Thanks to all who reviewed! I am still in a state of constant hyperventilation and sleepless nights as the interview dates draw closer and closer… (shudders) therefore, please excuse any weirdness coming from me! Hahaha…Many thanks to Loveless19 and Kittey Rin for their much appreciated offer to beta for me! If I ever write another story and find myself in need of a beta, I'll know who to look for. LOL. Thanks!
Let us now proceed to the seventeenth and final scene of Stained Glass Masquerade. Dum dum dum dum…
Disclaimer: Aya has never, and will never, own Gravitation. Even if she were to drown the world with crocodile tears.
Scene 17-And now we close the curtain, on the Stained Glass Masquerade
Kai frowned as Shuichi let out yet another sigh. Although his son insisted he was fine and had been pretending to be as happy as he claimed he felt, he wasn't falling for it. Oh, Shuichi was a pretty darn fine actor when he wanted to be. But it wasn't enough to block his evident inner demons eating at him.
Maybe this was what the world dubbed as paternal instincts?
"Shuichi."
He didn't seem to hear him.
"Shuichi!"
Nope, Shuichi's mind was definitely still strolling down memory lane.
Kai examined him with an assessing look as he contemplated on what could be bothering Shuichi. He could classify parting with his two friends as the cause of Shuichi's distress. Kai didn't blame him; Hiro and Ryuichi were both fine young men that he heartily approved of. But he knew it wasn't the reason. He knew it had something to do with Yuki.
He was aware their relationship was somewhat different than that of a normal teacher-student one. Yuki's father had told him as much and even if he didn't, he could see it for himself; he could tell from the protective way Yuki behaved towards Shuichi, could see it in his body language, the subtle softening of his steel-hard eyes when turned to him.
As for Shuichi, he could tell his son retuned those feelings.
And he, he did not condemn such relationships. To him, love was love. Who was mankind to judge whether it was right or wrong when it did people no harm, but brought contentment and a sense of belonging?
Kai's mobile phone suddenly started vibrating and startled him out of his musings-he had completely forgotten his mobile was on silent mode. He dug it out and flipped it open, frowning at the unidentified number.
"Ishiharu Kai speaking."
"…."
"WHAT?
Shuichi was jolted out of his reverie by his father's sudden exclamation. Curious, he tilted his head towards Kai, watching him. His father's face was the epitome of shock and horror.
"What have you done?" Kai seemed to listen to the other person on the line for a few moments before shaking his head violently. "All right. Don't do anything stupid. I'll be there as soon as possible."
Snapping his mobile shut, his father hurriedly got up, brows furrowed with worry. Looking over at Shuichi, he said, "I'm really sorry but some last minute complications turned up. You just sit here and wait for me. If I'm not back by the time of our flight's departure, just get on the plane first."
Shuichi frowned. "But we're supposed to leave in about," he glanced at his wristwatch, "forty minutes."
Kai ran a hand through his hair, looking distracted. "Don't worry, I'll be right back."
Before Shuichi could say anything else, his father had hastily walked off, frantically punching numbers on his mobile.
Shuichi just stared after him before heaving a sigh. What else could he do?
XXX
"Please fasten your safety belts and turn off all electrical gadgets, including mobile phones, laptops…"
Shuichi fiddled with the safety belt he had already buckled on, eyes anxiously scanning the face of each boarding passenger. His father was not among them.
A petite air stewardess smiled at him politely and asked him if he needed assistance. Shuichi just smiled back, shaking his head. He held his smile until she moved on to the next passenger before dropping it.
He sighed. "Oh well…looks like Father's going to have to catch the next flight…I won't be surprised if he owns a private jet. I never knew it was possible to have so many zeroes in a single bank account. I'm glad he already gave me the address of his house and some money. Lucky he was so paranoid about us somehow getting separated that he gave me a full list of instructions…"
Shuichi resumed staring out of the small rectangular window. He pondered on what Ryuichi and Hiro were doing now, and mused on the safety of letting K have free access to a wide range of guns. He hoped Mika and Tohma would look after Yuki and that Tatsuha wouldn't kill his alarm clock. And Yuki…he wondered if he would ever see Yuki again.
There was a slight increase in volume as there was a disturbance at the boarding entrance; there were murmurs of apologetic voices for being late and the sound of luggage being wheeled in.
Shuichi didn't hear anything. He had fallen asleep.
XXX
Yuki regained consciousness with a sudden start, his head throbbing painfully. He groaned and gingerly touched the back of his head, wincing. Did his assailants really have to hit him that hard? It felt like he had been hit in the medulla oblongata with a 5kg dumbbell. Well, at least he didn't feel any blood, though there was now a sore, sensitive spot.
The whirring sound wasn't helping him either. It was, in fact, practically in resonance with the dull throbbing, increasing the amplitude of it. Other than that though, Yuki was actually feeling just peachy- wherever he was, it was air-conditioned and the only noise pollution besides the whirring was the sound of soft breathing.
Just a damn minute. "Whirring? Breathing?"
Yuki's eyes flew open and took in the surroundings before his searching look fell upon the sleeping figure in the seat next to his. His mouth hung open in disbelief for the first time in his life as he realised he was in an aeroplane headed for only hell knows where with only a drooling Shuichi as an explanation.
Yuki fell back to his comfortingly familiar habit as the implications sunk in; he swore.
"WHAT THE –bleeping- BLOODY –bleepbleepbleep- HELL IS THIS?"
XXX
Shuichi jolted awake as a raspy shout echoed through the otherwise silent plane. His gaze shot towards the source of the din and his eyes grew saucer like as he attempted coherent speech. "Yu…Yu…Yu…Yuki!"
'Yu-Yu-Yu-Yuki' gave a snort of impatience, out of pure habit more than anything else. "No, you brat, its Santa Klutz."
Shuichi bristled. "You don't have to be so mean about it! I'm just surprised to find you here." 'Surprise' being the understatement of the century.
"Yea, duh. I'm the one who was knocked out, kidnapped and thrown on a bloody plane only to wake up and discover myself hundreds of feet up in the air, trapped in an aluminium cage with blades for wings. If anyone has the right to be shocked, I do. Bloody hell. What did I ever do to deserve this?"
Shuichi frowned. His emotional roller coaster ride was now reaching its peak. And that peak was labelled as 'anger' with a flashing neon sign. He started shouting, "WELL, I CERTAI-!"
"Sir, please lower your voice. The other passengers are sleeping and you are disturbing them."
Shuichi cringed in embarrassment as he realised the whole plane could hear him. He meekly looked at the displeased stewardess standing next to his seat with apologetic eyes. "Sorry, I'll keep it down now."
She nodded briskly before walking away. "All right then. Enjoy the rest of the ride."
Shuichi took a deep breath to calm his frazzled nerves and by the time he exhaled, his anger had quickly dissipated. He turned to Yuki to continue their discussion but Yuki wasn't looking at him.
XXX
Yuki felt something in his jackets pocket rustle as he moved about. While Shuichi was speaking to the stewardess, he brought it out and unfolded it. It was a letter.
Scanning through the contents, Yuki felt anger blossom. The anger was rapidly replaced with irritation, aggravation, frustration, disbelief and finally, amusement. Yuki couldn't help it. It was so utterly brainless and completely ridiculous, his shoulders shook with silent laughter.
Noticing Shuichi's look of confusion and curiosity- not a good combination, Yuki passed him the letter.
Shuichi took it and read.
Dear Yuki Eiri,
Congratulations! You have just been nominated first place for the World's Coldest Bastard Award! Your prize is a delicious pink haired, purple eyed, underage high school student! Since there wasn't any other around, we have decided to just grab the nearest candidate and we are, therefore, proud to present Shindou Shuichi! Enjoy!
PS: Just tell him you love him and stop angsting already, you adorable bastard, you. It gives off depressive auras and tends to make people suicidal. Which isn't really all that healthy for mankind's population count as you might think.
PSS: We have tied Patchy-Poo to Alarm Clock-kun with a 3-inch thick nylon rope and are currently holding it hostage. So, don't get any ideas on airmailing missiles, nuclear bombs, torpedoes, etc. Just concentrate on letting Shuichi see stars or something.
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Dear Shindou Shuichi,
Shindou-san, we are pleased to inform you that you have been newly dubbed 'Sir Nincompoop' under the order of the 'Totally ten feet deep in mental self abuse, Insanely into masochism and Self-sacrificing because I'm worthless line of thought' Society, or more infamously recognized as the TIS Society.
We have decided on your award in the form of a private gorgeously blond, mesmerizingly golden eyed, sadistic glacial-like bastard of a qualified teacher with a PhD in biology in the form of Yuki Eiri.
Feel free to bite and scratch him as you please. Of course, these are merely suggestions. Should you feel there is a more…beneficial way to enjoy your limited edition toy, you are more than welcome to do so. Peace out, brother!
PS: My son, why didn't you ever tell me you slept in the same bed as this Yuki character? You and I are going to have a long talk about this, young man. Don't you ever try keeping things like this from your father again; understand? Good. Now, go play.
PSS: Hey Shuichi, have you kissed and made up yet? NO? Why are you reading this then? GO! Do more…interesting stuff.
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Dear Yuki Eiri and Shindou Shuichi,
Enclosed within are two tickets for return flights back to Narita Airport, Japan. It is our duty to inform you that the tickets come with the awards and are therefore, free of charge. We sincerely wish enjoyment for your trip to Switzerland.
Toddles!
From: The Committee Of the 'Yuki and Shuichi's Forbidden Passionate Love Fan Club'
Shuichi's jaw had dropped wide open enough to reach the floor by the time he finished reading the letter, blushing mildly. Their suggestions were so…crude. But wait-Yuki was laughing. He wasn't angry. Did this mean…Yuki was fine with it?
Shuichi's eyes shifted to look at Yuki and he started to question him, only to close his mouth again without saying anything, uncertain. Yuki had stopped laughing now, even though an amused smile was still playing on his lips.
He had been watching Shuichi carefully and when Shuichi turned bright hopeful eyes on him, Yuki felt his breath hitch. Really, what was he thinking? He had almost lost Shuichi because of his damn pride. Although he hated to admit it, they had a point. It was time to start behaving more like a human in contrast to a mouldy plank of wood.
Yuki gave Shuichi a casual smirk, though the warmth in his eyes betrayed his true emotions. "So, what do you think? Should we accept the award?"
Shuichi felt his heart do a little victory dance as happiness swept through him, unable to fight back a giddy smile. "Well, let's see…we're already on the plane. Why not take a vacation for about a week or so? It's almost time for my semester break anyway."
Yuki leaned closer, and his voice was husky. "Somehow, I knew you'd see it my way. Besides, we shouldn't disappoint our so called loyal fans now should we?"
The letter fell to the floor, forgotten, as Yuki pulled Shuichi into his arms. Shuichi happily snuggled into them. It had only been two weeks since he had last seen Yuki but it felt longer than that. A lot longer. Shuichi last coherent thought before he drowned himself in the sweet delight of Yuki's kiss was "I'm home."
Neither one of them noticed the two tickets fluttering in the air for a moment before landing on the plane floor, face out. If they had, several people were going to be murdered in Japan that day.
The two tickets boasted identical prints. Their flight departure was highlighted in bold. The date? One month later.
XXX
"Cheers to a well accomplished mission!"
The table of seven erupted into enthusiastic clapping and wolf whistling. Their fellow diners at the restaurant jumped a little at the amount of racket produced.
Hiro stood up from his seat, goblet in hand (it was only grape juice but nobody had to know that.) He lifted it into the air, drawing attention to himself before proudly proclaiming, "I would like to toast to the newest member of the 'Yuki and Shuichi's Forbidden Passionate Love Fan Club'. Everybody, let's welcome Ishiharu Kai!"
More clapping.
The waiters exchanged nervous glances with one another; each too scared to tell the rowdy party to lower their volume.
Kai stood up as Hiro took his seat, goblet in hand as well (his was the real thing, high class red wine. Then again, he wasn't underage.) "I would like to appreciate the goodness that Hiro and Ryuichi here have kindly shared with me by opening my eyes towards such sparkling, beautiful love and therefore enabled this joyous occasion to happen."
K sniffled a little at the touching speech and dabbed his eyes discreetly with the edge of the silk tablecloth. "Hear, hear! Let's all drink to this!"
Unnoticed by the Scary Seven, everyone in the restaurant moved two feet away from them.
"Really though, we have to thank Tatsuha here for the idea of knocking Yuki out and throwing him into the aeroplane. Of course, we also have to thank Hiro and Ryuichi for actually carrying the plan out."
"Aww…Kai-san, you're flattering us. All we did was knock his lights out. We owe it to your connections and quick thinking for making it possible for Yuki to board the plane in your place. Though I must say, it gave us a shock when Yuki-sensei suddenly keeled over like that. Didn't it, Ryuichi?"
"That was your fault, Hiro. I told you that no matter how demonic and sadistic Yuki-sensei seems to be, his head isn't all that hard. Luckily Mika is a doctor-it would have been a nightmare trying to explain what happened if we had to bring him to the hospital."
"I can't begin telling you what a fright I got when you called saying Eiri had passed out! You could have really hurt him! What were you thinking?"
"…"
"Sorry"
"…"
"So…which flowerpot did you use anyway? Personally, I feel that the white ceramic pot with the petunias were the best."
"…."
"It was tulips that did it for us."
"Still, a flowerpot wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I suggested to render him unconscious. I was thinking more along the lines of Mika drugging him…"
"…"
"Oh…Oops."
"Its fortunate Eiri-san is particular about keeping things tidy. It made throwing a last minute luggage together easy. It was still cutting it real close though. I thought we had lost our chance when the customs officer refused to let us through."
"Oh yeah! I remember that part! It's all thanks to K and his gun! Come on, Ryuichi, everyone! Let's toast to K's gun!"
Seven chairs were scrapped back rather loudly as its seven occupants stood up simultaneously. "Here's to the hard work and magnificence of K's Magnum. Cheers to Magnum-chan!"
"Cheers!"
The last of the customers hastily made their way elegantly out of the restaurant. They were definitely not running. Why? One simply couldn't look elegant while running, that's why. The waiters lost their last ounce of courage and dashed out whimpering as the Scary Seven took turns passing an evil-looking Magnum round the table, each polishing it almost lovingly.
No wonder thirteen was an unlucky number. Look at what just seven could do.
Stained Glass Masquerade-The End
13th October 2006
It's finished! My precious first ever multi-chaptered baby is now complete (does a little mad dance of joy) Of course, I'm kind of sad it's now over but still, it's an accomplishment (for me anyway) That being said, thanks to all my faithful readers (especially those who have been following the story from it's very first chapter) and even more so to those who have kindly been reviewing it! I couldn't have made it if it weren't for your encouraging, smile-inducing, helpful feedback! (Seeing as how lazy I would have been to update if it weren't for constant positive reviews telling me to get my lazy bum to produce the next part)
Well, in correspondence to a landslide majority for a happily-ever-after ending, a happy ending is what I wrote. I hope you guys like it! (jumps up and down like a delirious lunatic with a maniacal grin plastered to face) Even though it's now finished, I'll be one very happy Aya-chan if I were to get reviews as presents! LOL. Oh, that reminds me- anybody up for an epilogue?