Advent '09 [25/25]
Advent 09
December 25th - Christmas Day
Kyoko watched as Sho walked back through the crowd in the ballroom, losing him for a moment before she spied him as he slipped out the front door into the lobby.
She was trembling, needing to move but unable to do so. Sho's speech had her frozen, her mind repeating what he said over and over again.
Did he really think that?
Or, more importantly, did she really act that way towards him even before Ren had said anything.
She thought back and was horrified to realise that she had. Though, really, it wasn't her entire fault. There had been a pretty good reason as to why she had been suspicious of Sho. Nevertheless, her reactions to him had been disproportional.
She tried to remember just what her reasoning's were, but she couldn't remember. Either it was too far back or she just didn't have any. She hoped that it was the length of time that was affecting her memories.
She shook herself out of her thoughts and was startled to find that she had been thinking to herself for far longer than she had realised.
Panic gripped her. Had Sho said that he would leave immediately?
She couldn't remember.
If so then she needed to find him quick. She wanted...no, needed...to explain. If he wouldn't listen to her then she would just have to make him listen. It was only now that she was starting to realise just what she was in the process of throwing away and she wanted to salvage as much of the relationship she had with Sho as possible.
Dodging through the crowd of people she wound her way across the room. Getting to the lobby she looked around, trying to figure out just where Sho would go. Her eyes passed over the front doors hurriedly before she blinked and looked back. Sho was there, standing just outside and huddling from the cold in his suit jacket.
Kyoko quickly strode towards him but as she neared where he was standing she drew to a stop, hesitating as she looked at his back.
If she went out there now would he just run from her?
She didn't think that she could bare it if he did. It would just be one more kick in the teeth from this whole debacle.
She glanced behind her, back to the ballroom where she could hear laughter and see people having a good time, warm and happy. She sighed and stood tall, straightening her spine and tilting her chin up.
No. She would not run back there. She was going to do this even if it hurt her. She wouldn't live with herself if she thought herself a coward.
Even so, she needed to do this fast.
Taking a deep breath for courage she pushed the door open quickly and called out immediately. "Sho!"
Sho startled and spun around, almost slipping. His eyes were wide until he realised just who had called out his name. Once he had he sighed and turned back to face the empty night.
"I thought I said goodbye."
Kyoko stomped around until she was standing in front of him, refusing to let him just not look at her. "Well I didn't say goodbye."
Sho shrugged, "Go ahead then."
Kyoko made a noise of frustration. "Ok," she said, "That was a bit misleading. What I meant to say was I'm not going to say goodbye."
"What?" Sho asked in confusion, "You can't just deci-"
"Na!" Kyoko said in annoyance, effectively shutting up any protests he was in the middle of making. "You've already had your impassioned speech. It's my turn now."
"This isn't a film." He said dryly.
Kyoko glared which only seemed to alarm him. At least he's quiet, she thought.
"Sho." She started, suddenly a lot more nervous now that she was actually forcing him to listen to what she had to say. It was only now that she was realising that their entire relationship was hanging on this conversation. "You were my best friend growing up. I saw you as family, as...I don't know...someone more. I was in love with you, but being close to you brought me nothing but jealousy and pain.
"Even so I stayed by you, not because you made me feel smug that I was closer to you than the other girls but because I liked you.
"You broke my heart, Sho." Kyoko was satisfied to see that Sho looked uncomfortable, shifting in position. "You broke my heart. And don't say that you didn't know I was in love with you because you damn well did."
Sho licked his lips, "I...didn't mean for you to hear it."
Kyoko nodded at his admission, it was the truth. Besides, she couldn't really become angry at him all over again for it because she had already forgiven him in her heart.
"Still." She continued, "I didn't trust you anymore. Didn't trust anyone anymore, really. So can you blame me for being suspicious about your motives when you suddenly started to act nicely towards me?
"You never explained, and true, I probably wouldn't have believed you at that time either, but it still looked really, really bad from my point of view."
"I'm sorry." Sho apologised but Kyoko brushed it off, shaking her head.
"No, I'm not saying this to you to get you to apologise. I'm just trying to explain. I..." She sighed heavily and wrapped her arms around herself.
"When we were trapped you said some things, you explained that you had made a mistake - that you regretted being so stupid - and you asked for my forgiveness.
"I gave it to you."
Sho frowned in incomprehension, "Yes. And I'm really grateful that you did but..."
"Sho." Kyoko cut him off. "I made a mistake. Will you please forgive me?"
Sho stared at her in shock, disbelief clear upon his face. Kyoko nervously waited for his answer. She couldn't help but be amused by the role-reversal.
"Yes. Of course."
His answer was said softly but Kyoko still heard it. All at once it felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she smiled brightly at him. "Thank you."
He shifted uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck. Kyoko was happy though, there had been a small part of her that thought that Sho would still act like he had all those months ago and use her vulnerability against her. But he didn't and the thought warmed her.
She shivered violently.
Sho looked at her in surprise which quickly turned into a little annoyance. "Here." He said, shimmying out of his jacket and dropping it around her shoulders. "I can't believe that you came out here in only that! We were just in the hospital last week!"
"Excuse me." Kyoko said, her teeth chattering in cold. "I just followed you outside."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Sho said defensively.
Kyoko rolled her eyes and snuggled deeper into his jacket, delighting in the borrowed warmth. "Hey," she said after a moment of silence. "Where are the reporters? Shouldn't they be here?"
"The hotel guests have been complaining about not being able to leave the hotel so the police moved them away from the front doors. They're about half a mile down the road."
"Oh," Kyoko said, "That makes sense. Why didn't they just do that before?"
"Apparently something spooked them two days ago, so when the police insisted that they move away they only put up a token resistance."
"Two days?" Kyoko asked, "I must have missed whatever it was. That was the day that Kanae and I went shopping."
Sho shrugged then blinked and looked at her again. "Oh," he said, "I just realised. Today's your birthday."
Kyoko looked startled at the news, she had completely forgotten. "Yeah, I guess it is."
"I don't really have anything for you." Sho said, sounding regretful. He thought about it for a moment and just when Kyoko was about to protest that he didn't need to get her anything his face lit up.
"I know." He said brightly, then leaned forward and kissed her.
Kyoko could only stand there, Sho's lips burning against her own. It was chaste and quick. It didn't linger like she had heard so many other girls describe their kisses as and his lips weren't smooth - they were chapped from the cold air.
But he was warm and solid and there and she could still feel the heat when he pulled away.
She smiled.
-/-
When Yashiro finally caught up with Lory it was just as he was heading off to his room, Maria asleep in his arms.
Yashiro didn't really want to hold Lory up any longer but he couldn't wait to talk to him until the next time he saw him. Yashiro needed to let the President know that he had made a mistake as soon as possible because if he put it off then there was an increasing chance that his position would be filled.
"President Takarada!" He said, trying to catch his attention without shouting and waking the sleeping girl.
It worked and Lory turned to look enquiringly at Yashiro.
"I...just. Um..." Yashiro tried to say, suddenly at a loss about how one went to beg for his job back.
"Yes, Yashiro-san?" Lory asked politely.
Yashiro shrugged to himself; maybe it would be better just to get it over quickly with. "I made a mistake." He rushed out, "I've changed my mind, I still want to be Ren's manager."
"Oh?" Lory asked, raising an eyebrow, "But I thought you said that Ren didn't trust you anymore and that was why you couldn't do the job."
"We...er..." Yashiro stammered, feeling a blush creep up his neck, "We made up."
"That's wonderful news!" Lory exclaimed delightedly.
Yashiro stared at him, "So," he asked after a moment, "does that mean -?"
"Yes, yes." Lory answered him. "Of course you can have your job back. Truth be told I wasn't really prepared to let the situation between Ren and you lie. I'd been brainstorming ideas as to how to get you two back together."
Yashiro shivered. Ok, now he was glad he had looked out Lory before the President could start to implement whatever crazy scheme that he had cooked up.
"Thank you." Yashiro said, bowing.
"No need to thank me." Lory said with a smile. "But you must excuse me. I've got to put Maria to bed."
"Of course." Yashiro nodded. "I will see you tomorrow Takarada-san."
Lory nodded and walked over to the lifts. Yashiro watched him leave feeling happier than he had since the beginning of the holiday. Everything seemed to be looking up.
-/-
Sho and Kyoko had quickly abandoned standing outside in the cold, especially when they realised that it had started to snow again.
Sho was holding Kyoko by the hand as he led her back into the ballroom, keeping her hand warm.
For some reason her face also felt warm as well.
The noise inside seemed even louder after they had spent time alone and Kyoko could hardly hear herself think. That was why she didn't think to ask just where Sho was leading her until he stopped.
"What?" She asked, then caught sight of Ren and blanked her face, trying to pull away from Sho.
He wouldn't let go however, his grip tightening but not so much that it was painful. "Kyoko." He said, and for some reason Kyoko could hear him fine despite the loudness of the room. "I think you should forgive him."
Kyoko stared at him. "Why?" she asked.
Sho shifted but didn't let go of her hand. "You forgave me."
"And?"
"And I did something much worse than he did!" Sho said frustrated. "He did what he did because he cares for you. I don't agree on how he went about it but I really can't say anything about that because I'd turn into a hypocrite."
"But I forgave you because you asked for it." Kyoko denied stubbornly.
"And he didn't?" Sho asked.
"Well..." Kyoko looked away.
"Kyoko," Sho said, brushing his fingers against her jaw and turning her head so that she had to look at him again. "The man had good intensions. And he really is sorry - even I can see that. You don't have to completely trust him again straight away, hell, I don't expect you to trust me right now, but forgiveness isn't the same as trust.
"Besides," he added, smiling, "It's Christmas! Peace and Goodwill and all that rot."
Kyoko snorted in amusement which quickly died out when she turned her gaze to look at Ren again. He really did seem sorry about what he had done.
She sighed and unlinked her fingers from Sho's, trying to ignore the jittery feeling in her stomach she got when he smiled at her.
Silently she made her way over to where Ren was standing.
"Ren-san." She said, and ignored the way that he jumped as she startled him. He opened his mouth to say something to her but she cut him off. "I don't think that I can trust you fully again, so soon at least. But I can kind of...sort of understand your motives behind why you did what you did."
Ren looked at her in confusion as she held out her hand. "I think we should start over.
"Hi. I'm Kyoko Mogami."
The corner of Ren's lips twitched as he reached forward and shook her hand. "Ren Tsuruga. It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we become friends."
"I hope so too."
The End. (And for those of you that were wondering, Kanae spent the whole night dancing :P)
Hope you've had an awesome advent and a Merry Christmas. If you're not Christian then I hope you've enjoyed whatever religious festival that you celebrate, if you aren't religious I hope you've had an enjoyable holiday and if you haven't had a holiday then I hope a chapter a day has a least brightened up the month for you.