Sorry if this one's short, and after such a long time. Work keeps me busy - also, there is very little left of this story, one or two chapters.

Chapter Seventeen – Onyx

Oh damn.

He had said it. What now?

Rain began pouring harder, but Satoshi didn't even notice, as a thousand scenarios played down in his mind.

"Me too, Satoshi!"

And she fell into his arms…

Then…

"I'm sorry, Satoshi, you're just a friend to me…"

Then…

"Get lost, you idiot!"

But none of them was what actually happened.

Kaname's grip on his arm tightened. Then, she slowly, very slowly began to smile. In the end, a radiant happiness shone on her face.

"Then kiss me…"

Uh? What? Did she… did she actually say… oh dear. This can't be true…

Then Kaname threw her arms around his neck, and he resisted no more.

"I think you need to practice kissing a bit more…" she laughed when their lips parted, her hair sticking to her face all wet.

To Satoshi, it was as if they had gone back in time and were standing in the fountain again, only now it had a wonderful outcome, an amazing one. He clumsily caressed her cheek as they kissed again, not minding the cold rain.

"Oh… whoa" Kaname pulled away and only kept a hand on his arm when the first lightning struck.

The hematite night.

"Ah… uhm… you'll catch a cold!" she mumbled "and me too… ehm… I'd better go… bye!"

Satoshi, his eyes shining, ran to the limousine on the wet cobblestones, stepping into puddles soaking himself even more, but he couldn't care less.

He had just been kissing the girl he loved; there was no other thought on his mind, but her and only her. How lovely she was.

Kaname, on the other hand, wasn't so happy. Yes, she was the one who actually told Satoshi to kiss her. Yes, she liked him, oh yes, a lot… and yes, she felt happy and complete in his arms, kissing him in the rain, loved the way he held her.

But, once again, this was not right. Her mind still failed to let go of all the romance novels, but mostly the memories. She almost did it with Hunny, had lots of embarrassing situations with Mori, hated Satoshi all along, then poof, she kisses him? What the heck was going on with her?

"Watch your step, Satoshi" said Mori (once again), as Satoshi almost knocked him over and he dropped the book he was carrying.

Strangely, his brother seemed to pay no attention at all as he ran along the corridor to his room.

Mori scratched his head, looking after him. Something must have happened; fast as he was, he didn't even have time to see whether Satoshi's expression was happy or sad.

"Hm" he brushed the sleeve of his shirt, slightly wet. He also saw his brother had left quite a trail of soggy footprints.

As for Kaname's expression, it was most certainly edgy.

"I am so stupid!" she just stared at her charoite sphere. Once again she tried some dubious magic involving her minerals, but nothing helped, not even the onyx, said to ease confusion.

"Kanameee!" she heard the last voice she wanted to hear.

She definitely needed solitude, and with that fool of Aki Kamimae hanging around, she quickly realized it was not possible.

"What is it?" she asked, not really happy to see her best friend walk gracefully in.

"My, Kaname, you're all wet."

"Just home, haven't yet changed clothes."

"Oh, yes, whatever… just thought I'd drop by…"

Why now?

"Any other reason?"

"What is wrong with you, you're usually so happy to see me… oh, and there's this Host Club thing I thought up, maybe another ball and…"

Suddenly Aki's cellphone rang.

"Oh my, sorry! Hello?"

Kaname resisted the urge to bang her head against her desk as Aki began squealing like an immature fangirl.

"Ooooh, Kyoyaaa! But why, most certainly, of course I have time! Bye Kaname!"

The door slammed.

Kaname looked up, tired. She wondered if Aki had even noticed they didn't exchange two words during the whole time. Also, all this "business" with Kyoya she kept on mentioning and doing, was really getting on her nerves. She was fairly sure it was only business, too: Aki and Kyoya were in love, if anything, with each other's credit card.

She once again began fiddling with the onyx. It was black…

"That's it!" she held it tight until her fingers whitened "she must have cast a spell on me!"

Oh wait, that's not it…

Kaname lay back. If Reiko had cast any stupid spell, it must have worked. But Reiko's spells usually failed. Then, the onyx was another powerful negative spell-deflecting stone…
It was not Reiko, but herself, who told Satoshi to kiss her – which she actually enjoyed, though he definitely needed more practice, clumsy as he was.

"But why would I want to teach him?"

When trying to get a hold of her feelings, all she could feel was a huge, catastrophic mess; utter confusion.

Reiko blew the candle off, but could still see the onyx lying on her table beside her spellbook. She smiled to herself as she picked her bag up.