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Chapter 26
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When Kyoya was angry, he liked to throw things. He got angry at Tamaki and threw a table. He got angry at a driver and threw his fist into a car. He got angry and threw a vase into a plasma. Yuuki got angry when he threw her psychology textbook at a wall and broke the spine.
The girl started at the thud. "What the hell?! Kyoya. If you say 'go to university' don't go breaking the things I need to do so!"
He stopped her from going to retrieve it. "You let Hikaru and Kaoru get into this house, with the complete intention of playing their new Rock'n'Roll game?! Or whatever the hell it was that they did to the house. My parents are coming over for dinner and the TV is in the pool!"
"I didn't know they would do that. Okay? They said they would bring a few friends around."
"A hundred is not a few! This isn't high school!"
"No." She pushed past him. "It isn't high school." Her book was out of place. Half the pages stuck out beyond the point they should have. "But you're a hypocrite, you know that?"
"Oh. No. I don't. Pray tell." He was seething.
Yuuki stared. "You got mad at me..." She pointed at herself. "...for something HIKARU and KAORU did. And then you do the same thing! Don't throw my things!"
"At least I was sober when I threw it! Unlike Deedle Dee and Deedle Dum."
"Oh! Oh! And that just makes it all better, doesn't it?"
Hikaru and Kaoru had decided that, once a couple had been married near a year, it was okay to host parties at their house. In the middle of the day. Yuuki was at university during the morning, Kyoya was at the hospital, or at the office or at a meeting somewhere. Marital bliss didn't exist, they knew that. Life existed and one had to learn to create bliss within that. Part of life was fighting. Something the girl was terribly afraid of. When the twins said they wanted to visit with a few friends, Yuuki hadn't thought for a moment what sort of trouble that could bring. They were her friends and she would welcome theirs. In the end, a few turned into a hundred and a hundred turned into a High School Rave in their living room. Hikaru and Kaoru had promptly disappeared and the maid had promptly almost had a heart attack. Kyoya had come home that afternoon to find his wife holding what she was supposed to be doing, her assignment, and staring at the pool where a TV now floated happily. Everything else had been cleaned, a few vases and paintings were missing, but it was enough for his parents to pick at.
Kyoya ran a hand over his face. "How could you even let them inside? You know what the twins do for fun. It's not exactly conventional."
Yuuki stared. She didn't know. "I don't know. I'm not perfect. I'm not like you. I can't do these....things! Its..." The girl threw her hands into the air and flung the door open before disappearing into another room.
"Yuuki. Don't walk away from me." The man stood with his jaw clenched. "Yuuki! Damn it!" He exhaled angrily and followed, knowing all too well that his wife's talent for disappearing when they fought was going to appear just as she ceased to. "Yuuki. Don't hide from me. You have to learn to fight sometime." He found her textbook on a side-table.
Silence.
"Yuuki!? My parents are going to be here in two hours. Come out."
Silence.
Kyoya leant on one leg and covered his face with his hand. Every time they'd had a fight bigger than bickering for a resolution, she disappeared. Over the course of the year, he'd found her in the stable, the pantry and the bathroom. All relating to fights about one thing. Conviction. Yuuki wanted to please people. She didn't like to upset or let down; which is perfectly natural. Except that her need to do so was heightened by the apparent failure to her father. Everything had to be perfect, done to faultlessness, and everyone had to be happy. The last time Yuuki had disappeared was when a salesperson had miraculously appeared on the doorstep. She'd let him in. Kyoya had arrived home a minute later and promptly let him out. When he went back inside to address the rip-offs provided by sales people, his wife was gone. They didn't even talked, she'd just...vanished. Thinking he was mad. She didn't understand that he was never mad at her. Hate the sin, not the sinner. Yuuki couldn't grasp the fact that someone could love her when they were mad at her. So she hid until they weren't mad anymore.
Of course they fought. No couple doesn't. But it didn't mean they didn't love. All it meant was that they loved enough to want to uphold what they'd started and not let a trivial act or mistake turn into something greater if not stopped and corrected. They fought for resolution, not because they liked it, but because sometimes it was necessary. However, one cannot fight when the other isn't present.
Kyoya walked into the kitchen. The cook had just arrived to start preparing for later that evening. "Have you seen Mrs Ootori?" Mr Ootori asked.
The man shook his head.
Half an hour later, Tachi came up from the stable. Zero had laminitis and he had been giving him his meds. Kyoya caught him as he was about to leave "Have you seen Yuuki?"
"No. I hear she got caught up in the twins trouble. At least this time the joke wasn't on her." The man smiled and climbed into his car.
The other man realised something. The Hitachiin's could hold a party at their own house, at a normal time; like night, at their own cost. Holding a party in the middle of the day was just too conspicuous. They'd wanted to get payback for the wedding revenge and had seen the night Kyoya's parents came over for dinner as the perfect ploy. The Ootori hissed and pulled his phone out and dialled their number.
"Hitachiin." One of the twins answered.
"Listen up, brats." The man seethed, walking determinedly back to his now, slightly unfurnished house. "If I have to deal with you running around my living room, screaming 'Kya! Kya!' another damned time, I swear to God you'll be sorry. And not just cost of a TAB sorry. Cost of your future sorry."
"Hey, Kyoya!" Came the cheery reply. "How's Yuuki?"
"Get the hell out of the country before I come and kick you out myself." His house was disheveled, his wife was missing and upset, he was furious, his plans had been thrown awry.
"Oh. Calm down Ootori. It's just a bit of payback."
"A Monet is missing." Came the flat yet scathing reply. It was the one his mother looked at every time she came around. Of course it was missing.
"You can get another print."
"IT WASN'T A PRINT! Or a copy. Damn it twin, the French Ambassador gave it to us as a wedding present."
Silence. "Really?" That cost a lot more than a wedding TAB.
"And the TV? Giving it a bath was not smart either. Also, the cost of the vase in the foyer was more extortionate than the funds coming into your little tutu business. Or, would have been if I wasn't about to call every rich, fashionable woman and her dog on the planet and told them not to spend anything in your business. Or with you. Or near you. Or with anything related to." He would too.
"Did you and Yuuki have a fight?" He wouldn't have exploded if it had just been a mischievous act.
"What the hell do you think?" He hadn't known it was all an elaborate prank. He'd made a mistake somewhere along the way and blamed her for the Hitachiin uprising.
"Big fight?"
"Can you see Yuuki having a big fight?"
"No."
"What can you see her doing?" He said mockingly, pacing around the house, looking in various rooms.
"Disappearing." The answer was almost gleeful.
"Exactly."Kyoya stopped. "Tonight, if I don't find her before my parents arrive…people are going to be finding you in pieces. Savvy?"
"She'll come out."
"She hates my parents. Almost as much as they hate her." They were just waiting for her to slip up so that they could say I-told-you-so. They would take this as one of those events and take her hiding as an inability to handle their now, very tense, life. Her university, his overtaking his father.
"Where have you looked?" The twins didn't want to have to pay reparations and were trying to slide out of that.
Kyoya clenched his jaw. Everywhere. "Listen. Brats. You stay the hell away from Yuuki and myself unless you're coming to apologize. With a check including the cost of everything you destroyed, with interest." Click.
He had looked everywhere. He looked everywhere again. As the Ootori passed through the hall, he paused. There was one place he would never have thought to look. The linen closet.
Yuuki was crouched in the bottom corner, next to the vacuum cleaner, her arms wrapped around her knees and her face buried in the middle.
Kyoya sighed with relief when he found her. "There you are."
She looked up. "I didn't know." Her tone was cautious.
"I know. The twins wanted to get payback for the wedding."
"Tamaki and Haruhi's?"
"We're not the only ones who believe revenge is a dish best served cold." Her husband knelt down in front of her. "If I hurt you, it's not what I wanted." He'd exploded in the search for resolve, without thinking about shrapnel.
"So it's not my fault?"
"No. It's not your fault." He hung his head and breathed. "It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"I yelled back." She smiled and sniffed. "I'm getting better at this."
Kyoya pulled her out of the closet. "You're also getting very good at hiding. You have to learn how to fight me."
"But you're so much taller than I am." She stood guiltily in the hall.
"You have to learn, Yuuki. I have to learn. I didn't see that coming. Those brats…"
"Neither did I." Her voice was quiet.
Kyoya looked at his watch. The same one she'd given him their first Christmas. He was still pissed. Heavily. "Go…get changed. My parents will be here in half an hour."
"Oh. Good." Yuuki pulled a piece of lint out of her hair. "Grab your torch and pitchforks."
"We'll be talking about that later too. Stop hating them."
"You hate them."
Silence. "Just…go shower."
"Ask me nicely, then I will." She was getting better. He would have to get better too.
"Please? Yuuki. It's been a long day." He sighed heavily.
"Okay." His wife squeezed his hand on passing. She understood stress. She tried understand his stress. Kyoya and his father were not on the greatest of terms as far as daddy and son go. They were business partners. Yuuki had felt a longing for family and realized that he probably had it too. He had her brother, he had his sister. But she was now juggling two kids and a husband who spent most of his days in meetings and missing anniversaries. Kyoya and Yuuki wouldn't get like that. Even if it meant giving something else up. Nothing was worth losing their marriage over. Of course it would hurt at times. Of course they would suffer. Neither wanted their partner to miss out on anything, but neither wanted to miss out on anything of their partner. That's probably what marital bliss is. Finding the balance between the two. A honeymoon is that. It's a balance between partners. After the honeymoon, when the real world impacts on your reality, then it's harder to maintain. Especially when human error was brought into the picture.
Kyoya sat on the sink while Yuuki showered. The frosted glass case filled with steam as she tried to relax. It was easy to tell if she'd had a long day, she always came out of the shower red. "You'll burn yourself." Her husband said flatly.
"It's not that hot."
"Uhuh."
Sounds of water drilling against skin. "Kyoya?"
"Mmm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Just catching one's breath."
"In the bathroom?" Her voice was echoed in the cubicle.
"You were in the linen closet."
"Oh. Haha." Not very amused.
"Are you alright?"
"I guess."
"What would make you happy?"
"Not fighting."
"Yuuki, everyone fights." Contrast to other couples arguments, theirs weren't so bad.
"I don't want to fight with you." It was easier to talk about things that brought her guard up when she was on the other side of a piece of glass. It helped. A little. The rest of the help was that he'd come.
"I don't want to fight with you either. But we can't live in a happy little world all the time, we're not on honeymoon anymore. Things go wrong, that's what makes it real."
"So. If we just didn't fight, it would…be…unreal?"
"No. It would be one side of a picture."
"And if we did fight…"
"Then we would be able to discuss things that we close up about. And then eventually not fight about them."
She laughed softly. "Can't storm the castle without an army." It did make sense.
Kyoya smiled. "No. You can't." Pause. "Because we fight, everything is more beautiful."
"It makes it last." Because they wanted to fight to reach it again.
"Exactly." Getting married is easy. Marriage is harder. Sometimes you just had to stuck it in and accept the fact and just get stronger with the other.
The shower kept going, filling their silence. Thought was a key to trouble. It caused it and fixed it. They were mortal. Human. Every moment might have been their last. Which is why every moment they sought to help the other, not hurt them. That was the point. Everything was more beautiful because everything was flawed. Everything made mistakes. Only God got things right the first time. They would never be younger than they were now. They would never be in that moment again, but it would be in them. A guide. It could have been a scar, but they understood enough to make it not so. Love is the greatest enemy and the best friend. It has power beyond any man holds.
"Kyoya?" Yuuki said.
"Mm?"
"Want me to leave the water running?"
The Ootori took his glasses off and put them on the counter. "Only if you turn the hot down a bit."
The water tone changed slightly as it was altered. The door opened slightly. "Towel, please." A pale hand stuck out.
None was given. Kyoya's parents had something else to pick at. The lateness of the hosts. They were hiding together. Rebuilding their world so that it was stronger than the one that had crumbled under a mistake. It was a process of build and rebuild. Until they finally got it right. They might have been right, but nothing else could be expected to be the same.
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Run baby, run. Don't ever look back
They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance
Don't sell your heart
Don't say we're not meant to be
Run baby, run, forever we'll be
You and me
Check yes Juliet
I'll be waiting, wishing, wanting
Yours for the taking
Just sneak out, and don't tell a soul goodbye
Check yes Juliet
Here's the countdown; 3, 2, 1, now fall in my arms now
They can change the locks,
Don't let them change your mind
(Check Yes Juliet, We are the kings)
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"So." Kyoya's mother sat across from Yuuki. "How is your family?"
"My brother is well. His daughter turns one in a few months."
"Ah. Yes. Have you heard from your father recently?"
"No." The woman was obviously trying to make her uncomfortable.
"Yuuki doesn't have a father." Kyoya broke his discussion with his father to give his mother a look that suggested she stop the topic now.
"Oh. So you've technically lost both parents?"
Yuuki put her cutlery down. "Yes."
"Ah." The woman smiled. Her face had begun to crinkle. Like tissue paper. "See, it is my belief, Yuuki, that losing one parent may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both…looks like carelessness."
The girl stared. "Yes. I would think that it is also a belief of yours that in matters of upmost importance, style, not sincerity is the most vital thing." She replied with polite wit.
The woman smiled. "Of course."
Yuuki glared at Kyoya. He smiled at her, he knew how offended his parents had been by their lateness; he was already a winner before the hidden insults began. "So. I hope we didn't keep you waiting too long?"
His wife's stare changed. She was amused. Kyoya's father didn't seem to notice this. "It was long enough."
Yuuki ate some asparagus. Mrs Ootori watched her, scrutinizing her every move. No woman, especially one bred middle class, would be good enough for the son chosen as heir. "You've heard about the Suoh pregnancy?"
"Yes." They were the first to hear. Tamaki had launched himself through the front door in the middle of the night and danced around about becoming a dad.
"Almost two years into the marriage and their expecting. Isn't it wonderful? The Suoh heir will have an heir."
"If it's a boy." Yuuki pointed out.
"Well. They've started early enough that they can have a boy, even if the coming child is not one."
Suddenly, the girl felt very uncomfortable.
Kyoya's mother continued. "Will you be producing a child any time soon?"
Yuuki chocked on a glass of water. Kyoya tried not to laugh and pushed his glasses up instead. "No, mother. We are not going to be spawning life any time soon."
"Oh. You will have children though?" His father said.
"Yuuki and I are not fond of children."
"To be fond of a child…" Mrs Ootori took over again. "…is irrelevant. To create an heir, is."
"We just got married." Yuuki pointed out.
"Yes. But we need a child in the wedlock, not out of it."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Oh. Don't worry dear. We all know you married for money, our money, not love."
Kyoya coughed. "Excuse me? You're being exceptionally rude."
"What?"
"I'm going to ask you to leave, very soon."
"Why, dear?"
"If you insult my wife, one more time, I will be tempted to become careless with you both."
"You mean to say you would divorce us?" His father said, flatly.
Kyoya put his glass down. "I will if you continue to be disrespectful. I think we all know who has the true power of the Ootori group, father."
Oh. Snap. Yuuki stared at her husband. The woman across from her stared, long and hard. "Well. I think we all know who married right."
The girl sighed. "Alright. Alright. I know I'm not the prime choice for your son. But I was for him. Yes we fight. Yes we have friends who would prefer to watch TV in the pool and borrow various items of furniture, yes it's a little odd. But it works." She drummed the table with her fingers. "I know you think I'm not good enough, but I am. I'm a hell of a lot better than you ever gave me credit for and I most certainty did not marry your son for money or anything like it. I had my own, thank you very much. He and I fight, but that doesn't call for lawyers and a divorce court. It just means we disagree on something and raised our voices a little before finding a resolution. There is nothing said to purposely hurt the other. If you jump for joy every time your son and I have a fight, you'll soon need a hip replacement. But don't go holding your breath for a separation. You'll pass out long, long, long before…oh wait. Nothings going to happen that you hope will."
Mrs Ootori, senior, sat in her chair, aghast. Mr Ootori, senior, stared at the girl. "You're lines are dishonorable, you cannot expect my wife to accept them straight away."
Yuuki got really mad. "You're lines are less than perfect too. Or seem to be the way you treat me in this house."
"And the way you treat us in this house? You kept your husband from his guests and kept them waiting in the foyer." Pause. "What were you doing, seducing him to offend us? Or to just offend him with your ill breeding?"
Kyoya stood. "Alright. Pleasant evening. Thank you. Get out."
His father stood and realized for the first time that his sons mannerisms dominated his own. "I would teach your wife to hold her tongue."
"And I would teach you to hold yours." He pushed his glasses up and nodded a curt goodbye. "Mother."
"Goodbye, Kyoya." The woman collected her things and stood. She gave Yuuki a once over and headed through the house for the door. "Ooh. Dear. What happened to your Monet?"
Her son ignored the question and led the couple to the door. He slammed it after their driver had pulled away and returned to the table. Yuuki had her chin in her hand. "You parental's are all kinds of awesome. Such winning charm." Her tone was heavily sarcastic.
"And yours was so much greater." He collapsed into the now vacated opposite chair.
"What do they have against me? I know I'm not the best thing that ever crossed their lives, or the richest, smartest, whatever. But it's not a cause to ruin anything with you."
"Yes. Well. Blood lines in the upper class are very important. Hence, the not so overwhelming joy of Haruhi and Tamaki's baby. They like the idea, but only because the Suoh family will have a child less than what they expect the rest of the family to have. And with regards to my relationship with them, it's no more than business. Just another million dollar baby. As such. After the first son, the others are just backups in case of say…car accidents. Or their just products of a drunken, loveless night."
"That's just…"
"Low? Of the upper classes who can afford that sort of thing and count it leisure?" Pause. "Well. They are my parents. As soon as I get the business, we don't have to know them anymore."
"A relationship of convenience." Yuuki put a hand over his across the table. "Does that suck for you? Honestly?"
He smiled at her choice of words. "It's alright. We compensate."
"Host Club."
"Exactly."
"I've never had so many brothers before."
"Do I sense a tone of triviality?"
"No. Just realizing the importance of being earnest."
Low laugh. "Why?"
"It gets rid of your mother faster."
Proper laugh.
-
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you
(Good, Wicked)
-
Yuuki put her hands on Haruhi's five month pregnant belly. Most women saw a bump at around four months, Haruhi's had only come in properly at five.
"Little baby." Her friend said, talking to the swollen stomach. "Hello in there little baby."
Haruhi smiled. "Feeling maternal yet?" They were on the Ootori patio.
"No." Yuuki laughed. "But I can talk to your baby." She spoke to the belly again. "Are you excited to see me? I'm not too excited to see you. Because you scream. Like Suki's bundle of joy. But you'll be nice when you grow up. I'll like you when your parents get sick of you."
It was Haruhi's turn to laugh. "I don't think I would get sick of it."
"Morning sickness?"
"Well. Yes. But that's hormones, not the baby."
"Your job?"
"I worked as a lawyer before I got pregnant. I can do it again when the kid goes to school. My mother could do it. So can I."
"Ah!" Tamaki appeared and kissed his wife. "Hello." Pause. "Hi Yuuki."
"Ew. You're all sweaty." Haruhi pulled away from him.
Tamaki and Kyoya played basketball every Wednesday. "I don't sweat."
"No." The Ootori stepped into the room and rolled his eyes. "He glows."
The blonde beamed and put his hands on his wife's tummy. Yuuki had gone to avoid saying hello to Kyoya. She'd already had a shower. "So. Is it a boy, or a girl?"
"I don't know." Came the reply. "What do you want?"
Tamaki thought a moment. "I have no idea."
Yuuki put a hand out at Kyoya to stop him from greeting her. "No. Don't. I swear…" He hugged her. "…ew."
"I have to put up with you when you come in from riding."
"That's a nice, horsey smell. This isn't…a nice…boy smell…"
"I have to put up with it every day."
"Yeah. Well."
"Say a proper hello."
"No."
"Yuuki." He was a little amused.
She looked at him and then at the other couple. Haruhi had given up with her Tamaki-ball-of-sweat. Yuuki stared back at Kyoya. "Hello." She said cheerily, cutting corners.
"You know what I meant."
"You're all…yucky."
"So?"
She pulled a face. "Yucky." Pause. "Go shower."
"You're being rude."
The girl stared blankly and then kissed him lightly. "Happy? Yeah. Didn't think so. Shower."
Kyoya laughed. She went riding every morning when he was asleep, had a shower and crawled back into bed. It was very hygienic of her and dozed for another half hour. Yuuki was a secret clean freak. Very secret.
There was a soft knock at the door and Mrs Ootori decided to escape the steaming mess of young man to go answer it. Mako smiled at her. "Hello little sister."
Yuuki hugged her brother. "Hello. Why are you here?"
"Kira and I are in a bit of a spot. We planned to go to the ballet tonight, but our babysitter just bailed…"
"No." They were on good relations, but not that good. "No. No. Refuse."
"Come on. Please? It's just for a few hours, she'll go to sleep." Hanna, the newest Cunxin development, was one and a half and had just found her feet. "She's an angel." One who knew how to run.
"With you." Yuuki looked over her brother's shoulder. His wife waved from the car window and got her child to do the same. "You came prepared."
"We're going to be late."
The girl sighed. "She better sleep."
"Thank you!" Mako kissed her head and went to collect his child.
Half an hour later, Yuuki was sitting in the lounge watching her best friend look after her niece. She still didn't want kids of her own, but she could see why one would want to. They were a perfect whole of two beings. An explanation of love with a heartbeat. Hunny and Mori were also in the room, the twins were not. They had decided to be away for the gathering. Especially since it was to install a new TV.
"So…Haru-chan is expecting a baby. When will Yuu-chan expect one?"
Yuuki smiled at him. "On a blue moon."
"The moon is never blue."
"Okay…um…" Rephrase that. "Not yet."
"You will though?"
Yuuki looked at Kyoya. "Maybe."
Her husband turned the new TV on. Mori stood up straight from where he had been tinkering behind it. "It works." His baritone voice reverberated through the room.
Hunny climbed onto the couch and was joined by his cousin. "Good job Takashi!" The little blonde beamed.
Kyoya glanced at Yuuki. A baby. She caught his eye. Maybe.
Hanna giggled and grabbed Tamaki's nose. He was sitting beside his wife. "Oh!" The Suoh exclaimed. "Nose?" He touched her nose. Haruhi held the child upright on her knees.
The Ootori couple looked at each other again. After their argument from earlier, it was obvious that the stress of university and work only really left time for each other. Yuuki rode when he was asleep. He kept fit with his friend so that the wife could keep his company. They were always trying to maintain balance. Kyoya lived for planning and equilibrium. A baby, at the moment, would throw that balance out. But it would be everything they were when they were apart. It would be him and her in one form. A definition of the inexplicable.
Maybe.
Not yet.
Maybe.
Yuuki tapped his foot with hers. He was sitting in the chair beside hers. "Not yet."
Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "What do we say for the meantime? My parents are asking."
The girl thought of something that would work as an answer and annoy the senior Ootori's immensely. "Tell them…we're just practicing."
Her husband smiled. Everyone except his parents would think that meant looking after other people's children. His parents would think…something scandalous.
-
Late that night, when Yuuki and Kyoya were lying in bed, the topic was brought up and addressed correctly.
"Do you want kids?" The girl asked, looking at him. "Ever?"
"One day." He stared at the ceiling. "Maybe."
"Maybe doesn't work. You think about a lot of things, surely spawn was one of them?"
He laughed. "Spawn? Did you play Halo when the sons of doom were here?"
"Halo 3."
"Oh. Well done." Pause. "Well, now it's a watery mess."
"Okay. Sidetracked." Yuuki waved her arm to illustrate how their conversation had so quickly veered.
"Kids…hm."
"Not now, obviously. But will you regret not having any?"
"I don't know. I'll have to think about it."
"You think about everything. Be spontaneous for once."
"What good has spontaneity ever brought the world?"
Yuuki kissed him. "That was spontaneous."
"I can see why people like it." Pause. "But a spontaneous life form is probably not something you want to have."
"No. Probably not." She draped her arms across his chest. "But I was thinking. You know all those things people say about us being two halves of the same whole, but at the same time two whole beings?"
"Mm?" Kyoya stroked the back of her head and down the length of her hair.
"Well, a child is probably the best way to explain that. Its half you, half me…in one form. Like…the indescribable we never could describe. The part of us that we couldn't ever…define. I mean, there's you. There's me. And then there's you and me."
"Do you want kids?"
"No." Pause. "I don't know."
"Well, we're not having if you don't know."
"You don't know either."
Pause. "It wouldn't be a terrible idea for the future. An idea. Right now, no."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay as in, I agree. Not as in, aw…and I so wanted children. We have like…thirty years before I go through menopause."
"I think it's less than thirty. And you want children before you turn thirty five otherwise the chance of disease is higher."
Yuuki sighed. "Again, that's a long time away."
"Hm."
There was a long silence. "Hey. Could you help me with my assignment?"
"Which one?"
"The one on the impact of the media on adolescents according to Kornblum."
"I have to work."
"I never see you anymore."
"It's mutual."
"Don't go to work tomorrow. My professor is sick and the stand-in is just re-doing what he already said. We can spend the whole day at home."
"That possible…when you're on honeymoon. Not now. I miss you, but I have to go to work."
"I don't feel very missed."
"You know for a fact that I miss you. Just because we're married doesn't mean anything changes. You just notice the timetable more because we live together."
"Maybe."
"Go to university. We can go away for the weekend."
"Where?"
"The beach or the mountains."
Pause. "Let's just…stay here." Yuuki put her head down in the middle of his chest.
"Less weather problems. Less travel time."
"Exactly."
"More time."
"Mm." The girl shifted slightly. "I've missed you."
"Me too."
Half a minute later, they were both asleep. They were exhausted of life. It threw things at them continuously. One busy day after the other after the other after the other. There seemed to be so little time anymore and the path two out of every three couples take was obvious. Divorce seemed so high when people didn't have time to remember why they got married in the first place. Yuuki couldn't forget. She'd tried to forget once and had ended up in a big city all on her own without friends or family. Kyoya had tried to forget and had ended up desperate for the first and only time in his life. It was impossible to forget a bond like that. But it was possible to lose sight of it for a moment.
That's why, the next morning, when Yuuki came back from her ride, she pulled on one of his shirts instead of one of her own before crawling back under the covers. She was going to take the day off. Sometimes, people just need a day of to refocus. Taking that time made things clearer, helped you find them again. Just slowed life down to a walk again.
Kyoya got up and let her sleep. He knew his wife could get ready in five minutes if she had to. He'd wake her up for breakfast. The man sat on the side of the bed to button his shirt up and soon felt the warmth of another pressed against his back.
"Good ride?"
"Mm. He was naughty this morning."
"How so?"
"He bucked. Not over his laminitis yet, which is really unfortunate. I should stay off."
"You'll come off."
"Like that's never happened."
Silence. "Kyoya?"
"Yes?"
"Stay home today."
"Why? You'll be at university."
"No. I decided that I was sick this morning."
"How primary school of you."
"Thank you."
Pause. "I can't."
Yuuki sat beside him and then moved so that she had one leg on either side of him and was sitting on his knees. She did his tie up for him. "Pity. I liked it when we spent the whole day together."
"We have the weekend."
"We have a party on the weekend. A function. Thing." Her expression was puzzled for a moment as she tried to work out exactly what the event was. "Remember, that thing?"
"The benefit?" Kyoya put his hands on her waist and went to lift her off his knee's so that they could have breakfast.
"Yes. That one." Yuuki caught his hand. "I know you have to work. But I also know we need to work to make this work. I didn't marry you so that I never saw you."
"I know. But pinning me won't work."
"Why are you so adamant on leaving?"
"I'm not. It's just what I planned."
"You need spontaneity."
"Spontaneity didn't get me where I am."
"But your there now, one day won't matter."
Kyoya sighed. "Do you really miss me that much?"
"Just as much as you miss me. Only, my life is a little less exciting." She kissed the corner of his jaw sweetly.
Her touches, her kisses; they were so simple. So gentle. So poignant. Everything she did spoke softly but spoke with a deep, controlled passion.
Kyoya called in sick and spent the day in bed.
-
We both acknowledge what we came here for
We take each other and walk through the open door
From the first time that I saw you
To the way you look tonight
I was shaken by your spirit
I was blinded by your light(Wedding Day, Bee Gees)
And the world that I used to see is gone without a trace
Replaced by your eyes and the smile upon your face
And I will not turn away
'Cause you might disappear
I was haunted by your heart
And I felt that you were here
And funny when the time is right
When lightning strikes
You're not alone
Baby, I will pray for you my whole life through
You know I will remember well the mission bell
That rings your name
And baby there could never be
A memory like you
We'll be together
Husband and wife
Now and forever
Lovers for life
Well, take me to Heaven
This is my pledge to you
I will follow through to the end
-
"YUUKI! Where's my laptop?" Kyoya called from the study. His wife had used it last, she'd hacked the password and he'd found her in the kitchen with it, trying to write an essay on cognitive development. Her laptop had run out of battery and gone to sleep.
"Marvin's in there. I put him back." She stuck her head through the door.
"Where in here?" He hated it when he lost things. Important things. He'd never done it before he met Yuuki.
"On the desk." She called, leaving down the hall.
The desk was meticulous. Inbox, outbox, clipboard, files, phone. Absent space. "No, it's not. Yuuki I swear, if you've lost that computer…"
His wife reappeared in the doorway. She walked into the room, sighed, picked up a pile of letters from the inbox, pulled Marvin out, gave it to her husband, headed back out. "Where do you think I put it?"
"On the actual desk. That would be conventional." Kyoya stared at the inbox. It made sense. Sort of.
"Well. That's not fun is it? That's what everyone else would have done." She smiled. "You said, 'deliver it back to the study' when I was done. So…I put it with the other deliveries on your desk"
"Huh." The Ootori pushed his glasses up. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Kyoya sat down and started his computer. The wallpaper had changed from the business like dark grey and navy blue pattern. It was now a picture of a day the host club had spent out. Tamaki was still obsessed with commoner life, thus, when the fair had come to town, everyone had to go. The image showed Mori holding Hunny's bright red balloon, Hunny holding aloft a new Bunny that he'd won at a ball toss, Tamaki cautiously testing a processed hot-dog and Haruhi telling him it wasn't a good idea. Yuuki was in the foreground with a stick of bright pink candy floss; Kyoya was standing behind her, hand in pocket, taking in the people. Business was obviously the only thing on his mind that moment. In the background, a giant white Ferris Wheel turned against a cloudless sky. It had been a perfect day, and he had been thinking about what sort of age group one could target at an event like a fair while all his friends made the day of it.
Kyoya drummed his fingers on the table and thought a moment. It was within his nature to be Shadow King. But suddenly, his wife's argument the day before about him being away and them not seeing each other as much made a little more sense from her perspective. When they married, they said nothing would change. Their relationship was still a part of everyday life, a really good part, but everyday life seemed to slowly becoming part of their relationship. And that wasn't how it was supposed to be.
The Ootori pushed his glasses up and opened his work. He'd have to use the wedding gift they'd been given. The one Yuuki had said would hold the flowers he spontaneously bought because he loved her. He had to keep letting her know, or life would let her forget. She was too special to allow to become a pretty little wall flower. She was more than a rich man's ornament. Kyoya wanted her to remember that too.
"Yuuki?"
"Hold on a second." Came the reply. A moment later she appeared in her riding gear, pulling on a jacket.
"Do you have a moment?"
The woman put her helmet and gloves on the desk. "Yeah. Sure. What's up?"
Kyoya realized that she was doing exactly what he was, but in her way. Sacrificing a little time to let them know something. "Want to see what I'm doing at work?"
Yuuki rounded the table and sat on his lap happily. "Yes." Even if his work bored her, it was good to be with him and at least be slightly interested.
"You're not riding?" Mr Ootori wrapped his arm around his wife's waist.
"I was just going to do some dressage. I haven't done it properly with Zero's laminitis."
"You don't want to go do that?"
"There's light for a few more hours, Zero's still unwell. I can't do too much work with him for another week. I want to be with you if you want to be with me."
"Of course I do." Pause. "Okay. So, this is the order sheet for the hospital, and this is the income verses expenses…"
Just letting nothing change. Marriage doesn't mean anything has to change, they didn't want it to. Being close, just being. It didn't matter what the situation was. It just mattered that they were together in the situation.
-
Yuuki walked through the stable and let herself into Zero's stall.
"Hey pretty boy. Hey. Feeling better?"
The horse flicked his ears forward and said a hello. He was standing normally, but his feet were tender when he walked.
"Aw. Darling. Still a bit sore in the feet? Sorry."
It had happened when she rode him at a local event. Something in the sand of the ring had aggravated the frog under his hoof and prompted a mild bout of laminitis. It had happened to three other horses.
Zero pressed his nose into her pocket and began to snuffle about.
"Hey. No." Yuuki pulled his face out. "You're on a strict diet. I didn't bring anything for you today."
The horse snorted.
"What?"
He sniffed her shoulder in an interested manner and snorted again. "That's really gross. And disrespectful." The girl ran her hand down his face. "I know you hate peppermint. But gee, I can't even smell it. You're like…superhorse." She laughed softly.
Zero buried his face in her chest and Yuuki wrapped her arms around the back, he could play. He wasn't sick in the head, just in the feet. "Mm. Bet you can't get away." She cooed. "No. You can't get away." The horse shook his neck and rammed his head backwards. He got away. "Yay. Good boy."
Yuuki ran a hand down his neck, down his shoulder and to his foot. She lifted it up and had a look. "That looks sore." The girl straightened and let him put his foot back down. "I probably shouldn't ride you. But I want to."
Zero stared at her. He didn't understand human. At all. Neither did humans sometimes. Doing something because you want to and doing something because its right are two different things. If she rode, it would hurt him and prolong the illness. If she didn't, he would get better quicker.
"Okay, boy. Not today." Yuuki tickled his nose. "Not today Zero."
The woman knew when to set a boundary. She knew that doing so would lead to something greater than what would occur if you overstepped it. Life has no limits without love, and love has no limits with life.
-
It was a fine, clear, summers night when Shang Cunxin called his daughter. Kyoya was in the study, writing a report on the Japanese medical system and the expenses it was unnecessarily bringing society. Yuuki was sitting on window seat, reading about Freud.
"Hello?"
"Can I please speak to Yuuki?"
"This is she."
"You answer your own phone?"
"Um. Yes? May I ask who's speaking?"
"It's your father."
There was a long silence. Kyoya looked up. Yuuki had a very puzzled expression on her face. "Um." She looked at the phone, knit her eyebrows together, put it back, opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again.
"I hear you got married?"
"Um. Yes. Sorry. I have to go." She went to hang up and found that she couldn't.
"Yuuki?" Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "Who is it?"
The girl looked at him. Bewildered. "It's my father."
Her husband eyes went hard and he extended his hand for the phone. It was more a demand than a request. Yuuki handed it over.
"Hello?" Kyoya put his serious work tone on. Hard, cold and flat. "This is he, may I ask why you're calling? Yes, sir. That was almost a year ago. I'm sorry. I don't see how that's relevant. No. No, I refuse. Meaning all disrespect, I don't see how you cannot see why. No. No, we have expressly asked Mako not to give you our address. I know it's not in the phone book with our name. Yes." There was a long pause. Kyoya looked at Yuuki. She was watching him with a wondering expression on her face. "Alright." He handed the phone back. "Mr Cunxin would like to speak with you."
The girl mouthed the words What? No. At him, but soon she found herself on the phone again. Kyoya leant back and kept an eye on his wife.
"Hello?" She said hesitantly.
"Very stagnant young man."
"Only to those he thinks are a threat."
"Thinks."
"And knows."
Silence. "So, how you been?"
"I'm sorry. I don't think you have a right to know." Kyoya reached over silently and put speakerphone on. He wanted to know.
"How's the kid?"
"What kid?" Yuuki glanced at her husband for a second, silently thanking him for doing that.
"You married him because you were pregnant, there is no other explanation."
Kyoya's expression went hard. Yuuki hissed. "You sour old man. You never change, do you?"
"Hey. It was no attack. Wouldn't be a surprise if you didn't buck the trend."
"What…trend?"
"Well. Mako got married for the illegitimate reason. I got married for it."
Kyoya watched Yuuki's face turn to shock and gloom. "…What?"
"What? You didn't know?"
"No…I…"
"Wow. I never told you?"
The girl thought. Her whole life they'd never really been on speaking terms. Now she understood why. She was the glue that stuck the marriage together. "You…never loved her?"
"Oh. Not in the way she loved me. Of course not."
"So you did?"
"Love, lust. Whatever."
If he Shang Cunxin had been in the room, Yuuki would have hit him. "Oh my gosh." Pause. "Why did you call me?" Her tone was a little desperate.
"Just wanted to…you know…not have you sue me. Play happy families. It looks good if you take me to court, that I called and we had a chat about your wedding."
Yuuki covered her hand with her mouth and hung up. Kyoya took the phone from its resting place and set it on the end of the window seat before shifting her forward a bit and letting her lean against him. "He was like that his whole life." She realized. "He didn't become like that when…oh my gosh."
"Shh." Kyoya held her head against his chest. "You didn't know."
"I don't know a lot of things it seems."
"You don't know what people don't tell you. What there is nothing to pick up on. No one knows." He hadn't known.
"So…a whole six years of my life, was a lie?" Pause. "I was a mistake. I wasn't supposed to happen."
"How can you be a mistake?"
"He married her because she was pregnant. He hated me because I was the legitimate child. The one that made their marriage…real."
"You were not a mistake to your mother. You're not a mistake to me."
"But I was to him." Her riding suddenly made sense. It was the only profit she'd brought into his life. "How can there be people like him? How can…I'm part of him. What we said about children, I'm part of him."
"No. You're not part of him. At all. What we said about children was that they were an expression of something we had."
"My mother never had that. She died without that."
"She's a part of you Yuuki, even if your father isn't." Kyoya shifted so that his leg was against the window, between her and the glass. He leant against the wall and pulled her into him. Work didn't matter if she needed him. She would have done the same.
"How am I supposed to react to that sort of revelation?"
There was a long silence. "I'm taking him to court, Yuuki. He's going to keep coming back."
"He thinks he's still part of my life."
"He isn't. I know that hurts you. But it would have hurt more if he was."
"You should do psychology. Not me. I have no idea."
"You have no idea for you. I have no idea for me. You understand people, even if you don't understand yourself."
The girl shifted. "That's just…unfair." Her tone was lighter. "Murphy's law sucks."
Kyoya smiled. "Yes. Yes it really does."
Murphy' Law stated that anything that can go wrong, will. It didn't say in every situation, but it left life open for flexibility. It let one know that things can go wrong, and will. It helped one prepare for that. It let couples know they would fight. It let daughters know that their fathers could be, and would be, jerks. It let house owner's know that TV's and pools don't mix. It let life know that there were bumps in the way; pack some airbags.
"Mm." Yuuki looked up at her husband. "What do you want for our anniversary?" Pause. "One year! Yay." She made a little celebratory noise. Something like a circus tune, but epically failed.
Kyoya laughed. She had learnt to heal quickly. "I want…I'm not going to say you…"
"No. Of course not. That would be cliché." The girl replied in a humored manner.
"I want more time."
"Mm. Me too."
"It's the one thing I can't give you." And that hurt him.
"You can't give the same gift twice anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"You said eternity." Yuuki smiled at him. "That's all the time there is."
Kyoya kissed the top of her head. "Then you can't give it to me either."
"But I am. Every day." Every hour. Every minute. Every second. Even when they were apart.
"You and Gandhi would have got a long really well."
"Yes. You and him too. You both like salt."
"That was a terrible joke."
"Sorry."
"No. I laughed."
"Yes. Somewhere deep down."
"Very deep down."
Yuuki scowled at him. "Oh. Go back to work."
"Soon. I will."
"Okay."
"I should have been more specific about what I wanted. I want time with you. Not just time. Being with you is different to being together."
"Ah. A two for one deal."
"Yes."
"Okay. I can do that." The phone rang. Caller ID said it was a business number. "It's for you."
Kyoya took the phone and hung up. "No calling after seven."
"New rule?"
"Yes."
"Can I make one?"
"Sure."
"No laptops after nine."
Kyoya went to object. Yuuki stopped him. "No. You want time. You're going to have to make it too."
He smiled. "Alright."
"Really?"
Mr Ootori sighed. "Yes, Mrs Ootori. Really."
Yuuki smiled softly and closed her eyes. He smelled like sandalwood and peppermint. Still Kyoya. Always Kyoya.
-
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.
(Mahatma Gandhi)
-
------
Married life…
If you didn't get the Gandhi salt joke…go study the Salt March and the Satyagraha campaign. (March 12, 1930. It was the first act of organized opposition to British rule after Purna Swaraj, the declaration of independence by the Indian National Congress.) If you think about it, and know about what it meant, it makes sense with the story.
Expect a plot bunny next chapter. I just wanted to establish the actual married life as opposed to the honeymoon. Like when they used to sit and study in Kyoya's room; establishing normality once again.
Sorry this is late. Been busy with Easter Weekend. Hope you enjoyed it though. ^-^ Let me know what you thought.
Blessings,
-pp