The completeing chapter. It felt good to write a Yuki/Soujiroh fluff. Made my inner fangirl content, in any case. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you guys are fabulous, and thanks to everyone reading!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hana Yori Dango. Though part of me wishes I did.

Yuki absently rearranged a display that she had perfected the previous day. She tried to concentrate on what she was doing, but she couldn't help frequent glances over at the seats in the corner. At the seat where Soujiroh had… She refused to let her mind replay the scene again. The remainder of that day, the entire night, and most of the current morning had been spent mulling, questioning, and hoping over his drunken escapades. She sighed heavily, finally giving up with her pointless fiddling, and walking back around the other side of the counter, seating herself on one of the stools.

It had been the most he had ever shown her in terms of physical affection and attention. She wished that such a bold an act as their first kiss had been somewhere romantic and special, but… she shook the thoughts out of her head. First kiss, and very possibly last kiss. For all she knew, he kissed anyone when he was under the influence.

"Ah, Yuki, do you mind if I go now? It looks like there's not going to be many customers today, and you know what that stupid head gets like if I'm late for anything with him."

"No, no, that's fine." She smiling up at her friend as she left, sighing in relief. Luckily, the usually perceptive Tsukushi hadn't picked up that anything was amiss, but Yuki doubted it would have been too long before she would have. It was lucky she had to go for a date with Domyouji. Tsukushi sussing something being wrong with her friend would have lead to questions, which would have more than likely forced Yuki into revealing what had happened between herself and Soujiroh the day before. The result of that probably would have been Tsukushi serving a jail sentence, after the untimely murder of the frivolous playboy.

Yuki glanced around the shop, looking for something else to do. There had been no new orders in that day, nothing needed straightening up, and there were no customers to serve. It was pouring outside, deterring anyone from going out if they could possibly help it, and therefore totalling the number of customers the shop had had that morning to a dismal zero. She couldn't blame them, though. Yuki herself, when she had woken up that morning, had also had a wish that she could simply stay at home that day, but it wasn't just the weather that fuelled that desire. She had been on edge since the moment she had woken up that morning, sincerely praying that Soujiroh wouldn't take it upon himself to pay a morning-after-the-night-before visit to the dango shop, but at the same time desperately hoping that he would. Still, maybe it wouldn't matter if he showed up or not. The state he had been in the day before, she had her doubts that he would be able to remember their encounter, and what he had… initiated.

"Yo."

Her head shot up at this unexpected voice, and she felt her heart plummet, and adrenaline seemed to dart through her veins. It was the fight-or-flight response. She could run into the back room, hide from him until he simply went away, and then be too shamefaced to ever see him again, or she could stay exactly where she was, as rooted as a statue, and fight it out… Although she hoped no actual physical violence would ensue.

"Oh, um, good morning, Nishikado-san." She said, inclining her head in his directions, threatening herself not to lose her nerve.

"Yuki-chan." He said, "It seems like an age since I was last here." He looked around, as if things might have changed in the few hours since he had last graced the shop with his presence.
"You were here just yesterday." She said quickly, fear beating at her that her suspicion had been correct – he didn't remember anything.

"No, I know that, but it just feels like a long time. I didn't get much sleep last night, I suppose that's why. I always have rough nights after I've drunk a lot, but I guess it's better than having really bad hangovers the next morning."

"Oh, right." She said. A silence fell between them. He wasn't going to tell her why he was here, leaving her with the duty of asking.

"Did you want to buy some dango?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No, not really. I mean, I will if that's what it takes to buy some time with you, but I'll admit I don't like the stuff much."
"Buy some time with me?" She felt her hackles raise at this. She was only too familiar with the way that the entire F4 went about their business. If they wanted something to happen, or to not happen, they threw money at it, and always got their way because of it. Yet she didn't much appreciate being treated like a commodity, or one of the women that she was only too aware Soujiroh spent the percentage of his time soliciting with.

He smiled easily.

"Are you going to refuse to see me, even after what happened last night?" Her heart seemed to pick up speed. He remembered. "I was looking forward to seeing you this morning, but if you're not interested, I guess I'll just have to take 'no' for an answer."

She knew he was joking. He didn't look like he was going anywhere, his eyes were glinting, and she had known him long enough to be sure he never took 'no' for an answer. Still, she couldn't stop herself saying rather hastily:

"No. I mean, no, it's fine, I don't mind seeing you."

He grinned. She was sure he knew that she found it almost impossible to deny him anything. She hated herself for being so weak sometimes. Maybe that was why she admired Tsukushi so much. She would never give in to Domyouji so easily.

"But I don't finish work for a while."

"You're not busy. There haven't been any customers all morning."

"But I still can't just aban… How do you know there haven't been any customers?"

"I've been waiting outside since you opened." His face looked genuine, but she couldn't help searching it for any sign that he was only joking. Had he really been only a couple of hundred metres away all morning, as she had been tossing and turning her thoughts about him over and over in her mind?

"Why did you only just come in now, then?" She asked. It was still bucketing down rain outside, as it had been all morning. He'd waited outside in the wet for hours, with nothing but his leathers and motorcycle helmet to protect him from the elements?

"I couldn't come in until Makino had gone. I heard from Domyouji that he was going out with her this morning, but he wouldn't tell me the time, so I thought the best course of action was just to sit out the entire morning and wait until she'd gone."

"W-why did Tsukushi have to be gone?" She asked. Her heart was beating at a ridiculous pace against her chest.

"I've got things to say to you that I really didn't want her listening in on. Not just because they're things that should be said in private, but also because I value having my head and neck connected to one another."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say. It was rather like she'd always absently daydreamed about. Soujiroh, strolling cocksure into the dango shop, clad in his leathers, and confessing a secret love for her. Only it was real. He was really here, and he wanted to tell her things that were for her ears only.

"So," He leaned against the counter that she stood behind, still in her statue stance. "About last night…" He was joking in his tone, using a well-worn phrase, but she couldn't help but wonder how many times it had dropped from his lips before, only with a sincere tone, to any of his legion of women fans.

"It probably shouldn't have happened." He said, "I mean, I know what kisses tend to mean to girls, and I was wrong to make our first be while I was out of my mind."

"I-it doesn't matter. I mean, it does, but if there was nothing behind it… it wasn't like a real kiss. I mean, kisses should mean something, shouldn't they, and if it was just because you were drunk…" This had been her stream of reasoning that she had gone over and over in her own mind, an ineffective attempt to stop her hopes being built too high.

"But if it did mean something, then does it count as our first kiss?" He asked.

"Well, y-yes, I suppose."

"Hmm." He paused, faking thoughtfulness, "I don't know I like your logic much. I really hoped you'd say that because I wasn't really aware of what I was doing, you'd write it off as a practice, and let me have another go on a clean slate."

The air seemed to catch in her throat. She almost asked him to repeat what he had just said, not sure she had interpreted his words correctly. Was he actually asking her to forget his drunken fumblings so that he could kiss her whilst completely sober, and therefore doing something which couldn't just be erased as a mindless mistake?

"I… don't know." She stepped back from him, as if this would help her be able to catch her breath again. "It's… I… can't." She choked out. Her heart was yelling at her. She had adored Soujiroh for over a year, desperately trying to get close to him, but being brushed aside at each attempt. Yet here he was, giving her the chance that she would have killed for months before, but for some reason, rational minded Yuki was taking the steering wheel.

"You… can't?" He asked. This seemed to upset, not offend him. "Are you angry about what I did? I regret it, I honestly do. I mean, I've been drunk with too many women before, where I don't even have any idea of their names by the next morning, and it's because of that that I know you deserve so much better, so I really wish Akira hadn't brought me here yesterday, so I couldn't have been let loose on you like that, but…"

"I'm not angry… It's just," She said, crossing her arms over her chest in what was meant to be an intimidating posture. "I don't want anything to do with you… if I'm just going to be another girl to you, like all those others. I'm sorry, but I can't just be one of a sea of faces who'll be at your beck and call."

He smiled at this declaration, and she felt distinctly like turning on her heel and going into the back room, where he couldn't follow her.
"You think I'd do that? Is that what you imagine my agenda is?" He leaned further across the counter, reaching out an arm and grasping the sleeve of her yukata lightly, tugging her closer towards him.

"Yuki-chan, what if I sincerely say that I have never gotten up at five thirty in the morning, so as to wait outside a dinky sweet shop in the drenching rain, just so that I might be able to see a girl who I was only too aware could be disgusted by the very sight of me, before? I didn't extend myself the trouble of getting up early even for Sara. Do you really think I did all that so you could become another conquest?"

He took her hand, pulling her so that she had no choice but to mirror his image of leaning on top of the counter. He didn't release her from his hold.

"I'm tired, Yuki-chan, I'm sick and freaking tired of waking up next to girls I don't even remember meeting. I'm sick of their simpering and flattering. None of them speak their minds, because none of them have them." His voice truly did sound resentful, as if it was something that was forced upon him, rather than a lifestyle choice that he had made himself. "I want something different, and for that, I need a certain someone to believe I'm sincere."

At that, she wanted nothing more than to give him her entire heart. Soujiroh was a lot of things, but he was too eminent and rich to need to be a liar. Still, she had to keep up her already almost powerless resistance, if only to justify to her own mind that she wouldn't be making a mistake in getting irrevocably involved with the notorious playboy.

"What changed?" She asked, "What made you start thinking that… being with me wouldn't be so awful?"

"Two things, really. The first one, most recent, was kind of the snapping point. Yesterday, I got into a fight with some men over a few girls I didn't even realise were attached. One of the men, who stormed off before the actual fight started, he was the fiancé of one of the girls. By the way he left, I don't think he'll agree to seeing her again… She was only swayed momentarily by me, simply because I used a few meaninglessly complimentary and romantic words on her. But in doing that, I've broken up a potential marriage. They might have been soul mates, but because of me, they might not ever speak again." He sighed, looking into Yuki's eyes as if for permission to continue, and finding affirmation that he hadn't scared her off of him too much, he did. "I can't do that kind of thing anymore, Yuki-chan. Nobody's truly heartless, not even me."

"It might… work out for them." Yuki said, "Despite what you did. If they're meant to be, they'll find a way past it." She smiled at the point, and he couldn't help but hold her hand that much tighter. She was a ridiculously hopeless romantic.

"Maybe." He said without any conviction. They stayed in silence for a few minutes. Yuki wondered if Soujiroh could hear her heart beating. It felt loud enough in her own ears.

"What about the other reason?" She asked, breaking from away from his reverie. "You said there were two reasons?"

"Oh," He gazed at her for a moment, "The second one is simpler, more straightforward, and a great deal less sordid, too."

She nodded, waiting. Before she knew what was happening, he moved towards her, closing the short distance between them. His lips touched hers for a moment, then pulled away. He waited for her to move, searching for a sign permission from her. Instead of waiting for him to come back to her, she touched her lips against his, tasting true, untainted Soujiroh properly for the first time.

He pulled away long before she was ready for him to do so. She had been dreaming of such a moment for so long, it was almost anti-climax for it to be so short.

"The second reason is easy," He said, with admirably steady breath, "I fell in love with a girl in a dinky dango shop." He sealed the sentiment with a butterfly kiss on her lips, as he leant his forehead to rest on hers.