Chapter Sixteen

A loud knocking echoed throughout the apartment, jerking Kyoya awake. He turned in his bed, feeling heavier than usual, and saw Chikako wrapped in nothing but sheets, tucked away by his side. He slowly sat up, gently letting his eyes wash over her, considering their position, not just in the room but also in time. They had never stopped to talk about why she had suddenly shown up in America or how long she was going to stay or what she was going to do. Kyoya couldn't even remember himself caring about any of these things. He just remembered the foreign need for her.

The front door's creak interrupted his thoughts, and he rolled out of bed, trying his best not to wake up Chikako. He yanked on a pair of sweat pants from the top of his dresser, but before he could make it out of the room, Tamaki had already burst through the door, going on about some kind of prank the twins had pulled on him.

"Kyoya, you would not believe what Hikaru and Kaoru put under my doormat-!"

Kyoya shushed him loudly and Tamaki then noticed the extra body in the bed, only a back facing him. He gasped as his best friend tried to push him out of the room. He didn't budge for a moment, frozen in shock. "Kyo-! Who is-?!"

"Shut up, let's just… talk privately in the front hall, okay?" Kyoya growled, kicking Tamaki out and slamming the door behind him.

Chikako's eyes slowly peeked open and she blinked a few times, her fingers feeling the fabric beneath her. It took her a few moments to realize that she wasn't in Japan anymore. She stared up at the ceiling remembering the night before, the laughter, the darkness, the heat. She smiled to herself then shook her head. She had not expected that. She had spent the whole plane ride preparing for a fight.

She chuckled at the irony and turned in the bed. She felt so exposed, but for once, it didn't seem like a bad thing anymore. She used to be so afraid whenever she would wake up in Jake's bed. She was so young and never where she was supposed to be. Feeling out of place and guilty for something, she would pace his apartment in nothing but his old t-shirt until he would get back from wherever it was he went all day.

Here, in Kyoya's apartment, Chikako clutched the sheets and felt safe. With a grinning sigh, she turned to notice that she was alone in the bed. Sitting up, slowly, she stretched he arms out in front of her and the draft from the open window in the corner of the room whisked around her naked skin. Her hair stood up straighter and she chuckled, soundlessly. It wasn't until then that the muffled voices became louder from out in the hallway. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she did recognize that they belonged to Tamaki and Kyoya.

Furrowing her brow, Chikako slipped out from under the covers and crept over to the door. She cupped her hand over her ear and settled it against the wood. They were marching around the living room and she could hear the water running, muffling their conversation, but she could still hear Tamaki's loud mouth. She would bet that Japan could hear his loud mouth, too.

"I can't believe that you would cheat on your beautiful wife with some cheap American-!"

Kyoya groaned and snapped, "Tamaki. That wasn't some stranger."

There was a pause then a gasp. "So, it was one of the other international students?! OH KYOYA!"

Something crashed and Chikako put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She could almost see him throwing things around in the kitchen, annoyed by his friend's ignorance. Inching away from the door, Chikako started over toward the dresser. Her bags were still in the living room, so she figured she would pull out her secret slut-card and put on one of Kyoya's button-ups. It was softer than she expected. Chikako ran her fingers over the fabric and cracked a smile in the corner of her mouth. He uses softener. What a man, she thought, sarcastically.

"Tamaki, I think you need to leave now," Kyoya growled, rolling his eyes.

Tamaki was leaning on the counter in the small kitchen, still looking shocked. He glared. "So you can be alone with your…your…trashy mistress?"

Kyoya groaned, loudly, and waved his hands around in the air, frantically. "Tamaki," he seethed. "That girl is my wife."

Tamaki was silent, blinking several times, before deadpanning with, "What?"

Kyoya jabbed a finger in the direction of the closed bedroom door. "That was Chikako in bed with me," he said, softer this time, almost as if the reality of this statement was starting to sink in.

Tamaki's eyes slowly roamed over to the door and then back again to his friend. "But…I thought that Chikako was supposed to be in Japan, you know, running the business-?"

Kyoya sighed and lowered his hand. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back onto his heals and shrugged. "I thought so too, but apparently she left and came here."

"Why?" Tamaki asked, quickly. "Is she alright?"

Kyoya chuckled, emptily. "I'm not sure. I think she is now, anyways."

"I'm sure she is," his friend teased. Tamaki pressed his lips together and rolled his head, gently on his shoulders, cracking out the kinks in his neck. After rocking his shoulders back, he let out a sigh. "Okay, I'll let you keep your secrets. I just want to say one thing."

Kyoya nodded and wave his hand as an invitation.

A slow, mischievous grin oozed onto his face, and Kyoya's expression fell, but before he could stop his best friend, Tamaki said, "You love her."

Kyoya narrowed his eyes and started to shove his friend toward the door. "It's time for you to go now."

"Oh come on!" Tamaki rebelled, trying and failing to resist Kyoya's physical insistence. "You've gotta love her! What's this about? Don't tell me you would do…something like that without love-!"

"Tamaki," Kyoya hissed, opening the front door. He shoved his friend out into the hallway, leaving the tall, dopey boy to gawk, before saying, "Goodbye, Tamaki."

Then the door slammed in his face and the apartment was quiet again. Kyoya let out a long sigh and clicked the lock behind him. He stared up at the ceiling, counting the tiles to get his heart rate back to normal before slowly and carefully realizing what had happened that night. After letting it sink in, he closed his eyes and tried to figure out whether or not it had been a good thing.

"Kyoya?"

He opened his eyes and saw her standing at the end of the hallway in his button-up. His eyes scrutinized her clothing choice and her stance, legs tilted inward in the most unsure position he had ever seen her in. She hadn't looked this scared when she was getting married or getting abducted or running away from her kidnappers. Not even when the lights were off and the demons haunted her. Here in the broad daylight, in the safety of his American flat, in the comfort of his satin shirt, Chikako shook like a rabbit, deciding whether to run or play dead.

He was glued to the floor. "Yes?"

Her eyes hesitantly rolled toward the door and a small smile overshadowed her lips. "Tamaki is shrewd."

Kyoya took a slow, deep breath through his nose. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

She shrugged and continued to walk toward him. "Why does it have to mean anything? Why can't he just be shrewd? Is that a crime?"

He sighed and shook his head, dragging his feet across the front room. His movement away from her made Chikako abruptly stop walking. "Tamaki is shrewd on occasion, I'll give you that, but that instance was certainly not a shining example of his shrewdness."

Chikako smiled again. "I think he understands you better than you do."

He furrowed his brows and crossed his arms over his chest. With a heavy sigh, he breathed out a slow, "What?"

She shrugged and continued toward the kitchen. She grabbed a filter and poured ground coffee into the white paper. She couldn't stop herself from smiling. She felt so light and happy. She felt free for the first time in three years. She wondered, though, if she had ever truly felt free at all. Her fingers curled carefully over the filter as she placed it into the coffee maker.

Kyoya bit his lip and cleared his throat, settling his voice and leveling his tone. "How are you this morning?"

Without looking back at him, Chikako shrugged, coyly. "Fine, and yourself?"

"Wonderful, wonderful," he murmured, pacing the room. "So…just fine, huh?"

With a grin, she looked over her shoulder and saw his cold exterior warm a bit as a tossed her a smirk. It was then that the both of them knew the night before was no mistake.

Cautiously, Kyoya said, "About what Tamaki was implying…"

Chikako shook her head, clicking the power button. The machine gurgled to life and leaked coffee into the pot. "I don't have a clue what you mean," she murmured, before heading back toward the bedroom. "I'm going to get ready for the day."

After a moment of letting her blatant lie sink in, Kyoya followed her. "What day? Do you have an agenda or something?"

With a chuckled, she answered, "Well, of course I have an agenda, Kyo-chan. I'm a well-known aristocrat who is now a partner in one of the largest up-and-coming businesses in Japan." She paused and turned around to face him with a frown. "Which reminds me: why did you leave without me? I'm your partner. I'm very important to the company." She paused and in a smaller voice, added, "And I had hoped that I was at least somewhat important to you."

Kyoya took a deep breath and sighed. "Of course you're important to me, Chikako. You're my wife and my business partner."

There was a long silence that lingered between them like a dark cloud. "But those are just titles, aren't they?" she said, narrowing her eyes. "What am I really? Just some woman you were chained to by our parents?"

He leaned back on his heels and turned the question back on her. "Well, what am I to you? Am I just some man you were chained to by our parents?"

Chikako pursed her lips. "I doubt last night would have happened had that been true."

The two were silent for a few moments. Finally, Kyoya muttered, "You're not a virgin."

She blinked in utter shock and her mouth trembled, the words trapped in her throat. At least, she hoped that lump in her throat was a bunch of words. With great difficulty, she swallowed and her mind was flooded with slanted, blurry images of Jake's apartment, his sheets, the smell of the city wafting in through the open windows. She started feeling dizzy.

With a shake of her head, Chikako muttered, "Why do you think that?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I know my biology."

She bit her lip, but was silent.

Kyoya sighed. "Listen, Chikako. I don't care what happened before you and I were married. I just want to make sure that you won't cheat on me. It would be horrible press for both our partnership and our business. Hell, even for our family names-"

"I'm not going to cheat on you, Kyoya." She walked over to him and gently rest her fingertips on his chest. "Listen, what happened before happened a long time ago. It doesn't matter, okay?"

There was a long pause before he asked, "How long ago?"

"Before I even came back to Japan. Before I met you. Don't worry."

He nodded. "Alright then." And, to Chikako's surprise, that was that. Kyoya smiled at her, not thinly, but honestly, and retreated to the bedroom to get dressed. Chikako stood there in the living room for a moment before looking for the bags she had thrown on the floor the night before. She decided that she would need to enroll in classes. She planned to have either Kyoya or Haruhi in them, mostly because they were the two smartest people in the club.

"Haruhi," she whispered to herself, suddenly, realizing where she was and how close she now was to her best friend. She hurried to get dressed so she could surprise her friend, the awkward moment with Kyoya behind her.

A/N: Hello my lovelies! I want to first apologizing for not updating for so long. College has been pretty straining and I've been really busy with schoolwork and such. However, I'm back and I'm gonna try my best to continue writing this fanfic! Don't feel bad for prodding me to update now and again. I need the motivation :) Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

~Kit Koko