Advent '09 [24/25]
Advent 09
December 24th - Christmas Eve
Yashiro groaned as he shifted in his bed, his muscles protesting every movement.
If he'd have known that he would be in such pain today he would never have agreed to take the girls shopping yesterday. He had pulled the muscles in his back and arms.
He had pulled muscles he didn't even know he had.
The room was still dark, even though it was mid-morning. Thank God for heavy curtains and a late sunrise. He slowly rolled over, trying to find the perfect position.
Ah, there it was. Smiling happily to himself he started to sink back into sleep when a knock on the door disturbed him.
Groaning he debated whether or not to answer. After a short mental debate with himself he decided that getting up right now would be detrimental to his health. He snuggled deeper into his pillow.
The knock came again, this time a voice called out to him from the hallway as well. "Yashiro? Are you up?"
Ren.
Damn it! He couldn't ignore him.
Sighing, Yashiro levered himself out of the bed, wincing as the muscles twinged in pain. "I'm coming!" he called out as he slowly shuffled across the room. "Yes, Ren?" he asked politely through the crack in the door.
Ren looked him over worriedly, "Er...you don't look so good."
Yashiro waved off his concern, "Nothing that some painkillers and rest won't fix. Now what was it you wanted?"
"I was just wondering if you talked to Kyoko yet?"
Yashiro sighed and resisted the temptation to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I did try to talk to her, yes."
"And?"
Ren sounded hopeful and Yashiro really didn't want to be the one to destroy that. Instead he chose his words very carefully. "I think that you should talk to her yourself. It will mean more if it comes directly from you. You could pull her away tonight and ask her then."
"Tonight?" Ren asked looking confused.
"At the ball?"
The confusion didn't leave Ren's face.
"Oh, for! Did nobody see the sign in the lobby?"
"Er..."
"Never mind." Yashiro cut him off. "There's a Christmas Ball tonight and the girls are going. Just talk to Kyoko there as I'm sure that she won't want to make a huge scene."
Ren nodded, thinking over the plan. "That makes sense."
"I know it does. I thought of it." Yashiro mumbled under his breath.
"Did you say something?"
Yashiro sighed. "No, no I didn't. Was there anything else you needed?"
Ren shrugged, "Well, I just found out about this Christmas Ball. How long has that sign been up anyway?"
"Don't really know. You'd have to ask someone who works here."
"Yeah. Anyway, just wondering if you'd like to come and buy a suit for it today?"
"NO!" Yashiro shouted. At Ren's wide eyed look he blushed a deep shade of red. "I mean, I'm still a little tired and was planning to relax for a while longer. I already have a perfectly good suit."
"O...kay then." Ren said slowly. "I'll see you tonight?"
Yashiro nodded and waved the younger man off. Phew! Dodged a bullet there! He shuffled back over to his bed and flopped down, shuffling back under the covers.
This was a holiday and it was drawing to a close. He'd damn well spend it how he liked.
He grinned to himself as he fell back asleep.
-/-
The ball was in full swing by the time Kyoko and Kanae made it downstairs.
Both girls took a few moments to look out over the packed ballroom, taking in the chatting throng of people and the live music playing in the background.
The room had been decorated in sparkling white lights and silver tinsel, obviously going for the icy wonderland theme.
Having taken in all this Kyoko then turned her sights on trying to find anyone else from their group at the party. A few moments later and she was dragging Kanae across the dance floor to meet up with Lory and Maria.
"Kyoko!" Maria called out, wrapping her arms around the older girl in a hug.
"Maria! Happy Birthday." Kyoko said with a smile, Kanae wishing the younger girl the same well wishes.
"Here." Kyoko said, handing over a small package. "This is from Kanae and I."
Both girls watched fondly as the birthday girl ripped open the paper wrapping and gasped in delight.
"The necklace is from me." Kanae said, "And the bracelet is from Kyoko. They both have your birthstones in, see?"
Maria clutched the present close to her chest. "Thank you so much!" She said happily.
Lory chuckled beside her. "Why don't you put them on?" He asked.
"Yeah!"
Kyoko knelt down and helped Maria with the clasps when it looked like she was having difficulty. "There," she said, "it's done. They suit you. You look pretty."
Maria smiled. "Thank you."
Lory smiled at the tow older girls as well as he picked up his granddaughter and seated her against his hip. "Why don't you two go and enjoy yourselves?" he asked, "Maria and I won't be staying down here for much longer as it's soon going to be past her bedtime."
"Okay then, sir. Have a good night!" Kyoko and Kanae said as they waved goodbye to their employer.
"So what now?" Kanae asked.
"Want to go get something to drink?"
Kanae shrugged. "Sounds good to me."
-/-
It wasn't until very late in the evening that Kyoko ran into Ren. She still didn't really want to talk to him but her initial anger of what he had done had calmed down, somewhat.
What did annoy her was that he accosted her just as she had spotted Sho standing by himself on the veranda.
"Kyoko-chan." Ren said, so quietly that she struggled to hear him over the music.
"Yes?" She asked shortly.
"I...need to apologise to you. What I did was wrong and I've obviously hurt you.
"I never meant to hurt you. That wasn't my intentions at all, I just wanted to spend more time with..." he trailed off, "I mean...that is...I felt jealous, and I may have acted unreasonably because of it."
"Ren." Kyoko said, sneaking a glance to see if Sho had disappeared again. "You really hurt me, not only because of what you did to me and Sho.
"I know that you couldn't have known about the snowstorm so I can't blame you for that. But the fact is that you purposefully took us out on that run. I..." she hesitated, "Then you lied to me?
"Tried to manipulate me against Sho and Sho against me?"
Ren ducked his head. "I know. I don't deserve to be forgiven for that..."
Kyoko sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Look, I'm still trying to decide just what I should feel about all of this.
"I just know that I don't really want to talk about this now. Could you excuse me?"
Ren stepped aside as she walked past without a backwards glance.
Was this it?
-/-
Sho was still on the veranda when Kyoko joined him.
He had been thinking about everything that had been happening this past month and was feeling tired about it all. He didn't look at Kyoko when she stepped up beside him and neither of them said anything - choosing to just look out at the view.
After a few minutes of silence Kyoko seemed to become increasingly nervous. She opened her mouth to speak but Sho cute her off before a word could leave her lips.
"You know," he started, "I couldn't really figure it out. I was just trying to be nice to you - but no matter what I did it always seemed to get thrown back into my face, whether by circumstance or because you decided that I deserved it or something.
"I was really trying hard, and I don't even remember why anymore.
"I'm pretty sure that I'm supposed to remember that.
"And when we were trapped...you forgave me. I know I probably didn't deserve it after what I said about you and made you do, but still...you forgave me.
"And then you practically threw that back in my face." He turned to look at Kyoko, his face blank. "I'm tired Kyoko. Tired of being blamed for stuff that I didn't do because you wither think that I deserve it. I just...if you weren't going to forgive me in the first place then why would you say so?"
Kyoko pressed her lips together, unable to come up with a response.
Sho sighed tiredly. "I thought so. Look. I'm going to go...somewhere. Maybe get Shoko to book us into a different hotel for the rest of our stay here or something before I start on my tour." He turned and started to walk off, raising his hand in farewell. "Goodbye Kyoko."