NO, THAT'S WRONG! ~~Naegami~~

Chapter 18: It's All Clear Now

   "Is that any way to talk to your superior? I didn't know we were on a first name basis. Perhaps I should teach you some manners." The blonde said, vaguely seductive. The short brunette blushed immediately, looking down at the floor. Byakuya knew that that was a risky thing to say, but seeing the look on Makoto's face was worth a thousand humiliations. Besides, harmless flirting from time to time couldn't hurt. Could it?

   "Byakuya, I told you to stop that. I don't want you to waste your time." Ah, so maybe it could hurt. What did he mean by 'waste your time'? He asked the small boy as much, and his reply was... confusing.

   "Didn't I already tell you? You yourself told me this was impossible, and that I wasn't good enough for you, that someone like me could never be with a Togami. So why are you still making it so difficult?" Byakuya was shocked. Is that what Makoto thought? Is that how Byakuya came across to other people? He knew he was often cruel to people, but he didn't mean it when talking to Makoto.

   "Makoto... I- I never meant it that way. By someone like you, I was making no judgement on you, your abilities, or your status. It was simply about the fact that you're... a boy." He said quietly, looking at Makoto with his blue eyes.

   "Wh-What?" Makoto's eyes were wide.

   "When I said Togami men couple worth extraordinary women the world over, I was making no generalisation. The idea that one of us isn't straight.... isn't even considered or acknowledged. It's made my life difficult, to say the absolute least. Makoto, I never thought you weren't good enough for me. If anything, I'm not good enough for you. You being so much light wherever you go, and I seem to specialise in quenching that light. Every time you smile, you make the room so much brighter, warmer. Makoto... you give me hope." He smiled at the brunette, who looked back at him, mouth agape.

   "What? What are you... what are you saying? Stop... stop lying to me!" Makoto yelled. "I don't need you to protect my feelings! Don't coddle me!"

   "I'm so sorry, Makoto, for making you feel like I don't care. Because I tried to pretend that I didn't for so long. I tried to believe I didn't, but I do. I'm not going to pretend anymore, I'm not going to make any more excuses. It's all clear now. I want you, Makoto. And I'm not trying to protect your feelings. This is how I feel. You have my word, and a Togami never breaks his word. And, to prove it..." As he said this, Byakuya leaned forward, and pressed his lips against Makoto's.

~~~

Byakuya's father opened the door to his study, ushering the soon-to-be Ultimate in. The child had never been allowed in here, and struggled to take it all in. It wasn't just the dark mahogany desk and bookshelves, stuffed to bursting with thick, leather-bound volumes that hadn't seen the light of day in centuries. Nor was it the soft, red carpet that Byakuya felt was about to swallow him into its velvet maw. It wasn't even the thick smoke that curled from his father's cigar that lay clenched in his strong jaw, and twisted its way up his nose and made him want to gag from the fumes. It was the atmosphere. It almost crushed him, the weight of it. The expectations. This was a room in which the most important decisions in the world had been made, a room in which some of the most influential people to ever exist had sat in those leather chairs, over glasses of whiskey and stacks of money, and decided the fate of the world. A room that could only belong to someone strong. The person his father was. The person Byakuya would have to become.

   "Right, Byakuya, we need to talk." His father said, with a particularly stern expression on his face. Not that he often smiled, the grin would look alien on his face, but Byakuya has always thought his father had a soft spot for him. Evidently not.