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Chapter 9
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Yuuki spent the rest of the week that Kyoya had to remain in ICU running back and forth from the university and the hospital. Her instructor, Tachi, didn't care much; it was her gold medal and if she lost it because she was spending half her time at a bedside and much less than she should be in the saddle, then it was her fault. He understood however, he had given up FEI to sit with his wife, praying she would come back to him. Yuuki's patient was going to come back, and in a way, it made him appreciate her more as a person and understand her as a rider.
"One day, you're going to fall off and end up in hospital yourself if you keep doing this." He said as she climbed into a car. "You'll end up in ICU yourself."
She had smiled at him and said that it would be okay as long as Kyoya had the needle when she arrived. Tachi didn't get it, but laughed and dismissed the antics of youth. "Get out of here. Don't forget that you own a horse though. And a gold medal. And a ticket to London 2012!"
The car was gone. Yuuki waved out the window as it pulled through the gates and disappeared from her world into one she shared.
The Cunxin paused at Kyoya's suit. There were people in it. She hoped it wasn't the host club, they would be worse for his health than any car accident. There were three men and two women. Dressed elegantly, clutching leather briefcases, searching through Prada handbags and wearing Gucci shoes. The Ootori group. Kyoya had his glasses back and was getting his colour back, he was looking at a graph that his eldest brother was showing him. He had a pen and was writing on it as the other man pointed at various points on the paper. Yuuki scowled. No one goes to see their son in hospital and asks for help with finance. No one except the Ootori family.
The girl stood at the door and waited to be invited in. Disgusted with them or no, this was not a family you would dare offend. Except in a phone call. The memory made Yuuki cringe; it had probably gone down like a tonne of bricks. But had obviously worked.
Kyoya glanced up at his sister for a moment and did as much of a double take as someone recovering from severe concussion can without hurting themselves. His lips turned up into a slight smile. Her smile. It was a mix of relief, appreciation and coyness. Kyoya from the inside out.
Noticing the slip of emotion, Mr Ootori turned and stared at Yuuki as she stood at the door, waiting to be asked inside. "Miss Cunxin. It's good of you to finally arrive." His tone was flat yet scathing.
"Yes, sir. Bad traffic."
"You drove here?"
"No, sir."
"Your driver then?"
"No, sir. I took a cab."
"From your apartment at the university?"
Yuuki laughed awkwardly. "Uh, no, sir. From my dorm at the academy. It's on the university grounds though, yes."
"Which Academy is that?" He quizzed her, knowing perfectly well what academy. The Ootori's had a way of putting those below them firmly lower.
"The Jockey Club, sir."
"Ah. Equestrian. Still a hobby of yours?"
Pause. "It's my job, sir."
Kyoya cleared his throat, then regretted doing so, it hurt. "Yuuki made the Olympic team, again, father."
"Oh, is that so?" The man raised his eyebrows.
Everyone
was looking at the girl. She felt sufficiently awkward. Something
blonde ran into her.
"Yuuki!" Tamaki breathed, waving
something in her face. "Look what hit stands today? I was at the
supermarket with Haruhi, looking at commoner society again; it's so
interesting! Anyway...and we reached the counter and this was there!
And I was like 'That's such an amazing photo of
Yuuki!...wait...Yuuki?' And then Haruhi reminded me that you were
on the cover this month and...." He looked around. "Hello Mr
Ootori." Tamaki bowed respectfully to his father's friend.
"Good morning, Suoh." Came the flat reply.
Yuuki grabbed the Vanity Fair from Tamaki and put it in her bag that contained the books she had recently bought for Kyoya. Before the blonde could object, she pulled out a new copy of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy to distract him. She knew that the Ootori had been thinking of reading a year and a half ago but that she knew he never got around to.
"That looks...long." Tamaki said, taking it from her before she could pass it to Kyoya.
"Its War and Peace, of course it's long."
Fuyumi, Kyoya's sister looked at the book. "What's it about?"
Yuuki loved the book. "It's not really what it's about, story wise, but rather analytically." She took the book back and walked over to Kyoya's bedside where she laid it to rest, he looked at her smugly. Enjoying watching her try to juggle his difficult family. The girl made a mental note to poke him in the chest later. "Tolstoy entwines the themes of conflict and love, birth and death, free will and fate. It's rather poignant."
"And long winded." Mr Ootori cut in.
"Um...there's been worse."
"Like?"
"Gone with the wind, Lord of the Rings to a certain extent, Utopia even." She might be awful at math, science and business; but books were her leisure. Time in Britain left time for the classics.
"And of 1984?"
"Orwell writes well, but it's very...sadomasochistic."
"Emotion is man's worst enemy. Especially in our world."
Yuuki didn't like Kyoya's father. He was trying to find her faults and manipulate them, revenge for her yelling at him through the phone. "Keep your enemies close." She replied flatly.
For some reason, the man looked impressed. His wife was very busy looking at a catalogue for Chanel's new Spring range with her daughter while the Ootori sons looked at the hospital that could have been theirs but wasn't. Kyoya looked like he was in pain. But that was expected. Yuuki just wanted to be alone with him.
Half an hour of Tamaki's raving later; she got a majority of her wish. The Ootori group left. Kyoya leaned his head back and took his glasses off, exhausted by the sudden influx of family, triviality and Suoh.
Yuuki pulled her usual chair over and sat beside him. Kyoya turned his head to her. "I apologise for my father. I never expected him to come. Hospitals are his business, not his vigil."
The girl swallowed. "Um...yeah. It was...good of him."
There was a short silence. "What did you do?" The Ootori tried to sit up.
Yuuki tried to stop him and managed to poke him in the chest, making her happy and somewhat concerned at the same time. "Nothing, nothing. Stop trying to sit up."
"Stop giving me reason to."
Tamaki was leaning on the end of the bed, his forefinger and thumb on his chin. "You did get Mr Ootori's number from my phone...you wanted to reunite son and father! That's so sweet of you!"
The girl tapped her finger on the arm of her chair. Kyoya tried to sit up, stopped himself and lifted the bed higher instead. "You called him?"
Yuuki smiled as sweetly as she could manage. "Yes..."
"What did you say?"
"Umm..."
"Yuuki."
"What?"
Kyoya raised his eyebrow, lifting the lines under his eyes until the skin looked almost healthy again.
"Okay." She raised a hand. "Don't kill me." Exhalation. "Quote. If you have any gall at all and any sense of decency, you will get your filthy rich arse on the next airplane out and you will come see your son who is laying, alone, in an annoying room that smells like air freshener and beeps every three seconds without pause; and you'll do it because you love your son more than you love money. If you look deep enough inside that capitalist heart of yours, you'd see that. I don't even care if you have to fly coach and miss out on the bubbly from your privet jet, just get on the next goddamned plane and come see your son." Pause. "End quote." Yuuki cringed, not knowing what insulting one of the most influential men, and thus his family, would bring her.
Tamaki stared, horrified. Kyoya just looked at Yuuki, the silence stretched out. Then he laughed. "No wonder he was acting like you were a business rival."
"You're not mad?"
"I'm furious." Kyoya decided to stop laughing. He could feel the stitches pulling at his side. "But more amused." Pause. "I want to see that magazine." He held out a hand.
Yuuki held her bag to herself, knowing he could and would turn his anger into maniuplation. "No."
"Yuuki."
"No."
"Give me the magazine."
"No. Its not manly of you to be reading a fashion magazine."
Kyoya looked to the end of the bed. "Tamaki, please." He knew the blonde would do it before realising he'd just lowered his testosterone levels by fifty percent.
The blonde had a short argument with Yuuki and her bag before pulling it away and digging inside. "What's in this?"
"Stuff..."
"It's like a bottomless pit! Women are so interesting!"
Out came her mobile, her wallet, a bottle of water, sunglasses; same ones from Christmas from Tamaki, face moisturiser, hand cream, nail polish, a copy of Pride and Prejudice and a short textbook on Freud. The first magazine to emerge was on equestrian; the second was the Vanity Fair she had taken. Tamaki handed it over before continuing his dig. There were so many things to still find. So many questionable things.
"Tamaki, you can stop now." Yuuki didn't like people going through her bag. You could tell a woman by her handbag. Not true, but you could see an awful lot that she kept private. Things that men knew about but kept out of their world on purpose. Like the little blue box that Tamaki pulled out.
"What are these?"
The girl grabbed her bag and the box and stuck threw the latter inside the former before collecting the rest of her things. "It's for..." she cleared her throat. "...nosebleeds." That was the girls excuse in a movie she had watched with Suki.
"I didn't know you got nosebleeds?" Tamaki was enthralled. Kyoya looked bemused. She had told him about the movie, he had asked for a detailed recall, even though he thought the plot worthless.
"Oh. Yeah. All the time." The Ootori laughed monosyllabically and Yuuki glanced sideways at him. "Say one word..."
Suoh lost interest very quickly and told Kyoya to turn to the fifty sixth page. It was the one he was on. There was a glossy spread, one side of the Ootori the other of the answers to his interview. The photograph was amazing, it was done in colour but with a grey leans over the camera. Everything seemed dull except his eyes. Yuuki stared at it and then at Kyoya. It was like a before and after shot. It was a before and after shot. She wondered how things would have turned out if there hadn't been an accident. If she hadn't ruined his car so long ago. On the page over was a picture of a highway and a crumpled, black Maserati, followed by an article on Kyoya's life. There was a silence, tension from Kyoya. Yuuki couldn't look at the picture. It had been close. To close. Close enough to taste an outcome that was permanent and would never heal. The one that a doctor had to break the rules to prevent from happening. Yuuki reached her fingers across the covers so that they were touching Kyoya, making sure he was there. Something warm filled her palm as the Ootori brought his fingers around hers silently.
Tamaki cleared his throat. "You didn't look at the cover!" He took the Vanity Fair and shut it before turning the cover to face the pair.
Yuuki laughed. "I do look better upside down."
The blonde looked at the glossy paper and then blushed before turning it around. "There. You look very Vogue."
"I'm sure the editor of Vanity Fair would appreciate that." The girl took the magazine back and stared at the picture. It had been taken while she wasn't paying attention. She wasn't looking at the camera, but rather off to the side, causing various pieces of hair to wrap around her neck. There was an emotion on her face that was unreadable to anyone except those who knew her intimately. The photographer must have taken it as Angela had hung up the phone.
"It's a very artistic photograph." Tamaki moved to the opposite side of the bed that Yuuki was on. "You look like a goddess!"
"That was the point." Yuuki hated it. Any photograph of herself for public viewing she hated. Especially the billboards.
"I like it." Kyoya read her mind and rebutted it.
The momentum of their old relationship was picking up, only this time with a different pendulum and different time to swing to.
-
You
and I, we make a grand salute
stare at each other like lost little
birds across the room
and I remember the way you looked
I
learned how to dance, but I'd never shown it to you
my love,
I
know I was wrong, but you know that you'll always be
my love
stay
for a while, while our leaves are still green
please, for me
I
know I tried, but it's hard sometimes
the roots don't take, it
takes a while
and you pull at the strings
but they're broken,
it seems
the dance isn't over for me, no
my love,
I know
I was wrong, but you know that you'll always be
my love
stay
for a while, while our leaves are still green
please, for me
My love.
(Little waltz, Basia Bulat).
-
Yuuki stayed at the hospital until late, it was the night before Kyoya could leave to go home. The nurses knew that she was there and allowed her to sit in long after visiting hours, allowing her to watch Kyoya sleep and be there when he woke up; knowing how she would feel waking to an empty room in such a state.
Every time he woke up, he looked vulnerable. Fragile. Yuuki would smile at him, sleepily or from behind a book, and welcome him back to the real world. He would ask if its meaning was still 42 and she would say it was before starting a discussion about some part of life. Anything to help ease his pain.
Kyoya loathed the food at the hospital. When it arrived that night, he prodded it with a chopstick and went for the bottle of water instead.
Yuuki extended her hand and received the pudding cup, transferred the dessert to her other hand and extended again, waiting for a spoon. It didn't come. The girl reached across Kyoya and fetched it. He was watching her, an expression of disgust and amusement on his face.
"What?" Yuuki opened her dinner.
"That's disgusting."
"No, it's processed. There's a difference."
"No one eats..." He read the lid. "...chocolate mud cake surprise for dinner."
"I do. Hunny probably would too."
"It's still disgusting."
"Have you tried it?"
Kyoya raised an eyebrow.
Yuuki laughed. "You might be high and mighty, but no one has blood so blue that they can avoid the menace of mass manufactured dessert cups."
The Ootori remained silent and opened his water.
"Try." The girl offered him a teaspoon of gooey, brown sludge.
"No."
"Do it."
"No."
"Your loss." Yuuki put the spoon in her own mouth and smiled smugly, the grin didn't last long. She dropped her dinner in the bin. "You were right. That's disgusting." Her 'new things' faze always seemed to backfire. With cameras, advertisements and now food.
Kyoya smiled. He was always right. "Told you so."
"Yes, yes, don't rub it in."
"It's amusing."
"To you." She stared at him. Kyoya stared back and for a long time they just watched each other, storing a moment into their memories.
The Ootori lifted his hand and tucked a strand of Yuuki's hand behind her ear. The girl caught his fingers before they left, pressed her mouth gently to them and then returned them to their owner with the soft blessing still lingering on his skin. Kyoya lifted his hand again and traced up Yuuki's neck, to her jaw and then up to her ear. The girl lifted the corners of her lips gently in a shy smile. Being romantic with someone was still a part of life that she found uncomfortable for some reason.
Kyoya retraced the line he had followed and caught the necklace, lifting it so that he could examine the pendant. "Did you ever work out what it was?"
"What?"
"The necklace."
"No?"
"It's mimicry of the Algerian love knot, a symbol of perfect love. But no love is perfect, like gilded butterflies; no one should try and mask a beauty with something else that is beautiful because it becomes useless. Love and perfection are gilded butterflies; it's not something to want unless you have to work to get it. Hence why it's not the real knot; because the real one is for fools."
Yuuki glanced down at the pendant. The way the gold and diamonds were set had always just been a pretty pattern to her. "Would you work for it? Even when it has no merit?"
"It has merit. It took a whole airplane to make me realise that."
"Took a whole airplane to make me realise how low my IQ was."
"Don't say that." Kyoya's eyes flashed.
Yuuki looked at him. "Why?"
"You are not your father's daughter."
The girl appreciated the openness that their relationship had reached; it was more poignant than before but still a constant puzzle. "I know...bu.."
"No buts." Kyoya let the necklace drop and his forefinger pressed to her lips, sealing them shut. "I'm always right, remember?"
Yuuki tried to talk.
"No."
She tried again.
"Shush."
She scowled and pulled his finger away. "No one's perfect."
"Referring to me or you?"
"You look tired, are you tired?"
Kyoya smiled a ghost, just as he always had. He was always tired, always sore, always stiff. But he didn't want to fall asleep again with Yuuki around; he didn't want to miss a moment when she was around. "No, I'm not tired." Not of her. Not of life. Insomnia dominated that part of his being.
Yuuki leaned back in her chair.
The Ootori pushed what should have been dinner away and lay back, staring at the girl. "Talk to me."
It was his way of saying, yes, he was tired, but he didn't want to say goodbye.
Yuuki drummed the arm of the chair for a second and then began as she always had. "Um...hmm..." Thoughtful pause. "Zero and I worked on leg yielding today..."
-
Those words that I uttered, they were not lies, because that is my wish...That's right, if you weren't there for me, I wouldn't be here...You can ask me whatever you like. My feelings for you won't change. I've never told you straight out but you already know, don't you? I love you more than anything in the world. If it's something I can do, I would take away all your miseries away from you.
(Vampire Knight)
-
When she was sure Kyoya was asleep and wouldn't wake up, Yuuki slipped out of the hospital and into the cab line. She fell asleep in the car on the way back to her dorm and almost did so again in the shower. The girl looked at her necklace as she lay in bed that night and smiled, now that she knew it was more than something pretty. Kyoya had given it to her again, in a way, when he told her what it was. It was the last stitch in pulling her back together; letting her know that they had both been fools but that they hadn't ended up laughing at gilded butterflies, they had realised their mistakes and gone home. Where the heart is. Truth was, each had given their hearts away that night in the snow and had never got it back. It explained the gaping hole that each felt, the burning void. They had always had the other, but never the matching piece. Never the reality to assure it. Its why they survived, they had an air supply always with them, just never their own lungs to breath it. It was awkward, painful, strange. But they had survived long enough to pull the broken pieces back together. The scars would still be there, fading in time. Things could still pull apart at the new seam's, which is why they were gentle, soft, adoring with each other; knowing the fragility.
-
The next day, before Yuuki could finish her lesson and begin her vigil, a large dark limo pulled up at the Jockey Club. Out spilled the entire host club, all of whom had not seen the girl in a year and a half. Hunny was the first to give Zero a fright, throwing himself off the ground and into his old friend as she began the warm-down.
"YUU-CHAN!" The little blonde squeezed exceptionally tight. "I missed you! Welcome back! We should go out for tea, and cake. Nothing goes better with tea than cake."
Yuuki recovered, smiled, and tried to inhale. "Defiantly. Sorry I didn't come sooner."
The twins were now standing at Zero's shoulder. "You should have come sooner."
She still couldn't tell them apart. "Sorry."
"You should be, but more so about not letting us see Kyoya." Twin one.
"But we forgive you, for both." Twin two.
"Welcome back." Twin unison. They were smiling.
Mori said hello in his own way by prying Hunny off her and making eye contact. Yuuki smiled at him and gave her silent thanks for pulling the constrictor off her.
"Why are you all here?" She dismounted and ran a hand up Zero's face.
"Kyoya gets to move home today, we thought we would give him a lift." Twin.
"Oh." Yuuki hadn't even thought about how he would get back to his house. She figured by cab, or with the caretaker, then she realised that was defiantly now how an Ootori would travel. "Where's Haruhi?"
Hunny had reached his place on Mori's shoulders. "She's at the hospital with Tama-chan."
Yuuki nodded and began the walk to the stable. "Want to help me untack him?"
Before she could start the job, everything was done. The host club stood, looking proud of themselves and grinning at her astonishment. She had forgotten how they did things. Fast and to a tee.
"Um..." Yuuki looked in the tack room and then at Zero who stood, also in a state of shock. "Then lets take him to the back paddock."
And they did. The Host Club and Yuuki. Just as it always had been when everything had felt right.
-
The group arrived at the hospital as Kyoya was having his final examination.
"Woah. He looks like he's in pain." Hunny said, oddly awed.
Yuuki leant against the door and waited for him to notice her. "The crew is here." She said when his eyes met hers. Tamaki and Haruhi were standing at the opposite end of the room.
Hunny took this as his chance to throw himself at the Ootori. "Kyo-ya! You're all banged up."
Kyoya's doctor caught the short blonde just before he could collapse his patient's lung again. "No sudden movements for two more weeks. No work, no exercise except the ones I have already deemed alright, you are to stay still and rest. Then come and see me and I will see if you are alright to go." Pause. "Have some pain meds." He handed a small bottle to Kyoya and set Hunny on his feet.
Kyoya looked horrified. "What am I supposed to do for two weeks?"
"Rest. Talk to friends. Watch movies. Read books. Play video games. Whatever teenagers do now days."
Yuuki tried not to smile but couldn't help it. Kyoya had never been a teenager. He had done the rare jump from boy to man in a single leap, not landing in that awkward middle faze. "I'll bring you some movies. My top twenty."
Kyoya looked at her. "Can you even list the names of twenty movies?" He knew that Yuuki and the TV were not well acquainted.
"Lord of the rings 1, Lord of the Rings 2, Lord of the Rings 3, um...Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Harry Potter 3...how many of those movies are there?"
"Yeah, didn't think so." The twins appeared beside her and beamed at their bed ridden friend. "We will keep you company."
"Oh joy." Kyoya did not sound pleased.
Yuuki was at the bedside table, emptying its contents. She handed the Ootori his glasses, which he was allowed to wear now that his scan showed no signs of brain damage as a result of low oxygen levels for a good half hour. Lucky man. "Be nice."
Half an hour later in a car full of mostly teenage boys, a girl who had dressed as a boy for her schooling life, Kyoya was still not being nice. Also known as, he was being himself in pain and frustration. The only thing that seemed to make him sane in the insane environment and the barrage of questions about the crash, was watching Yuuki try to hold the box with his things in it, a bottle of water and a handbag.
"So...did you see a white light?" Tamaki asked.
"No more stupid questions." Kyoya's voice was flat. The jostling hurt.
"Did you walk towards it?"
"Do you honestly think I could walk at that stage?"
"Metaphorically!" The blonde exclaimed. "Was there anything on ... the other side?"
Kyoya stared. "I don't think I ever reached it."
"But you died."
"Legally."
"There's more than that?"
Yuuki stared at him. For Kyoya to say there was more to life than legalities and leisure showed that the event had shaken him up more than he was letting on.
The Ootori looked straight at Tamaki. "There is always more than as is."
The blonde looked confused. Haruhi looked profound. The Twins were planning a party for two weeks when Kyoya could attend. Hunny was contemplating whether or not to offer the Ootori cake, not because it was bad for him, but because he himself wanted it. Mori looked complacent and Yuuki was staring out the window, a small smile playing across her features. Kyoya watched her, knowing she understood where the others didn't. Knowing she would never have to work out the riddles because she knew the answers; he just hadn't let on with all the questions yet. It was the opposite for her to him, she had given the questions and he was trying to work them out.
-
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That
you'll ever have
I wanna be your last, first kiss
(Inevitable, Anberlin)
It was soon found that Kyoya's bedroom was one only for able bodied persons. There were stairs and pot plants and sliding doors that required the skin on ones ribcage to be whole, not healing.
"If your house was more of a home and less of an art piece, then this would be so much easier." Yuuki was still juggling the box of things from the hospital and having just as hard a time as he was.
Kyoya pushed his glasses up; old habits die hard. "I'll just move into the spare room, it hasn't been used since you left."
The girl shrugged and turned down the hall, the rest of the host club were in the kitchen trying to make lunch. "Okay."
"Unless...you wanted the room back."
"No." Yuuki smiled over her shoulder. "I have two months until I have to leave for London; I need to be as close to the university as possible."
Kyoya followed her down the hall, slowly; breathing was difficult when the tissue in your left lung didn't allow for full oxygen flow. "What about after?"
Yuuki paused and turned. "After?"
"The Olympics." He thought that was obvious enough.
"Moving back...here?"
"Yes."
The girl turned away from him and opened the door to her old room, putting the box on the coffee table near the window, she faced him again. "Remember back that night...in the snow? And I said I would move out if things...got...to...dangerous."
Kyoya smiled slightly. Dangerous is not the word he would have used, but he respected that viewpoint. "And nothing happened." And wouldn't. He discovered that in being around her, working out her mysteries for himself was better than rushing into anything. He understood the theory of true love waits and respected her decision to follow it.
Yuuki had made that choice, but considering the circumstances, and just life in general, it was a hard one to maintain. "No. But. You almost died...permanently, and knowing that you're not going to be around forever changes things."
"How?"
"Well..." She was incredibly shy with emotion. "Um. It's not like when were not together I'm thinking of not being with you..." Yuuki used her fingers to trying to illustrate, but ending up looking confused.
"You mean that whenever I'm not with you, I'm thinking about when I will be."
Yuuki couldn't make eye contact. "I...guess so." Exactly so.
"And that would make things difficult in that you want to be nearer to me more than you did before."
"Yes." She looked like she'd been scolded. Embarrassed.
"Forever." Kyoya kept pressing, his tone just as it always had been.
Yuuki realised it wasn't a question, she realised that him explaining what she couldn't say was actually him just explaining, saying he knew exactly what that felt like without putting himself on display. She didn't know how to respond.
Amazing how life turns out the way that it does
We end up
hurting the worst, the only ones we really love
Kyoya leaned against the wall, tired. His voice showed no signs of his physical detriment; it was normal, steady, calculating. "You know, when I was laying there, in the car, I told myself it had been enough. But I knew it hadn't. I thought I was going to die and it's not like I was proud of who I was. The newspaper the next day would read Heir of Ootori Empire dies in car crash and I want so much more than to be the son of some guy who forgets he's related to the people directly under him." Yuuki stood silently, the moments Kyoya opened were rare and she had missed them greatly. "I wanted more than that. Not in a voracious way, but as a yearning; thinking I wouldn't get the chance for anything greater than capitalist aspirations and a big office with an even bigger pay check. I made a deal with God. I said 'If you exist. Let's make a deal. If you take me, don't ever let her get hurt again, not by anyone. Let someone be with her who can make amends for my mistakes. Let her be the proof of my existence as it should have been.' It was either some supernatural force, if they exist, was going to do what I should have done a long time ago, or me having the opportunity to do so myself. The latter of which would be harder, but is what I always knew you wanted." The man stood silent and stared at the girl.
Yuuki moved over and leant against the wall beside him. "I guess we got both then."
Kyoya glanced at her, questioning her statement.
"Well, I was standing at the window when...and...um...it was like being rubbed raw, like a clean slate. Ready for you when you came back." She locked her thumb nails into each other shyly.
The Ootori turned his body sideways, turning just his head still made it spin. "Is it still clean?"
Yuuki examined her thumb nail. "Yes." Her voice was quiet.
The girl turned, she didn't realise how close Kyoya was and froze up for a second. She could see the fading circles under his eyes, like dark bruises from a past abuse. A fading memory that defined the course of life. Two new people, one past, a new beginning. Just like the night in the snow, she could feel his breath wash over.
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That you'll ever have
I
wanna be your last, first love, that you'll ever have
I wanna be
your last, first kiss for all time
Yuuki blinked. "Kyoya..."
He slid a hand behind her neck. "I promise."
Respect. Knowing the boundary. Knowing it herself. Her promise to not only herself, but to him as well. The girl put a hand on Kyoya's side, just over the padding that covered the cut from his operation. Over where they had forced a set of broken ribs aside to get to a collapsed lung. To save a dying person, and bring him back. He still smelled like peppermint and sandalwood and he still held her the same; as if she were a glass doll, delicate and precious. She still couldn't look at him, blushing she kept her gaze on the corner of his shirt collar.
"Does it hurt?" Yuuki referred to the wound in his side.
Kyoya leant closed to her, slowly. "Not right now."
The girl let him run his nose down hers and press his forehead against her own. Just being close. Remembering. Laying new foundations over the old ones. She smelt different, not like rose and white musk, but like rose and sandalwood. Peppermints and roses and hardwood floors.
I wanna break every clock
The hands of time could never move
again
We could stay in this moment
For the rest of our
lives
Is it over now hey, hey, is it over now
Yuuki closed her eyes as Kyoya brought his lips against her forehead, just below her hairline, and then brought them to linger above her own.
I wanna be your last, first love, that you'll ever have
I wanna
be your last, first kiss for all time
Kyoya ran his fingers around the curve of her neck and back again until they rested just below her ear, his thumb beside it. His head stopped throbbing and for the first time since the crash he could see things clearly, hear them, not flinch at sudden noises like that which came from the kitchen. Yuuki didn't seem to notice. He could feel her breath, soft like a butterfly against his own. Gentle. Tender. She was his angel. She was his. Freely, by her will. Precious. Priceless. Prized. Cherished.
Things were going to be okay. They would be okay.
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That you'll ever have
I
wanna be your last, first kiss
Kyoya began to lean towards her but a loud bang echoed through the room, followed by someone yelling cheerily.
"Kyoya! Yuuki! We made lunch!"
The door flew open and Tamaki stuck his head in. "It's cool, right? None of us except Haruhi had made a whole meal before. To the lounge! That's a commoner tradition too, eating in front of the television."
Kyoya didn't tell the blonde that they never ate in the lounge and that soon Haruhi wouldn't be a commoner. He waited until Tamaki disappeared in a happy rush through the hall before sighing in a frustrated manner. Yuuki laughed softly as the Ootori leaned back, the moment shattered. Even so, it was defiantly one to remember. "I don't even have an appetite." His side hurt again. Her hand wasn't there anymore.
Yuuki slid her fingers into his and tugged slightly as she made her way through the door. "He means well."
"So did I."
Pause. "Me too." She blushed slightly.
Two minutes into the Host Club's first 'self made' lunch, Haruhi suggested they try another commoner invention and order pizza. Kyoya made a mental note to kill Tamaki, as did Yuuki. But neither really minded in the end; they had just been as they always had been. Near. Understanding. Breathing. An old past with a new beginning, with better grounding and the knowledge that they were the puzzle piece of the other. Different colours and shapes, but the perfect match. The one that fit properly unlike anything else in the world could.
-
The host club left in their communal limo, Tamaki stood at the open car door. "You sure you don't want a lift Yuuki?"
"No." She was standing on the house steps. "I called a cab; I didn't think you would leave until midnightish. Anyway, someone has to help the invalid unpack."
Kyoya cleared his throat behind her, somewhat insulted. Yuuki smiled, but he couldn't see that.
"Okay." Tamaki waved, grinning brightly through the early evening. "See you soon!"
When the car had pulled away, Yuuki took a moment to get hear bearings. "I forgot how..."
"Obnoxious?"
"Wouldn't go that far. Pestering, maybe. That they are." She smiled. The stars were coming out. "Where is your family?"
Kyoya glanced back through the open door into the house. "Inside somewhere." Anyone could become unfound in the labyrinth that was the Ootori house. "How long until your cab gets here?"
"Probably five minutes." Yuuki turned her head to look at him. "Why?"
The man turned to her as he had done earlier. "Just curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Good thing I'm not a cat." Yuuki let him wrap his hand behind her neck as he had done earlier and bring his forehead to hers. She knew his walls were coming down again and she would see him as he was, not as the son of the Ootori empire was. The girl put her hand back where it had been, gently pressing against the padding on his side, trying to heal him without a scar.
"Could you do me a favour?" Yuuki said quietly, feeling her breath come back to her, mixed with his.
"Mmm?"
"Could we try to forget everything besides just you and me?" She exhaled slowly, he was so close. "It seems like I can never get enough time like that. I need to be with you." Yuuki glanced up. She referred to the year and a half gone and the moment shattered by Tamaki's ignorance. She referred to the moment where there was none of him left but an empty shell in a room full of doctors. "Just you."
I want to be your last first love.
His kiss frightened her. There was a strong edge to the way his lips pressed against hers, as if he were afraid that there was only so much time left to them. Just them. The tension melted away and for a moment, they just were. Just together, needing the other and fulfilling that desire. Keys had been exchanged. Boxes reopened. Hearts beginning to fall once again.
The last piece of his wall came down. "I will love you even after your heart stops beating."
Yuuki pressed the bridge of her nose against his, the word thrilled her. "I know what that feels like."
Kyoya didn't feel the pain anymore, emotionally or physically. "They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love."
"William Shakespeare" Yuuki smiled and played his game. "The most eloquent silence; that of two mouths meeting in a kiss."
Kyoya brought his lips to linger above hers again. "Unknown." He whispered the author and fulfilled the quote.
The girl got a fright when there was a sudden hooting and a flash of light. She pulled away, embarrassed that of all people; a cab driver had been watching. Yuuki ducked her head and walked to the car self-consciously, one hand where the skin on her neck was warm from his touch.
Kyoya put one hand in his pocket and walked to the door, turning in time to see her watching as the car pulled out of the drive. Their lives became their masks when they were apart. As they would have been should they never have met. Kyoya was always Kyoya, but he was fully himself when she was with him. Yuuki was always Yuuki, but she only ever took her masquerade down beside him. Things were healing. Things were as they should be.
"Kyoya." A deep voice called from inside the foyer.
The man looked up and saw his father standing, watching as he entered the house. "Father."
"Are you feeling any better?" His tone was hard. Flat. Uncaring.
His son let his mouth lift as the ghost of a smile flitted through his features. "Yes."
"Enough to start work again?"
The smile left. "Yes, sir." The truth was no, but the heir had no choice.
"Kyoya?" Mr Ootori questioned.
"Yes, father?" The man paused, he needed to take the tablets that the doctor prescribed, his ribcage was aching.
"That Cunxin girl..."
Kyoya cut him off. "What about her?"
"She's different."
"She is."
"She doesn't obey the rules."
"Confucianism is a Chinese ideology, and yours. It's not mine." It was the first time Kyoya had come close to back-chatting his father. "You had no problems with Haruhi."
"Haruhi knew where she stood in society."
"Yuuki knows where she stands as a person, it's not always society father." Pause. "If it had been my son, no amount of demerit for leaving a conference could have kept me away."
His father looked taken aback. "I will disown you if you ever speak to me like that again."
"You can't." Kyoya turned back to his path. "You need me." He had saved his father's company from bankruptcy when his brothers couldn't, he had showed more talent and initiative and profit than his siblings. He was the heir, the rightful one through hard work and diligence. "And I need her."
Mr Ootori stared at his son's back, pride growing inside. Kyoya was what he should have been if his own father had not manipulated him into the perfect capitalist robot. He would have done better in life if he had been human. Kyoya, his youngest son, was the Ootori with a real heart, one that had to stop and start beating again before it learned how to use itself.
-
I wanna have the same last dream again
The one where I wake up and I'm alive
Just as the four walls close me within
My eyes are open up with pure sunlight
I'm the first to know
My dearest friends
Even if your hope has burned with time
Anything that is dead shall be re-grown
And your vicious pain, your warning sign
You will be fine
Hey oh here I am
And here we go
Life's waiting to begin
Any type of love it will be showed
Like every single tree reach for the sky
If you're gonna fall
I'll let you know
That I will pick you up
Like you for I
I felt this thing
I can't replace
When everyone was working for this goal
Where all the children left without a trace
Only to come back as pure as gold
To recite this all
Hey oh here I am
And here we go
Life's waiting to begin
Tonight
Hey oh here I am
And here we go
Life's waiting to begin
Tonight
Hey oh here I am
And here we go
Life's waiting to begin
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
I cannot live
I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
Hey oh, here I am
Here we go
Life's waiting to begin
Hey oh, here I am
Here we go
Life's waiting to begin
Life's waiting to begin
(The Adventure, Angels and Airwaves)
-
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Listen to the song Breatheby Angels and Airwaves; it's for a future chapter.
: )
Reviews appreciated.
Blessings,
-pp