping wet.

"Honda-san!" he called. Tohru looked at him with concern. "You don't have to do this! Go home or you'll get sick!" he said. No matter what happened, Honda-san was still dear to Yuki and to think that she would hold out in the rain just because of him was frightfully appalling. Who knows what sickness she might derive from this rain?

"Iie!" she shook her head violently. "The Secret Garden is important to Souma-kun so it's important to me too! I won't leave until I'm sure that our garden is safe!" Tohru declared through the noisy and violent spattering of the rain. Yuki stared at her in disbelief. No matter what, Tohru would always be able to say and do the right things to make him and everyone else melt. She had complete power over them. Especially him.

Meanwhile, Shigure peered inside, looking for anything at all. Yuki's room was so…clean, he almost had to shield his eyes! No man's room could ever be this clean! Well except for Hatori, but Ha'ri was a doctor! He's supposed to be clean! Yuki was like…too perfect to be true. School materials to the left, house stuff to the right. Where were all his art materials? It had to be somewhere! Shigure had spent a lot of money to buy Yuki his art materials, and to think that the mouse would just throw it away really was disappointing.

It was then that he noticed something out of place. The cabinet was open. Since when does Yuki leave his cabinet open? He slowly crept towards the cabinet, his interest heightened.

He quirked a brow and a smirk crossed his handsome features at the sight. So, Yuki has been practicing after all! Interesting. Well he portrayed the model very well. Suddenly, the hentai inside of him kicked in and he started fantasizing about another story! He quickly brightened and turned to go to his office. It would be about a boy who loved to paint a girl whom everyone hated! Marvelous! He went on to the hall, to go back to his studies so he could type this story that just arrived in his mind. It was sure to be a hit! Not to mention, the extremely passionate limes and lemons he was going to write. Oh how wonderful!

"BANG!" without him knowing it, Kyou had already punched him upside the head. Shigure stayed in that position for a while, holding onto the sore part of his abused cranium. "What are you up to now, you hentai?" Kyou said. Shigure had that look again, the look of a hentai with a plot. Kyou knew it all too well and didn't like it one bit.

"Why Kyou-kun, I'm hurt!" Shigure said, clutching his heart painfully with a pathetic look.

"You better be!" Kyou retorted, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Why must you always resort to violence? And why must you always accuse me of being mischievous?"

"You're not mischievous, you damn dog! You're a freakin' perv! If you dare touch one hair on Tohru's head, I'll—"

"Maa, maa, Why would I do such a thing?" Shigure said, calming down the irate and suspicous cat. "Tohru-chan is my innocent little flower! I would never do anything to harm her!" he proclaimed. With that he happily stepped into his office, but before he closed the door, "I can have her after you two break up."

"WHAT THE FU—"

The next day, Yuki was walking along the campus grounds, the swarm of attractive fan club members trying to speak to him more through questions about the upcoming Halloween Ball. He answered them curtly and politely, he didn't mind the attention much since he was in such a good mood. He didn't know why though but it was a relief from all the days he'd been isolated in his own apathy.

It was then that he saw them, Uotani and Hanajima walking the opposite way. As they passed by each other, Yuki looked at Hana and Hana looked at him. For a second, they held each other's gaze. Then, without warning, Yuki flashed that killer smile of his that made every single girl around him swooning.

And to Yuki's delight, Hana returned the smile, except it was fainter. The others could barely see it, but he could. And that was all that mattered to him. When their groups passed each other, Yuki looked back at Hana who looked back at him.

Yuki waved goodbye seeing as she was going home. Much to Yuki's satisfaction, Hana smiled more visibly this time. The girls around him seethed with jealousy but nether of the two seemed to care. The strong breeze blew, making Hana's hair fly out of place. She lifted her hand to brush the strands of hair back behind her ear and that was when he saw it. It glimmered under the bright rays of the sun and reflected it's light upon his shining eyes.

Their wedding rings; the symbol of their union.

Hana turned from the sight of the retreating Yuki. She had asked him earlier if she would mind walking her home, a feat on its own for Hana. Ever since the Prince had shown her kindness, she was shown a new side of Yuki Souma. The time they spent together that night at the Zodiac Festival had been…nothing but strange. He spoke eloquently with the deepest meanings, he made her laugh and smile, and he showed her that not all popular people were as shallow as they seemed. He changed her mood from monotony to exuberance and for once, she wasn't scared of feeling that way.

She had a sense of security when around him; as if she actually deserved what he gave her, as if she wasn't doing anything wrong, as if she couldn't do anything wrong. It was a wonderful feeling…and she couldn't even bring herself to hating him for it.

But as she lifted her eyes, she stopped at a familiar face. He looked down at her with a passive face, his stance was calm but his eyes burned into her with menace. She sensed jealousy. Was he jealous? Perhaps. She stared up at him, her empty eyes meeting his burning ones.

"May I speak with you alone?" he calmly and politely asked, his rage was perfectly hidden.

Uotani looked from the Souma to Hana who looked back at her with an approving nod. She hesitated before leaving the two alone and told Hana she would wait at the gate.

"No need, I'll walk her home." He said to Uo icily, obviously wanting to rid of her. Uo sensed trouble and looked to Hana for a sign to come and help. But Hana simply looked at her blankly.

"Take care." Hana said to her. And with a doubtful stare at the two, she left. He turned to stare down at her again, this time, calming only a little. She looked up at him, not even bothering to analyze the situation for she felt that he was no threat at all. "What is it that you want from me…Souma, Haru?"

Review Responses:

daruma: thanks for waiting!

BlackPanther17: thanks for understanding, this is just an experiment fic by the way. I'm just trying out the new pairings. Thanks for waiting!

Daniel of Lorien: Thank you! Illegally old, hahaha! That made me laugh! Hahaha!

KyoLover: Sorry if I don't put enough Kyouru here, I'm just not that big of a fan. But I'll do my best to make it better!

Unchained3011: oh, Tohru, the ever so innocent one. I wish I were as lucky.

Caramel : thanks!

Alex: thanks!

Matron Raenee: thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

Yuka Kitsune: I'm glad you liked the pairing! Sorry I made you wait so long!