Rose of Jericho

by peterpauper

Would we laugh at gilded butterflies? Sequel to Chrysanthemum.

14. Chapter 12

-

Chapter 12

-

I don't want to miss one smile
I don't want to miss one kiss
I just want to be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just want to hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And just stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

(I don't want to miss a thing, Aerosmith)

-

Yuuki balanced on one foot, her hand against the wall of her dorm. Her empty dorm. There were suitcases along the wall and a set of clothes on the bed. Her shoe refused to slide on easily so the girl hopped as well as one can on a single heeled foot and sat on the couch. It was the night the athletes, the sponsors and the media all got together to farewell the former before they left for London. The Equestrian team had to leave as early as possible to get their horses and themselves used to the conditions; unlike other athletes, they could not train in monitored environments and thus had to allow as much time to get used to a new one as possible.

Yuuki was wearing navy blue over her pale skin and white glass drops in her dark hair. She wore it down as her heels were up and a girl sometimes needed balance. Her phone rang.

"Hello?" Shoe. On. Finally.

"Leaving now."

"Now?" Yuuki looked at the wall clock. "Why now?"

"Because we have to be there in half an hour." Kyoya said smoothly through the phone.

"Doesn't it start at six?"

"Its five thirty."

"Do we have to be the first?"

"If we're first, fewer people will see you getting out of the car."

Thoughtful silence. "See you in ten."

"Yuuki?"

"Yes?"

"Wear navy more often."

The girl paused and looked up. There was a window beside the door and Kyoya was in it. She hung up on him and scowled before unlocking the door. "You said you were leaving now."

"No, I said 'leaving now', not referring to any one person. It takes more than half an hour to drive to hotel from here."

"Well, let's just say this is better than the last time you decided to 'drop by'..." She used her fingers as inverted comas. "...I thought you were a 'call in advance' kind of person."

Kyoya slid his hand behind the small of her back and ushered the girl outside, closing the door behind her. "The 'incident', as you like to call, it was weeks ago..." Incidental evening in more ways than one. "...and calling in advance is often only done for reservations. Picking you up is not a reservation."

Yuuki paused, hesitant to walk on gravel in her shoes. "Well. Okay, that makes sense." She took the first step, it was fine.

Kyoya slowed his pace as the girl navigated the uneven surface. "Why do you wear them if they're so inconvenient?"

"High heels are a male invention, designed to make a girls behind look smaller and make it harder for her to run away."

"And you wear them, because?"

"Because, it makes my behind look smaller and makes it harder to run away." She smiled at him.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up and returned the expression. He could work out any mathematical, physics or business equation, but he could never work out woman. Yuuki would forever remain a mystery in that fact. "Well, if that's what makes you happy."

"Hey, you bought them."

They were halfway to the car when she stumbled on a particularly stubborn set of pebbles. The Ootori caught her by the waist, even though Yuuki had corrected the mistake. Kyoya stared at her, accusingly.

"What?" Yuuki said.

"I just realized." Pause. "You never said hello."

The girl pulled away and waved brightly, mockingly. "Hello."

"That's not funny." He didn't want to be waved at.

She knew perfectly well what he wanted and waved a dismissing hand at him. "I'd like to arrive in at least a semi-normal state."

"And you wouldn't because?"

"You make me feel exceptionally abnormal." She paused getting into the car. "In a good way."

"It's your last night in the country."

"But not my last with you." Yuuki watched as he closed the door.

Kyoya leaned over and wrapped a piece of hair around his finger. One of her dark waves. "Let's hope not."
Yuuki stared at him softly. The last few months had been a blur. A good blur, one she would put into slow motion, over and over again. He was hers and he wanted her. An equal treaty. The girl kissed her boyfriend. Boyfriend. Odd word. It didn't explain enough. It seemed to dull down a relationship to a stereotype. "Better?"

"Not yet." Kyoya kissed her back.

"Okay." Yuuki said, pulling back. "I know men have a different way of expressing love, but you're getting needy."

"I'm getting needy?"

"Yes."

"You made me watch three hours of old films where people broke into spontaneous song and dance."

"An Ootori, being made to do something?" Mocking gasp.

"It's an impasse. Be with you and endure black and white films or be on my own wanting to be with you." Despite the honesty of his words, his tone was still calculating and emotionless.

"If it was just me?"

"There would be no impasse."

"No, you would much rather be on your own."

Kyoya leant back into his seat, dismissing her conclusions about men. Women always tried to summarize men, but found they were always wrong because you had to be a man to summarize the gender. And vice versa for women. "Tamaki is coming with Haruhi later."

"Not earlier?"

"They will try to be on time but the Porsche is in for servicing." Pause. "Speaking of cars. What do you want?"

"What do I want?"

"Well, I'll be driving you around and I don't have a preference."

"I'm not choosing you a car."

"Okay. You're suggesting."

Silence. "Something with lots of airbags."

"Like a Mercedes?"

"Like a cardboard box lined with pillows."

Kyoya smiled slightly. She hated the thought of him driving again. "People crash cars; I'll be careful and not let you drive this one."

"We've both smashed a car before. The driving world has a vendetta against us."

"No, you have a vendetta against it. Everything you touch that has wheels falls apart."

"Like that bicycle..." She still had a graze on her knee from a 'Host club trip to the park'.

"That bicycle is not a bicycle anymore, it's a garden feature."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever. If you get a car, please, please, please, let it be the Mercedes Guardian."

"That's the same as a Mercedes E-class, only with bullet proof glass."

"You said you had no preference."

"Why the Mercedes?"
"It has an ANCAP rating of 5."

"Alright." Kyoya smiled at the fact she had chosen the only car that would be difficult to obtain. But if it made her happy...

"Can't you just have a driver for the rest of your life?"

"Lee?" Kyoya lowered the divider between them and the front seat. "Would you like to cart me around for the rest of my life?"

The older man turned slightly. "Sir, I think I'll reach the rest of my life before you do."

Yuuki decided to but in. "Yes, but if Kyoya gets in a car again he'll likely crash and die."

"No ma'am. I think he'll be just fine. He's a good driver."

The girl leaned back and grumbled. "You paid him, didn't you?"

The driver tipped his hat and smiled in a friendly manner, raising the divider again so that the pair could bicker playfully in private.

"I didn't bribe him."

Yuuki raised an eyebrow.

"Believe what you want." He paused. "I'll be fine. Trust me."

"I trust you. I just don't trust the other drivers."

"Yuuki." He didn't turn his body to her. "It's fine."

"No but...last time..."
"I know. I was there."

"Yes, but I wasn't. You can't leave me behind like that."

Kyoya turned. "I can't give you that promise."

"Can you at least give me your word on it? Even if not everyone else's?"

The Ootori finally realized the toll his accident had had on her. "You have my word."

"Okay." Yuuki stared at him, hoping his word against the worlds was good enough to keep him in it.

"Yuuki?" Kyoya said coolly.

She looked at his face, not into his eyes.

"I won't leave you behind."

"Yes." She paused. "But I left you behind once. And..."

He put a finger over her mouth. "I told you not to keep bringing that up."

"I..."

"Shush."

"Mmahmm..."

"Yuuki."

She grabbed his finger and pulled it away. "You might not have meant it when you left me, but I meant it when I left you. And it's..." It was a separation, a juxtaposition of relations.

"I don't think you did."

Yuuki blinked. He could read her like an open book where she couldn't. Her guilt and the need to repay him for the horror she put him through made her want to tell him that, to make him think she owed him something, to let him take whatever part of her he wanted in return as reparation. "I can't live in a world where you don't exist."

Kyoya ran his hand down her neck to the necklace that sat between her collarbones. "You won't have to." Pause. "Let's not talk about this now, tonight is about you."

"Its about you too."

"Yes, but mostly about you."

"And the other athletes."

"Of which you are one."

"Just one."

"Yuuki, stop making comebacks."

"But I'm finally getting good at it."

"Yes, and we're all very proud. But it's annoying."

"Sorry." She smiled.

Yuuki felt melancholy about the mood that had just lifted. She liked talking to Kyoya about things, letting him know how she felt, communicating properly. They could do it without words often, but on topics they stood on opposite agenda's of, words needed to be exchanged; honestly. Kyoya was difficult with this at first. He was a 'quiet reader' preferring actions to words, preferring to keep his walls up while others took them down around him. With Yuuki it was different. If he did it willingly, she would as well. If he let her see him without his barricade of cold demeanor and calculating effect, then he could see her from behind her chaps and saddles. They could see each other and thus understand the others mysteries better even if they knew they would never answer them fully. It was part of the enchantment of the relationship.

The car pulled up outside the hotel that the party was being held at. There was a mob of photographers and journalists. Yuuki went white.

"Don't worry. No one knows the equestrian team. They're all here for the sprinters, swimmers and ping-pong players." Kyoya assured her.

"Okay."

The moment Yuuki got out of the car, she wanted to kill him, but she couldn't see because too many flashes went off at once. Suddenly she realized why. From beyond the white dots in her vision, she saw a copy of Vanity Fair. It had been a bad idea to do the shoot.

"Ms Cunxin!" A journalist cried. "Ms Cunxin! How do you feel about the Equestrian Squad?"

The girl blinked. "Um...I'm not the captain, your best off asking him." She laughed nervously. "But yeah, I think we're a great team." People. Interested in her. Yuuki was not happy. Overwhelmed, frightened, not happy

"Who are you wearing this evening?" Someone else asked.
Herself. Duh. "Um...Lisa Ho."

"And...How do you feel about being the darling of the Olympics?"

"The Darling?"

"Yes. You brought horse riding to the foreground for the first time."

There was a firm, cold voice behind her. "Yuuki's very confident about London." Kyoya's hand was on the small of her back, guiding her away. "Don't talk, just smile and nod. The only journalist you want to talk to is either from the Times, The Tribune, Courier or Business weekly." He hissed into her ear. He knew how to handle the media, she obviously didn't.

"MR OOTORI!" People began shouting, others were shouting at Yuuki. And then it was all diverted to the next arrival. There was just one reporter on the end who was still as interested as everyone was at the beginning. "Mr Ootori, Ms Cunxin. Hello, I'm Hsu from the Tribune. How are you this evening?"

"Fine." Kyoya said emotionlessly.

The man ignored it. "I just have a few questions for the both of you."

Silent agreement.

"Okay. For starters, I heard you being asked about your title as Darling of the Equestrian Team, how do you respond to that?" This reporter was okay. He wasn't in your face.

Kyoya didn't give her any cues, so Yuuki answered shyly. "Oh. I didn't actually know about the title until a few seconds ago. So, I'm not sure." She turned to Kyoya. "Am I a darling?"

He smiled softly. "No."

Hsu laughed. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what's the relationship between you two and, if there is one, how will it affect both the running and participating in the Olympics."

Kyoya took the lead. "We are good friends and with respect to the Olympics, everything will run as it has been planned, if not better. The Ootori group has taken every precaution and done everything in their power to make the sponsorship of the event successful."

"How are you after your car accident a month ago?"

"Fine. The team at the hospital was effective and I'm very thankful to them."

He turned to Yuuki. "And you after your fall a few years ago?"

"I'm good, thank you. It hasn't hindered my riding in the long run."

"And, I hear you went to London for a year, was that to scout the area?"

Yuuki paused. "No. Um. It was just a trip away."

"Long trip."

"Yeah."

Kyoya's hand pressed against her back as he nodded at the reporter and ushered the girl inside. Yuuki stopped him just in the door and pushed him gently to the side. "My Left Foot they all were after swimmers, sprinters and ping-pong players. You could have warned me. You know I hate that sort of thing."

The Ootori looked thoughtful, as if trying to work out what had just happened. "I forgot you did a cover on Vanity Fair." Yuuki looked deflated. The man pushed his glasses up. "I'm sorry. I miscalculated." A confession of that sort from an Ootori was a big thing.

"If this is the last time I see you for a few weeks, I don't want to be arguing over cars and fighting people with cameras." Yuuki said softly.

"Neither do I, but if you're going to be with me, then your going to have to accept that those things are going to happen. It's the same for my being with you. Whether it's my business celebrity or you're sporting."

"No, I know, but, I don't want to go back to London without you this time. It's a heady reminder."

"I know." He did. "I would come with you but I have to close things up here."

She respected that. "Alright." Pause. "My job and your job both suck."

Kyoya laughed quietly. "Just smile, be nice and stay next to me." Not for her own good, but for his. He needed her there and when she wasn't he got by in imagining her presence. It had become a habit, a need. Something both of them could not live without. Every fight they had got resolved before the end of the day; part of the fear of hurting the other again, part of wanting them to be happy and in being so yourself through that. Being apart was like losing a limb. You knew it was supposed to be there, but it wasn't. You knew it belonged as part of your being and fit perfectly into your life and it was strange when it was gone. Lungs without air. Hearts without blood. Puzzles with no finishing piece.

-

So every time you hold me
Hold me like this is the last time
Every time you kiss me
Kiss me like you'll never see me again
Every time you touch me
Touch me like this is the last time
Promise that you'll love me
Love me like you'll never see me again

I don't wanna forget the present is a gift
And I don't wanna take for granted the time you may have here with me
'Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed

(Like you'll never see me again, Alicia Keys)

-

The evening progressed as one would expect. The upper classes cliqued to themselves, avoiding those from less than important backgrounds or careers. The best part of the night was dancing.

Kyoya wasn't much for public displays of emotion and knew Yuuki wasn't much for public displays at all, so they escaped to an alcove of the ball room. There was a fish tank in the wall and it cast watery patterns through the corner and little spurts of colour, bright yellows and blues, as one of the reef dwellers swam through the back light. Everyone else was busy in their own world of champagne, chandeliers and gold medals that they didn't notice the half absence of the couple.

"I realized something." Yuuki said, watching the fish. "You said good friends earlier. I don't know whether to feel insulted or mysterious."

"Neither. Just avoiding the media." Kyoya stood close behind her and away, across the room. Surveying it with a calculating gaze.

They wouldn't go public. Even though their relationship would be but a drop in a pond of celebrity couples. Yuuki turned to him. "Yes. It seems both of us have unwillingly had our lives told before we even knew about them."

"So it seems." The Ootori turned back.

He had his public mask on. Leaning forward, the mask slipped slightly to let her know he was still there behind it, he offered a hand. Yuuki took it and let Kyoya wrap his arm around her waist and begin a slow waltz.

"The music is very fast for this pace." The girl stared over his shoulder at the crowd; the upper classes knowing the foxtrot were doing it, the lower classes improvising in a mocking manner.

"Do you want to speed up?"

"No." She buried her face against the curve of his shoulder and neck. It was just them in a world that never would be. Stealing moments that made everything worthwhile. Stealing the truth of the other.

"What time do you leave tomorrow?" Kyoya said after a short while.

"Earlier than you will survive to see."

"What time?"

"Five, which means we have to be there at three, which means I won't sleep tonight."

"That's ludicrous."

"That's when the horses will still be resting. It'll be dark, cool, the air will hopefully be clear and we'll avoid afternoon storms, which is when most horses freak out mid-air."

"All for the cargo." He smirked.

Yuuki sighed gently and lifted her gaze to look at him. "All for the cargo."

Kyoya freed the hand holding hers and ran it down the girl's hair. They were as alone as they could be and he could let his walls down with her. Dangerous though it was, he couldn't resist. His fingers strayed and explored her cheekbone, her jaw, her chin. Her breath was gentle against his neck, her head lingering in front of his.

Yuuki let her free hand rest behind Kyoya's neck, her fingers against the base of his hair. "I'll miss you."

The man pressed his lips to Yuuki's forehead. "Me too."

The girl lifted stretched her neck up and kissed him, softly, gently, with meaning. Kyoya kissed her back and let his hand rest on the pale of her neck, half buried behind her hair, the other on her waist.

A flash went off.

Yuuki stepped back and stared. A man was standing a few feet away with a camera, looking at the shot. "Beautiful photo." He smiled at them. "Always explore the little corners of a party for the best story." He said. "The fish...the dress, even your position; very romantic. Olympian and Gentleman..." The man paused to think. "...Behind the scenes...yeah, I like that. Thank you, sir, miss." He bowed and began to leave.

Yuuki was turning scarlet. "Oh. Please don't."

"But Miss Cunxin. You were on the cover of Vanity Fair, surely you like the attention."

"No, I really don't. Please..."

Kyoya cut in. "As part of the Ootori group, I ask you keep the personal life of myself and those involved private, as we have already asked for this evening."

"Which is exactly why we post these things. People like the ones who have no dirty history. Don't worry, this isn't a scandal, it will promote yourselves."

Kyoya knew if he threatened the man, it would only turn out badly. He probably had a recorder stuck somewhere on his being to pick up the stories no one told to journalists. All he could do was watch as the man disappeared into the crowd.

Yuuki wrapped her fingers around the Ootori's upper arm. "Don't worry, its...well...Will your father want to kill me now?"

Kyoya turned, his mood lightened slightly by her. "He always wants to kill you; he'll just have more reason to now."

She smiled softly. "Okay. That I can live with. If he gives you hell however..."

"He won't. He can't do anything about it." And neither could he do anything about the picture. He just hoped it wouldn't make front page of anything. Of course, people would react pleasantly to young love, but now his every interaction with the opposite sex, and hers, would be scrutinized in detail. "I'm sorry."

"No. Should have found a better spot." Yuuki said, not regretting what they had done. Their moments were their moments and nothing could detract from that, they just needed a better way to have them.

"Or less media."

"Or less media. Yes. Or none at all." A clock chimed midnight. "Three hours..."

"Want to leave?"

"I'm not Cinderella."

"Which reminds me, Tamaki never showed." Kyoya pulled his phone out of his back pocket, amusing Yuuki immensely. Once an Ootori, always an Ootori. "He says, quote 'I'm going to murder the twins. Help me do it mother. They took Haruhi out and didn't tell her a Bacardi Breezer wasn't a soda.' Unquote."

"Oh. How did the twins get her?"

"They were probably all coming together; Tamaki got distracted and when he turned back Haruhi had a glass full of colored rum."

"Is she old enough?"
"No." He was texting back. "Her liver isn't either."

"Well, that's unfortunate."

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "She should have known."

"Would I have known?"

"Let's just say, I'm never going to let you drink."

"Thanks, father figure."
He smiled. "Speaking of which, let's get you home."

"No. If I go home, then I won't see you."

"Okay...let's get you home and you can pick a movie."

"Calamity Jane."

Kyoya lifted his mask back up before heading back through the room and sighed. "If you say so." Pause. "What is this fetish for old movies?"

"Singing, dancing, clean..."

"Watch High School Musical."

"Do you want to?"

Kyoya raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, didn't think so. Calam' is it."

-

As their relationship progressed, Yuuki realized that Kyoya had a thing for credits.

"You know, no one watches the credits." She was sleepy.

He wasn't paying attention to her. Probably emotionally scared, a man watching a 1953 film about a cowgirl and an actress; it was bound to happen.

Yuuki smiled evilly. "I just blew in from the windy city...the windy city is mighty pretty, but they ain't got what we got..."

"You're not Doris Day." He politely told her to stop.

She was too tired to take his subtle threat. "If there's one thing I could do without, I could do without you."

"No you couldn't."

"No." She shook her head sleepily. "I couldn't."

"You're too tired."

"And you're not enough. It's unnatural." As if on cue, the girl's phone went off. Her alarm to rise and shine for the day. She was still in her dress from that night. "Oh, that's so inconvenient."

Kyoya stood and picked up a set of clothes that had been left out on the side table, he extended them towards her and nodded at the shower. Yuuki took them dejectedly and headed for the bathroom, turning back she shot a warning look at the Ootori. He smiled. "I know, plotting outside."

"Yeah. Stay there."

Half an hour later, a slightly less sleepy Yuuki emerged to find an unusually awake Kyoya.

"Why are you so...alert?" She asked.

"I'm often up later...earlier...than this, working."

"No wonder people think you're a vampire or something."

Kyoya watched bemused as Yuuki tried to pull on her riding boots. Knee high, made of rubber and leather, it was a difficult task. "Who are you leaving with?"

"Whoever is driving the car pulling my float."

"And that would be?"

"Tachi."

"Who?"

Yuuki looked across the lot at the lights in the stable that signaled the start of a big day. "In there. Wana meet him?"

"I want to meet him. I don't 'wanna', ever."

"Eh..." Yuuki dismissed him and began her trudge across the gravel. She had been born middle class and had only attained upper class status as a tween. Her old vocabulary was still a relevant part of her life.

The girl went into the stable via a side door. There were already three other riders inside, accompanied by a vet and various instructors and stable hands. "Morning." She called as a few heads raised to see who had entered the group.

A few said hello, one asked for an opinion with a broken jumping saddle. Kyoya leant against the door frame and watched her go about her life.

"When did that happen?" Yuuki woke up some.

"It was fine yesterday." Her teammate said. "It might have been one of the kids. There's one who needed a saddle and I let her use it once, she never stopped."

"Hmm..." Yuuki looked at it and then disappeared into the tack room, reappearing with another saddle. "Will this fit?"

The older woman looked at the girl. "I can't use your saddle."

"I have two, in case of emergency. Your horse is pretty much the same as mine. You might need to use another pad though."

The woman took the saddle and lifted onto the horse standing beside her. "It's too high on the withers."

Yuuki tapped her chin and asked her to put the saddle pad under it. It fit a little better. She disappeared into the tack room and returned with something fluffy, shaped like a figure eight. She put it on the withers and then put the saddle back on. It fit. "Just make sure its sitting right; your saddle may slip around a bit."

"You're a life saver."

"No, I just have too much tack." They laughed. "Oh. Jenny. I want you to meet Kyoya."

The woman turned her head to look at the man standing in the door, still dressed in suit pants and a pressed white shirt. The tie was gone, leaving the throat button undone and he obviously hadn't seen a brush in a few hours. "Oh, so this is the reason you got in all that trouble."

"Yes, it is." The Ootori smiled warmly as he reached the pair. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

Jenny almost swooned, and then remembered she was married and her husband was also on the team. Family stayed tight through big events. "That's...alright."

Yuuki had forced herself awake as she headed down the corridor. "Sorry, I..." She pointed at the horse.

"I know."

"What were we doing?"

"Tachi."

"Oh. Yes."

Her instructor was standing outside Zero's stall, piecing a halter together. He turned when the girl approached him. "Seriously, put it back together before you leave next time." He scolded.

"Sorry." Pause. "This is Kyoya."

"Oh." The man looked up. "Pleased to meet you." He couldn't offer a hand to shake, they were both preoccupied. "Could you tell her to put it back together next time?"

Kyoya turned to Yuuki. "Put it back together next time."

She took the halter from her coach and put it back together. "Happy?"

"Oh, I like you." Tachi said with a smile before opening the door for Yuuki to go get her horse.

The girl left the two men as she did her thing. "Hey there sleepy. At least you got some rest tonight. I'll be sleeping on the plane." The horse stood up properly as she slid the halter over his head. "Wake up. Time to shine."

By the time she had groomed him, vet-checked him, checked him for sore-spots herself and walked him in circles to get him awake, Tachi and Kyoya had done nothing. They had stood and talked the whole time. "Like a bunch of girls." She said, approaching them, horse in tow.

"He's interesting." Tachi said.

"Yeah. I know." Yuuki got head butted by her horse who was now awake and hungry. "Now that you two have an alliance, can I get this thing...that is...trying to eat my jodhpurs" She turned and pushed Zero's head away from the back of her knee "....into a float?"

"Zero Tolerance was a good show name for that beast." Gets what he wants, when he wants it. Tachi mused as he took the lead rope.

"Yeah. Well. I'll have little for him in a second."

"You sure he's not gelded?"

"Does it look like I can ride a stallion?"

"Not a chance." Her instructor shot back smugly. "Have you slept?"

"No."

He turned to Kyoya. "Why?"

He pushed his glasses up. "When I dropped her home, she wanted to watch Calamity Jane."

"And you let her?"

"Would you?"

Both men looked at the girl as she stared between them innocently.

"Yeah. Point." Tachi started to walk out the stable, Zero following proudly. "This is the only male in the whole world who could ever put himself before that face." He said, petting the horse.

Yuuki crossed her arms and scowled at Kyoya.

"What?" He asked flatly.

"What did you say about me?" Girls had to know what had been said about them. It was in their genetics.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"Oh." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Would I ever tell your instructor how to get you to behave?"

Yuuki didn't uncross her arms. "Yes."

The man laughed lowly.

"It's not like I'm naughty..."

"Just misconstrued."

"Yes. Exactly. And you're the only one who ever understand that."

"Would you have it any other way?"

"No. But you just told Tachi."

"He won't get it." Kyoya lead her into the crisp darkness of early morning. "You'll still be the misconstrued type."

"If that's a compliment, thank you. If it's not, you're riding in another car." She saw his face and continued. "Your driver goes off duty at one. It's past one."

"You want me to come to the airport?"

"Duh."

"Yes." He corrected her.

"Yes." She replied mockingly and peeled his arm off her so that she could make sure the loading was going alright before telling a porter where her bags were. Kyoya reappeared at her side. He didn't say anything, just stood beside her and made mental notes about the confusion of her business.

Yuuki took his hand and pulled him to the car Zero's float had been attached to.

Jenny was sitting in the passenger seat; her horse was sharing the trailer with Yuuki's. "Hello, your friend coming with?"

"Just to the airport. Who's driving?"

"Hubby."

"How's the car getting back?"

"We have special parking at the airport because we travel so much."

"And the trailer?"

"We'll just use two spaces."

"I'll owe you money."

"Yes, yes you will." An older man climbed into the car. He winked at the girl and smiled at the stranger beside her. "Hello, I'm Jenny's husband, Victor."

"Good morning." Kyoya said politely. "Kyoya Ootori."

"Ootori, huh?" He glanced at his wife.

"Yes, sir."

"How did you manage to catch Yuuki then?" Victor said it as if he were her father and Kyoya was a potential threat to her wellbeing.

"Still trying to work it out, sir." He replied with a small smile that Yuuki missed because she was looking out the back window, doing one last visual and mental check.

The engine roared to life and the car took its place amounts a line of many driving through the gates of the Jockey Club. Yuuki fell asleep on the way to the airport, her head resting on Kyoya's collarbone. If she was going to sleep and miss a few of the last moments she would have with him for a few weeks, she was going to do it as close as possible to him. The Ootori cradled her against his chest and the couple in the front exchanged a look of experience. They knew how the other had been in public and in private and knew the value of the few moments where they were alone. Respecting the backseat, they maintained a light chatter between spouses; the sort of chatter Kyoya identified as following the same lines as that Yuuki and he had made that evening at the ball. The chatter of a lasting couple in public.

-

Yuuki had woken up again by the time they arrived and swiftly was caught up with a customs officer who needed to check her horse, her belongings and her passport before anything was loaded. For half an hour this was done. And then another vet check and then the horses were loaded into boxes and lifted into the plane.

Kyoya stood in the background, Shadow King Style, and surveyed all he saw with a sharp eye. Yuuki was standing on the tarmac, tying her hair up. She was wearing a white blouse tucked into a pair of cream jodhpurs so that if anything needed to be done involving her horse, or another horse, she was dressed appropriately. Every other rider, even the trainers, were dressed in similar attire. The girl had a shoulder bag containing her iPhone, laptop, book, water and gum for take-off and landing. She was playing with her necklace as a man in a suit with a clipboard went through her passport details.

Yuuki looked up and smiled at him. The darkness was slowly giving way to proper morning and he looked tired, content, but tired. Finally, the call was given for passengers to board and the group began to climb the stairs into the plane.

Yuuki opened her arms as Kyoya came to say goodbye and hugged him. The man wrapped his arms around her waist and held on, remembering the last time she had boarded a plane in the darkness. They didnt say anything. Saying goodbye was to familiar, to final. They wouldn't say goodbye.

He let her go gently, told her he would see her later in that familiarly calculating tone of his and let her join Tachi as he waited at the bottom of the stairs for her. Yuuki reached the fifth step from the top, turned to look at him and then ran back down them. Kyoya was aware of how light she was and didn't hesitate in catching her when she threw herself at him. The Ootori caught a glance of her instructor rolling his eyes as he told the hostess at the door to hold for a minute.

Yuuki kissed him deeply, memorizing the way he smelled and the texture of his hair before she had to be apart from him again.

Kyoya let her feet touch the ground. "Two weeks."

"Two weeks." She didn't let go.

They just stared at each other, making this memory erase the past one. Making it override it.

Tachi did a protective-father-thing and called for a torch from the hostess. He shone it on the couple in the early light of the morning. "Oi! Its two weeks, you'll survive!"

Yuuki turned her head to him.

Her instructor was smiling as he yelled. "Get yourself on this plane, right now!"

"All right, all right, I'm coming." Yuuki cried back before turning back to Kyoya.

He kissed her again, not desperately like she had him, but gently; a simple kiss that meant nothing like goodbye, just I'll miss you, I love you, I'll see you soon. "Get on the plane." He said firmly.

Yuuki obeyed as if he had told her to get in a cab and go to her dorm; as if she would see him in a few hours and this was not goodbye at all but just a short lapse of time apart. Even so, the minutes ticked by in lulls, slowly aching and lethargic. The opposite to the smooth, natural flow of life when near the other.

-

I wait for you.
I don't know why.
All I know is I can't hide.
At this temperature you could take over my mind.
Like gossamer, you softly touch.
He draws me in, I'm powerless.
He possesses an enchantment.

Tell me I'm forgiven.
He calls, don't know how I fell under his spell.
Lately I've been driven. He smiles, an enchantment.

I wait for you.
I'm mesmerized this love is like a potion in disguise.
I'd tightrope walk with a blindfold on my eyes.
I can't escape, or so it seems.
I'd run away, he's in my dreams.
He possesses an enchantment.

Tell me I'm forgiven.
He calls, don't know how i fell under his spell.
Lately I've been driven.
He smiles, an enchantment.

It's the kind of sleepwalk that never ends.
A type of loan with no dividends.
It's a parlour game where you're given chase.
Guess it could be called an acquired taste.
I know, he knows, he calls, I go, I know.
This could be an enchantment.

Why don't you tell me I'm forgiven?
He calls, don't you know how I fell under his spell.
I'm forgiven...lately I've been driven.
He smiles and I give in,
an enchantment.

(Enchantment, Corinne Bailey Rae)

-

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So, that was the longest chapter yet at 14 pages.

"Calamity Jane" is such a good movie...

Anyway. I thought I'd fill you in on the fact that this story is very much the first version of another one that's not fanfiction. I'd been writing it, and I got stuck and, really, I don't think I write well at all because no one around me writes; there is no mentor. So I decided to play around, see what the world thought of how I developed plots. So...when this finishes, I'll continue the 'real' version. Hence, why I really appreciate reviews. Most of the stuff in this story is in the other one; except the characters, setting and some of the plot line is different. This is my story in fanfiction form. If you really want to alter a part of the story for your own, could you please make me aware of the fact? I don't know if anyone's been doing that, I mean, what your writing could be very similar to what I'm writing, so similarities are basically doomed to happen. But...my writing is very much me in black and white in the shape of many, many characters. My writing is my seal, my...stamp as such. It's very personal and I almost stopped writing this from fear someone would take some of the quotes I cut from the original. So...that sounded very serious. Lol. I'm sorry, but I hope it made sense?

Liked it, loved it, hated it; whatever. Just, please, review it and keep the story going.

Blessings and thanks for reading.

-pp