Chapter 38!

Slamming the suite door a tad too loudly, I ditched my heels, tore off the offending red wig and huddled under the sheets, willing my heart to cease its incessant beating. The whole day had been utterly surreal – Otousan calling me and essentially telling me that he knew I had a not-so-secret secret identity, Yuuichi rising from the depths of the dead right here in California, being completely denied my dinner because of his unearthly tear-jerking voice – I could go on and on but that would induce more heartache which I didn't really want to deal with. Taking a deep breath, I attempted to compartmentalise the whole day, and was almost done with taping my cardboard box of feelings away when an urgent rapping sounded at my door. When the offending person at the other end refused to go away even after I did my best impression of an ostrich sticking its head under the soft pillows for a full five minutes, I sighed and made my way to the door, betting my bottom dollar that it probably was Yuuichi, who was probably going to tell me to stop hiding from him.

I opened the door, revealing a red-faced, exasperated Yuuichi.

"Thank goodness Etsuko I thought you were ignoring me on purpose – "

Bam! Before I could even process what I was doing, I had slammed the door shut on this weirdly reticent version of Jigglypuff and willed the apparition to go away. I had seen him so many times the past month, in my own head, so it wasn't so far-fetched that my mind had just hallucinated him being around the whole day, right? I was just tired, and out of it, and – and why was the door beeping open by itself? My eyes widened the size of dinner plates as the traitorous door tentatively swung open, and suddenly a very grumpy Yuuuichi trudged in, closing the seemingly faulty door behind him and didn't stop pacing in my direction until he was just an arm's length away from me.

"You ignored me on purpose," his icy, crystal blue gaze pierced accusingly at me.

"Shucks why does this nightmare seem so real – " I muttered under my breath as I tried to look anywhere but at the gorgeous specimen in front of me.

"Because I am real, and also because you are still ignoring me," Yuuichi inched his face downwards, and closer to mine.

"It's not like I texted Yuuichi, you know, this boy who said he loved me and then disappeared, leaving me to cry for a solid month wondering when he'd return and then all of a sudden he appears like a wild Pokemon," I rambled, stubbornly refused to meet his stare, looking down at the carpet, hoping he was feeling at least a tinge of guilt, but most of all hoping that he wasn't able to hear the tremors in my voice or the hammering of my heart.

"This Yuuichi boy sounds like a piece of shit," Yuuichi chuckled a bit under his breath, his tone softening a little. "For what its worth, I think he is sorry for everything he's done, especially for making you cry."

"Are you sure about that?" I willed myself to look at him, and suddenly his gentle palms were cupping my cheek, brushing away the tears that I didn't even notice had started falling.

"He's definitely beaten the crap out of himself already, with a whole lot of self-loathing," Yuuichi breathed out softly, his adam's apple bobbing ever so slightly as he choked on his own words, "he…he's wondering if the love of his life could ever forgive him."

I didn't trust myself to reply without bawling, but there was so much to overcome – I still needed answers to why he disappeared a month ago, what he had been doing since, what he knew about my family, why was he even here in California (I bet my second bottom dollar on the ever meddling Lory Takarada), and even how this giraffe of a Jigglypuff had just nonchalantly let himself into my hotel room. Yuuichi must have sensed my hesitation, huffing in slight amusement and breaking into a wan smile.

"I'm Yuuichi by the way, and the love of my life is you, Etsu," the tenderness in his voice had to be all levels of illegal. "Also, you must be hungry, seeing how you bolted from the café earlier. I packed supper for you. Also I want to explain myself while you eat, so you don't try to run away from me for the third time today."

Just as he brought the three overflowing packed bags of food into view, the scent of fried rice, tempura and gyoza wafted throughout the room, and my traitorous dietary organ gurgled in anticipation, my eyes lighting up for the first time in a long time.

This beautiful, perfect human being.

I knew my expressions had completely betrayed me as Yuuichi's face burst into a delighted grin, having conquered the first barrier of my heart's defences purely through appealing to my stomach. Before I could pretend to dampen my enthusiasm, Yuuichi set the food on the nearby coffee table, then enveloped my own hands with his wide palms, and pressed his forehead to mine. If my face wasn't already strawberry red from his proximity, I would have safely said that the volcano Mt Etsuko was about to erupt.

"You've got so much explaining to do, a whole crap ton of explaining," I huffed silently, averting my gaze from his before I experienced my fifth meltdown of the evening, "and…I missed you so much."

Yuuichi chuckled as his face nuzzled mine.

"I know."

…

Yuuichi clearly had forgotten how I ate, as we sat comfortably across from each other at the coffee table and I devoured portion after portion of fried rice, tempura and dumplings, with him looking on incredulously as the servings vanished before his eyes. His amusement was evident as he began to methodically recount what he'd gone through in the past month, and how he had ended up as the artiste for the songs of the current mini-series.

"Wait, before you go into detail, I have a bet with myself – did President Lory send you here?"

"Yes he did," Yuuichi's trademark smirk flashed across his face. "Why would you even bet with yourself, what would you get as a prize?"

"Shush, my two last brain cells like the rigour of thought. Also, yes I was right!" I thrust my chopsticks in the air in mock triumph as garlic spewed from my mouth.

"Chew with your mouth closed, you adorable geyser," Yuuichi's eyes sparkled with mirth, then his face grew slightly more serious. "Actually, I asked to be involved in the mini-series because I… I wanted to see you again and attempt to apologise, for everything. Boy did the President tear a new one through me, but he agreed in the end. At first, I was supposed to come only for two days, beg for your forgiveness and then leave, but when I was waiting for my connecting flight to LA, I received a cryptic, petrifying phone call from a certain Tsuruga Ren, telling me to watch you like a hawk for the rest of the week."

"Emily Hart had a similar experience this morning, I don't suppose you know what brought that on."

"Absolutely no idea, just that he was saying that you weren't safe here, but at the same time, shouldn't do anything out of the ordinary that would draw the attention of Sakura."

"Wait – he didn't mention Sakura to me," the crispy tempura prawn that was halfway towards my mouth halted abruptly as I set my beloved snack and chopsticks back into the cardboard box.

"Unfortunately, he didn't go into details. Also, that's why the President got you to move into this suite as well, so that I can take the other bedroom on the pretext that I have an…unusual relationship with Emily Hart. Your father also mentioned that anything linking you to him, or your grandparents here would be very dangerous, even more so than my presence, the embodiment of stalker extraordinaire Fuwa Shotaro," Yuuichi let out a grim sigh.

"Yeah…there's that too, care to explain that bit?" I muttered, half processing that he would be staying in the same suite for the whole week, and my brain involuntarily grew a pair of lungs just so it could start metaphorically hyperventilating. Trying to distract myself from that train of thought, I pushed a dumpling around the takeaway container before spearing it a bit too violently, Yuuichi's eyes widening a little as I viciously tore the innocent gyoza in two.

"Is it strange that I'm more attracted to you when you're brutally taking it out on your food?"

I glowered at him for a while and rudely pointed my chopsticks at him, feeling my cheeks heat up in both embarrassment and indignation, ready to tackle the offending Jigglypuff. This Pikachu wouldn't go down without a snap, crackle and a million-watt lightning bolt pop. Yuuichi raised his hands in mock surrender, chuckled and continued.

"In my sloppy defence, I actually didn't put two and two together, until I thought a bit harder about the description of the man who took your brothers away when they were in kindergarten, and that was only just before new year's day," chagrin and remorse flitted over his face. "I should have known it was my father much sooner, and I'm sorry about that. There's more that I should tell you too, but…"

At that point Yuuichi's voice shifted to a much quieter baritone, like there were two or three warring factions within him that wanted to spew all different kinds of beans (baked beans, green beans, string beans, who knew); but he settled into a tentative silence instead. I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind, and now that I could be myself in front of him without having to worry about having to put on the pretence of being Emily, I didn't want Yuuichi to have to keep pretending to be someone else either. This beautiful, sweet, yet somewhat idiotic man needed time to reveal all his secrets, and if it brought him comfort to know that I would give him space to process everything that was going on, he could take all the time he needed.

"It's okay, you don't have to explain everything at once," I stood up, hefting the empty takeaway boxes in my arms as I cleared the coffee table. "What matters is that you're here now, and that I'm never letting you out of my sight again. I want you, no matter what we find out about your past, or mine. Although I do have one condition."

"And what's that?" Yuuichi's eyebrow quirked up in amusement.

"You need to start this completely denying any relationship with Sakura if she continues to insinuate it, because you're mine, and I will positively lose my shit if I hear her call you her boyfriend one more time."

I could have sworn I heard Yuuichi growl "Shit that's hot" under his breath, before his voice dropped another octave. "Possessive much, but before you forget, you're mine too."

Giving him a pointed look before I stepped into the mini kitchenette, my eyes sparkled as I smirked at him.

"I know."

…

The rest of the evening was less eventful as I poured over the storyboards and film schedule for the rest of the week, trying to figure out which shots we would anchor the concept of the music video on, while sneaking as many glances as I could as Yuuichi paced around the suite, unpacking, and then washing up after his own long day. I blushed as I heard the shower run, wondering to myself why this strange man of a President would advocate two teenagers of different genders, and who obviously had the hots for each other, staying in the same hotel room, although both my parents would tell me years down the road that it was completely fine. (Who the HECK tells their daughter that this is fine?)

Trying to concentrate on the music video again, I counted to a hundred in English, Japanese, and slightly broken Russian before Yuuichi finally stepped out of the bathroom, hair damp and wearing a insanely-soft looking grey sweatshirt and flannel pants that were giving me strange ideas about becoming a boa-constrictor and hugging a Jigglypuff to death. He shuffled towards the lounge area, and I looked up from the spread of storyboards on the coffee table, immediately regretting it as my traitorous face flushed another shade of unnatural red.

"Etsu, I'm heading to bed first, in the other room," his gaze was soft and warm as he stifled a yawn. "It's been a long day for me, hunting down scared turkeys."

"Technically you didn't really catch the turkey, you just barged into her coop," I hugged my knees closer to my chest, averting my gaze as my face heated up another 5 degrees.

"Well I guess you're cooped up with me for the next week," he grinned cheekily. "Your turn to wash up, you should rest early too."

I nodded in acknowledgement and packed up the materials on the coffee table, remembering that both of us needed to meet the director of photography in the morning. Padding silently across the hardwood floors to the washroom, I ran a quick shower for myself, and somewhat inwardly hoped that I was causing Yuuichi the same embarrassment that he did to me. Somehow the old adage of absence makes the heart fonder suddenly made sense, and there was something within me that wanted to experience all these emotions with him, and hoped deep down that he wanted to feel the same way as well.

As I stepped out of the shower and glanced at the steam-fogged mirror, it hit me that Yuuichi had always, or at least to the best of his abilities, been honest with me when I needed it, and that we were both in the process of learning how to trust and let each other in. He was growing braver at facing his own feelings – heck, he basically sang that he loved me hours ago in the hotel lobby, but I hadn't said it back yet. Looking at my own reflection, I realised that in spite of all my own insecurities and doubts, if Yuuichi could love me, then possibly, I could learn to love and believe in myself as well. Possibly, I could be brave enough to stand on my own two feet in showbiz, blaze my own trail in the business, and stare my own shortcomings straight in the face.

Just as I was about to head to bed, I realised that Yuuichi had fallen asleep with bedside lamp was still on, and his eyebrows had furrowed sharply as the light shone on his face. I mused internally that he didn't need the lamp to illuminate his own brilliance, grinning inwardly as I turned off the lamp, then watching as his forehead released the tension it was holding and his face relaxed into a soft expression that immediately melted my heart. My insides ached as I struggled with my own emotions. I had spent the entire month at war with my own infallible logic, knowing what I should do – I should lay low, I should be the best junior producer I could, I should encourage my brothers, especially Kichirou, to face his own fears. But this month, I'd almost never done something I wanted to do.

Before I could overthink or talk myself out of it, I did something I truly wanted to do, for the first time in a long time.

I climbed right into bed with Yuuichi, and tucked myself into his warm arms.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as stealthy as I had hoped I was, and as the top of my head settled under his chin, a gentle rumble started in Yuuichi's broad chest, as I breathed in a lungful of his scent (mint! again!), put one arm around his waist and pulled him closer, so he wouldn't have to see my flame red cheeks.

"Either I'm dreaming, or your father has murdered me and I've gone to heaven," his voice sounded strained as his palms seemed to hover at the small of my back.

"Neither," I breathed, revelling in the warmth that was rolling off in waves from his body. Why was he so warm?

I took another deep breath of Yuuichi and realised there was no better time than the present to make things right on my end. Also, this would be the one time I wouldn't have to look at his face while spewing my own secrets, so at least that would save me a bit of the embarrassment that I knew was about to course through my own veins.

"Yuuichi…I…I met your mother last week. I realised she taught me in elementary school, and…I finally realised you're Jigglypuff," I let out a breath that I didn't realise I'd been holding, clutching a little tighter at his soft grey sweatshirt, the tip of my ears blazing hot and my voice breaking a little. "You…you knew who my parents were eons ago, and you've been there for me since I was a little Pichu. And somehow, you're here still."

My revelation was met with a moment of silence, just before I felt Yuuichi's impossibly strong arms envelope me, dragging me a little more into his embrace, his large palm running up and down my back in a soothing motion as my own happy tears started to soak the front of his shirt. But I couldn't stop – the floodgates were open, and I continued babbling.

"And…and I don't care what you've found out about our parents and their history, and I don't care what we're about to find out, but I know that want to be with you after all this is over, if you'll have me."

Yuuichi continued soothing me until my choked sobs became gentle hiccups, and I felt him place a tentative kiss on the top of my head.

"Etsu, I haven't told you before, heck, I haven't told anyone at all, but I want to," he let out a tender sigh, and continued, "When I found out that my dad cared more for your mother instead of my own, it broke my heart in two. But I made a decision when I was twelve – that if I loved someone, I would do everything I could for that special person, and I wouldn't push her away on purpose."

Yuuichi let out a shaky breath, and it was my turn to run a gentle hand up and down his side.

"Then…I pushed you away, right after you had accepted me, and it shattered what was left of my soul, and…I don't know if I would ever be able to forgive myself. I should be asking you if you'll have me, even after all I've done, and all I've kept from you."

I shushed him, and for the first time in that eternity of fifteen minutes of intense emotions and body contact, I allowed myself to stare into his azure eyes, which were now dark as midnight as he looked down at me.

"Just now you sang 'if you love someone, you should let them know', so…" my lips curved to a wan smile, just as I leaned forwards to kiss Yuuichi lightly on his cheek, "this is me letting you know."

Yuuichi let out a light gurgle as I began flushing from the roots of my hair all the way to my ankles, and I burrowed my head back into the crook of his shoulder before I could see any other reaction he was giving, save the one where he clutched my own pyjamas just a little bit tighter. Another moment passed, and just as I thought he'd somehow fallen back asleep, I heard him breathe out a contented sigh, muttering slightly under his breath.

"I know."

…

A/N: Crazy. This chapter wasn't supposed to be that long but this reunion has been a long time coming and I didn't want to rush it. Hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next few chapters! Where I promise more reveals, thrills and spills.

Thanks once again to everyone who has left a favourite, follow or best of all, a review! To JazminSS, I really did try to make it funny where I could, these two babies don't deserve so much sadness in their lives (granted, I inflicted this sadness on them). Also hope that the reasons for his absence are satisfying enough when they are revealed, so – fingers crossed! To BabbyGirl93, thank you for actually liking the turkey bit, I was started to fear that I was venturing a bit too far into the universe of crack. But you have given me hope that such descriptors are still appreciated. Appropriate social distancing comment for the season is also appropriate, I had a little laugh with myself thinking that no one would pick it up, but you did! Kudos! To Nerala, thank you a million for your super kind review, and I'm really more than flattered that this story has remained a favourite of yours, and I really hope I'll be able to live up to your expectations! Yes, lovable idiot offspring indeed. I hope they stay lovable, and become a little less idiotic too. Thank you for your support and I hope you don't have to re-read this story too many times to remember what's happened! To Oreta, my goodness I shall confess that it wasn't my intention 10 years ago to actually make Sakura loveable, but I realised along the way that somehow, that's at the heart of Skip Beat – no one's really irredeemable, and that the past should never set in stone what the future of each character should be. And so I hope that I will continue to bring about more realistic adventures, and also capture the essence of the amazing world of Skip Beat that has completely got me hooked for the past dozen years. Thank you for your kind comment and hope you continue to enjoy the story as well!

Happy travails everyone, and if you love someone, do let them know – especially after social distancing is over please go give people hugs because I bet everyone is just as touch-starved as poor Yuuichi and Etsuko my goodness I need cuddles.