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Chapter 7

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Yuuki sat on the floor against her bed and toyed her phone listlessly between her hands.

Her shoulder ached softly.

It had been two hours since she had called her brother and all she had done was sit at the base of her bed and stare at a painting on the wall.

There was a soft knock on the door.

Kyoya stuck his head in "Dinner's ready"

Yuuki looked at him and sniffed once

"Do you have a cold?" he asked "your eyes are puffy"

The girl laughed quietly "Yeah, I'm not feeling very well"

"There are a few doctors in the house, if you need one..."

"No, I think I'll just go to bed. Send my apologies to your family. I'm sorry to ask you to do that"

"There's been worse" he knelt in front of his friend and caught her phone in mid air.

Yuuki reached for it but Kyoya merely sat back, beyond her reach; he knew she couldn't move on the floor very fast in a cast.

He pressed a few buttons and watched the screen while the girl angled herself to grab her property back. As she went to do so, he moved again.

Yuuki struggled to her feet and Kyoya stayed down. She couldn't bend.

"Give it back please"

He had overestimated her height and in a second she had reached down and caught her phone. The screen was blank.

"What did you do?" she asked, slightly annoyed

Kyoya stood up "You're very bad at lying"

"I don't know what you mean"

"Yes you do"

Yuuki put her phone away and eyed Kyoya. He could have just asked what was wrong.

The door clicked shut behind the youngest Ootori.

The girl pulled her phone out curiously; there was nothing different except a few new contacts in her friends list.

-

The next morning Yuuki woke up at nine.

She hadn't fallen asleep till the early hours of the morning. She had thought long and deep about her phone call and exhausted herself with emotion.

The girl sat on her bed and stared down at the cast. She sighed and got dressed.

A pair of jodhpurs fell to the floor as she tugged her clothes out. White jodhpurs with XXIX Olympiad stitched into them.

Yuuki picked them up and ran her thumb over the markings. In the fabric near the ankle a single dark hair was lodged.

The girl pulled it out and rummaged in her bedside table for a small navy box. She opened it and put the hair on top of the medal and closed it without a word.

Yuuki had come to terms with losing her horse. She wouldn't linger over the loss of something like she had over her mother.

It still hurt.

Ached.

There was a knock on the door and two red heads burst into the room.

"Yuuki" Hikaru and Kouru said in unison "Tamaki said to fetch you and bring you to the car"

The girl stared blankly at the pair "Um...okay?"

Before Yuuki could walk to the door, the twins had lifted her by each arm and carried her through the door, her feet centimetres off the ground.

"Captive taken" one of them said, Yuuki guessed it was Hikaru.

Yuuki squirmed in their grasp "I can walk!"

"Not well" one of them said, putting his face close to hers.

"Hikaru..."

"Am I?"

"Kouru?"

"Really?"

"Damn it! Put me down!"

There was a long black limo outside; Tamaki was watching from its unwound window "Very good, take her away"

"Take me where?" Yuuki asked the twins as Tamaki pulled away and another limo appeared suddenly

The redheads looked at each other mischievously "You'll see"

They opened the door and dropped the girl in. A moment later it was re-opened to reveal Mori carrying a still half-asleep Kyoya, his arms dangling on the tall man's shoulders and his feet dragging on the ground. He was dropped in the car and then the twins got in on the seats facing backwards.

Kyoya sat up and glared groggily, Hikaru and Kouru started and moved closer together.

"Not again you mongrels" he hissed "Remember what happened last time when you decided to play your erroneous manners?"

The twins regrouped and pulled together "Yes, you went on a date with Haruhi"

"I was dragged, asleep, to a commoner's shopping centre"

"And met Haruhi" one of them said

The other finished the sentence "Even so, you couldn't hold onto her, she's Tamaki's girl now"

Kyoya glared daggers at the pair, their retaliation collapsed.

Yuuki just stared out the window as the car pulled out of the Ootori state.

They had forgotten her crutches.

Half an hour later the cars stopped.

Hikaru, Kouru and Kyoya piled out of the car while Yuuki stumbled onto the gravel road. She hopped over to the nearest bench and sat down again. They were at a deserted picnic site.

Tamaki leapt from his car and spread his arms "Isn't it beautiful!"

Haruhi followed after him "What?"

"You don't see it?"

"No"

The prince pointed to the mountain that the picnic area looked at "The first snow of the year"

"You dragged us...all the way here" Haruhi sounded annoyed "...to see a mountain"

"To see the snow! We're going to do what commoners do to see a good view; we're going to hike to the vantage point"

In that moment, Yuuki seriously considered the idea that Tamaki had no brain.

"Um, question" she brought the excited blonde's attention to her and she pointed to her leg.

Tamaki put his forefinger and thumb over his chin and stared at the cast "You have crutches don't you"

"You're an idiot" Kyoya said, still annoyed

Hunny was watching from his lofty place on Mori's shoulders "Well, Yuuki-Chan can take the car into town and go shopping" his voice was high and his eyes wide.

"What town?" Hikaru and Kouru said in unison "There was no town coming in"

"Oh" Hunny said "I must have imagined it"

"Must have" Kyoya said flatly

Yuuki drummed her fingernails on the table top "It's okay. You go hiking; I can sit here and think about stuff"

"What stuff?" Hikaru, or Kouru, said

The girl smiled "Life the universe and everything"

"When you come up with an answer to that question, let us know" Haruhi wasn't impressed either

Kyoya pitched an answer "Forty two"

Yuuki stifled a laugh

Haruhi looked confused "What?"

"The answer" Ootori began "to live, the universe and everything is forty two"

"Again, what?" Tamaki questioned

Kyoya pushed his glasses up "That's it. That's all there is."

Yuuki finally laughed "I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe"

The man smiled at her "I'll stay with Yuuki. I'm not overly fond of hiking in the cold"

Twenty minutes later, the group had finally set off leaving just Kyoya and Yuuki at the picnic site. They sat on opposite sides of the table and didn't speak for a long while.

"I didn't know you were a hitchhiker?" Yuuki broke the stillness

Kyoya grinned a ghost "When I was little I thought everyone needed a guide to the galaxy, hitchhiking was the only five part trilogy and it confused me immensely"

"The five part trilogy or the hitchhiking"

"Both"

"I read it because I wanted to be a spaceman"

"Really?"

"No" she threw a piece of paint she had peeled from the table at him

Kyoya leaned back, the mountain behind him "Tamaki does this sort of think allot. I'm sorry"

"I don't mind"

"Yes you do"

Yuuki looked at her hands "Okay, yes I do, but not as much as you think"

Kyoya raised an eyebrow

"Okay, maybe it is as much as you think. But it's fine"

Her friend went to say something to oppose the latter part of her statement but she spoke over him

"Stop reading my mind. It's creepy"

"Stop lying, it's evil"

"You're evil then"

"I resent that"

"You're in business management"

"Point taken" Kyoya stared curiously at Yuuki, her picking up on him reading her so quickly meant that she could read him to. It made him uneasy.

There was a long silence again, not an uncomfortable one. Just one of the inspired sort.

"What did you do with my phone last night?" Yuuki asked

Kyoya pushed his glasses up, creating a glare over his eyes "I added some new contacts"

The girl leaned back "Really?" she said, disbelievingly "You did something else to"

The man didn't say anything, he just stared across the table silently "Are you cold?"

Yuuki was wearing jeans, one shoe and a white t-shirt under her jacket. She had figured she wouldn't need more for a day indoors. "I'm fine"

The wind was up that day. It lifted her hair and washed it across her face. The girl ran a hand through it and swept it out of the way before burying her phalange's into her jacket again.

Kyoya petted his pockets and discovered that he actually had his phone and wallet this kidnapping.

"Let's go" he flipped his phone out and dialled his driver "I want to show you something"

"For your own personal profit?"

"For profit" he said smugly as the ringing began.

Half an hour later a black Mercedes pulled into the car park.

"Should we leave a note?" Yuuki asked as Kyoya helped her up

"No" he growled, annoyed at having been brought to begin with

The girl hopped a few steps and attained balance "Okay"

The car was very warm. The driver knew what he was doing.

They drove upwards along winding roads until they reached a peak.

It looked over the mountain they had seen from the picnic area.

"Is this?" Yuuki stared out the window "...where the trail leads?"

Kyoya grinned haughtily and opened her door.

Yuuki got out, it was windy. Twenty meters in front of them was a cafe.

"Convenient" the girl said, eyeing it

Kyoya walked ahead of her, laughing inside at how Tamaki would kick himself when he arrived.

Inside the cafe was the perfect temperature. The far wall was made completely of glass and ran right to the edge of the cliff face it was situated on.

Yuuki walked right up to it and put her fingers on the glass, looking straight ahead and feeling the tingles in her feet at the drop so close below them.

"How do you know about this place? Isn't it a little...common for you?" Kyoya had appeared at her side and she had taken the opportunity to ask

He pushed his glasses up "My aunt had a fetish for views and coffee. She found commoners interesting"

"Do you find them interesting?"

"In a way"

Yuuki stepped back from the glass as a wind gust blew a bunch of leaves against it, making an awful screeching sound that could have come from the chasm below them.

Her leg with the cast though, remained dutifully where she had left it.

"Are you hungry?" Kyoya asked, walking off "I'm hungry"

The girl was getting annoyed at how her friend kept walking off when she didn't have the ability to keep up.

Oh what she would do for a good pair of legs again.

He turned around and smiled "Sit down"

Something about his voice said that his words were more of a command than a suggestion. Yuuki adhered anyway.

Kyoya returned with a box of sushi and a green tube. Yuuki picked the latter up and read the label.

"What's...wasabi?"

"You're Japanese and you have the gall to ask what wasabi is?"

"I'm half Japanese and we never really ate Japanese at home. It was very, western; everyone was English at heart"

"Its spicy" he tried to compare it to something English "Like...hot mustard"

"Ha" she put it down "hot and sushi together?"

"More...spicy"

"You said it was hot?"

"It's good alright, just eat"

Tamaki had dropped a line that Kyoya enjoyed spicy foods. It didn't comply with his not-so-intellectual dress sense and she wasn't afraid to say so.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" he looked at himself

Yuuki laughed "I don't know, it's just not..."

"Yeah, no. I understand"

"Really?"

"No" Kyoya smiled, he liked their conversations, they were never boring to say the least. Yuuki had a way of changing a subject rather dramatically.

He drank some of the tea that was brought to them "So, are you going to try wasabi?"

Yuuki made a cautionary face and tried some.

After a few seconds she had to have a drink and had tears forming in her eyes

"You liked it?" Kyoya said, grinning smugly

"I would have...if it wasn't taking chunks of my throat along with it down my oesophagus"

He laughed.

Defiantly not boring "Say something" he wanted to test his new theory out, on how the girl across from him could make a simple statement the most amusing discussion thread ever.

"Why?"

"Just say the first thing that comes to your mind right now"

"Why?"

"Seriously? That's the first thing you thought?"

"Wouldn't you?" she paused "What's the first word that comes to your head right now?"

There was a short silence, the kind that happens when someone asks you what you were thinking and you forget.

And then, finally, "Banana"

Yuuki raised an eyebrow and shook her head "The wonders of your mind..."

"It's more interesting than 'why?'"

"Since when has a question ever been erroneous?"

"Since I asked"

"Oh that's right, you royal shadow king...cool...type...bastard..."

Kyoya drank some tea "That was the worst comeback ever"

Yuuki dropped her head to the table in defeat "I know"

"Favourite song?"

"What is this?" she said, lifting her head to look at him "Twenty questions?"

Kyoya frowned, every time she said something, she said it with sincerity and yet...he couldn't work her out. To complex.

She was just wondering why he was so interested.

"I guess so"

"Um...it changes. Right now its Gary Jules' Mad world. If you'd asked me yesterday I would have said Clair De Lune by Debussy. You?"

Debussy and Gary Jules...odd mix "I'd have to say Rossini's Overture and Canon in D"

"Pachelbel?"

"You know him?"

"I had to sit that song for an examination"

"Piano?"

Yuuki made a face, remembering a time in her life she would rather forget "My turn. What's your favourite colour?"

"Uh..." she had caught him out. He didn't know what his favourite colour was "Blue"

"Is that because you're wearing a blue shirt?" she said innocently

Damn it, "Yes"

-

Yuuki said nothing about Zero, thought it was a constant ache. She was thinking about him and her somewhat distracted nature could have hinted to the fact that her emotions weren't exactly sunshine and diamond drops at present.

None-the-less, Kyoya had a good knack for getting her mind off things. It was as if he was steering away from anything related to the events of the past week and more towards the events of her.

Yuuki felt slightly exposed, she couldn't read him. It was very annoying. Out of all the people in the room, he was the one with the most open conjecture, and yet she could not read him.

Kyoya felt the same towards her and they continued their twenty questions, which peaked twenty quickly and then developed into a conversation about politics, philosophy or physics. The latter of which died quickly because the girl had idea whatsoever about that category. Kyoya tried to explain but failed miserably.

The confusing game of reading a book in another language went on, much to the enjoyment of the pair.

-

This probing continued for two more hours without pause until Tamaki and his band of now-not-so-merry hikers walked into the cafe and stared at surprise at the pair staring at each other across the table, not speaking.

In truth, they were testing the statement 'the eye is the window to the soul but weren't getting any answers. Kyoya's glasses were a good deterrent and he wasn't letting anyone see into him that easily and hers were so deep and black that you could get lost in them without realising it and never find the answer you were looking for.

There was nothing intimate about their searching, just curiosity. They were to each other a confusing ball of string that no one had ever been able to work out.

-

"What are you doing?" Tamaki broke the trance

Kyoya looked at him, annoyed and decided to quote the girl's favourite book "I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow"

Yuuki didn't blush; she knew he meant nothing by it other than the hunt for his own intellectual monarchy.

"So" Haruhi's voice broke the trance "when are we to wish you joy?"

She looked annoyed and tired and slightly mischievous; she had obviously read Pride and Prejudice.

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love and from love to matrimony in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy"

Tamaki gaped, not understanding "I don't get it"

"I do, but at the same time...me thinks not" Yuuki said, leaning back in her chair and staring curiously at Kyoya.

"Let go" he said, pulling his phone out again

"But we just got here!" Tamaki complained

"And we got her two hours ago"

It finally hit the blonde that the pair had arrived long before he and his band had "How?"

"We drove" Yuuki said, smiling smugly

Haruhi glared at Tamaki "We could have driven?"

The other girl nodded as she was dragged out the door by an impatient man, eager to escape before bedlam erupted.

-

In the car Kyoya turned to Yuuki with one final question.

"I understand why you know how to speak English, but German?"

She turned to him in her seat "You speak both, right?"

"Yes" he looked thoughtful "I guess I do"

There was a comfortable silence before he spoke again "You're multilingual, Japanese, English and German. Doesn't that mean you're good at something?"

Yuuki paused before answering and couldn't come up with an answer.

Kyoya had pointed out her knack at psychology, philosophy and now languages.

"Maybe I should work for the UN" she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye

"It's quite the possibility" He leaned back against the seat

"Quite"

For once in her life, Yuuki didn't feel worthless to the world.

Kyoya glanced at her "Your coming to dinner tonight right? My father wants to meet you"

"As long as there's no wasabi"

He smiled a ghost and shut his eyes as the car rolled down the hills, back towards home.

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