Those Four Little Words

By Atreyu452

The scream could be heard from a block away. It reverberated through the hallway long afterwards. Several servants and businessmen winced and quickly ducked out of sight.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?”

He tapped his chin thoughtfully. It was better than rubbing his aching ears, which would have been a sign that she had gotten to him. Perhaps he should have waited.

“Perhaps you should have waited, Enzan-sama.”

“Reading my mind, Blues?”

Something crashed against the door. The muffled, angry voices became louder. Enzan rubbed his temple with a sigh.

“We could always leave, Enzan-sama.”

“We’re here on business, Blues.” Enzan adjusted his tie, adding with a mutter, “And that would mean she’d win.”

“…Win, Enzan-sama?”

The door burst open. In a flurry of papers, servants, and pink, Ayanokouji Yaito flew down the hall.

“IJUUIN ENZAN!”

“Hello, Yaito,” Enzan said calmly. Her eyes glittered from rage and too much eye-shadow, and her face was bright red. He switched his attention to the dress she was wearing. “Nice frills. Are you still in fourth grade?”

“Enzan-sama!” Blues cried, considerably alarmed.

The slap connected loud and hard, although the cutting collective gasp from those who dared to watch was louder. Enzan touched his cheek slowly. That mark wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“Ijuuin Enzan!” Yaito shook violently as she spoke, her balled fists turning white. “I hate you!”

-ooo-

“That went well.”

“Perhaps,” Blues said carefully. “Buying out Gabcom was not the best thing to do.”

“It is not a buyout,” Enzan said irritably, loosing his tie as he sat down hard into his chair. “It’s a merger. There’s a difference.”

“Yes, Enzan-sama.”

“With my executive staff in charge.”

“Yes, Enzan-sama.”

“And under the IPC name.”

“Of course, Enzan-sama.”

Enzan rested his elbows against his desk and covered his face. “This is not as bad as it looks. It is a merger, it just looks like a buyout. And sounds like a buyout.”

“The media has chosen to view it that way,” Blues said, his tone still careful.

Enzan removed his hands slowly and gave his navi a look. They had known each other for too long for Blues to keep secrets from him. “You know something.”

The hologram of his net navi crossed his arms. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“What would you say?”

Blues was silent for a moment, thinking. “They’ve chosen to take Yaito’s side of the issue.”

“Her side? What side? Turn the news on!”

Blues obeyed with a sigh. The news flashed on the computer screen as the holographic projection of the navi walked across the desk to stop blocking the view.

“And in today’s business world, we have the merger of Gabcom and IPC as our top story,” the broadcaster chirped. “But not everyone sees the sunny side of this deal. Gabcom heiress Ayanokouji Yaito has vowed to prevent this merger at any cost!”

The picture flashed to Yaito in a business suit. She wore her hair in a tight bun and looked professional for once (although, Enzan noted, her nails had a fancy pink and yellow design on them).

“I will not let the long history of my father’s company be trampled upon by IPC,” she declared. “Their ruthlessness and coldhearted methods are not the ideals upheld by Gabcom. As for their president, he can rest assured.” She pointed directly at the camera with those gaudy fingernails of hers. “This means war, Ijuuin Enzan!”

The screen switched back to the announcer. “Two weeks short of turning eighteen, Ayanokouji Yaito has no legal power over her company’s future, but if she can successfully prevent the merger until she comes of age, she will be able to contest IPC’s—”

The picture disappeared with a click. “She wants a war, does she?” Enzan growled.

Blues gave him a worried look. “Enzan-sama?”

“If she wants a war,” Enzan said slowly, starting to smile. “She’ll get one.”

“Eh… Enzan-sama?”

-ooo-

“I can’t believe this!” Yaito yelled, slamming her fist against the table. “How dare he?”

Meiru raised an eyebrow, juggling the baby in her arms. “Yaito-chan, I realize this is important to you, but you’re upsetting Saito.” The baby in her arms gurgled, not upset in the least.

“Sorry, Meiru,” Yaito said in a quieter tone. “I’m not used to babies. How have you and Netto been?”

“Netto’s thrilled,” Meiru said proudly. “Saito’s only six months old, and I still can’t convince him that the baby doesn’t need a net navi yet.”

“Once he gets an idea in his head, there’s no getting it out,” Roll commented, waving at the baby from Meiru’s shoulder. Saito laughed and reached for the pink navi, who danced out of the way of his fingers.

“At least you’re happy,” Yaito grumbled. “You have the sweet and caring Hikari Netto.”

Meiru stopped juggling the baby and looked at Yaito, eyebrow raised. “Are we talking about the same man?”

“The one who forgot his anniversary just last week because he was caught up in a new project?” Roll put in, pretending to reach down and poke Saito in the nose. The baby giggled louder as Meiru set him down in a crib. Roll followed, walking down her arm to play with Saito and keep an eye on him while the girls talked.

“Yes, but he made up for it,” Yaito reminded her as they both sat down on a couch. “He made that cyber-garden for you.”

“He did,” Meiru admitted. “And I did forgive him for forgetting. Eventually. But you didn’t come here to talk about Netto.”

“That’s right!” Yaito said, getting steamed again. “I came here to talk about that no-good, arrogant jerk! Have you seen those commercials he’s been running? Completely lies! He goes out of his way…”

Meiru got comfortable. This was obviously going to take awhile.

-ooo-

“I can’t believe this!”

Hikari Netto looked up from his work, pushing his goggles away from his eyes. “Good afternoon, Enzan,” he said dryly.

“Hardly, Hikari,” Enzan growled, leaning against a wall. “Did you see that new commercial she’s put on? It’s full of lies! How dare she think of doing that?”

“As I recall, the ad you have been running was not the nicest move either,” Blues pointed out from his shoulder perch.

“Shut up, Blues!”

“Hey, hey!” Netto protested, removing the goggles completely and standing up. So much for getting anything done for the rest of the day. “Settle down, Enzan. There’s no reason to take this out on Blues.”

“Sorry,” Enzan said to his navi, sighing. “Rough week.”

“I know, Enzan-sama,” Blues replied in a deadpan voice.

“This has really got you angry, hasn’t it?” Netto asked softly, tilting his head at his friend. “You hardly ever lose your cool, especially at Blues. Especially over something so…”

“Trivial?” Rockman suggested, popping up on his operator’s shoulder.

“Trivial?” Enzan cried. “You’re talking about one of the most important deals of my life, and you call it trivial?”

Netto and Rockman exchanged a look. “You’re thinking like a businessman again, Enzan,” Netto said.

“Am not.”

“You just referred to it as a deal. This is not a business move.”

“I never said it was!”

Netto switched gears. “Have you even talked to her yet?”

“Before or after she slapped me and told me she hated me?” Enzan replied glumly, slumping down into a seat. “Dammit, Netto, this is not how it was supposed to go.”

“Maybe the company merger was not the best move to make,” Netto suggested, folding his arms.

“I told him that!” Blues called.

Enzan gave them both a dark look. “You’ve seen her latest attack, right?”

“The one which accuses your company of bullying Gabcom into the deal, or the one that calls you a bully and traces all the way back to the N1 Grand Prix?”

Enzan’s head snapped up. “What?”

Blues covered his face. “I was trying not to tell him about that one.”

“The official celebration for the partnership is tomorrow,” Rockman put in hastily.

“She’ll try something then,” Enzan muttered. “I know she will.”

Netto motioned for him to go on. “And?”

“And my company will be successfully villianized.”

“And?”

Enzan made a vague gesture. “Stocks will go down and it will make board meetings a living hell. Is there a point you’re getting at, Hikari?”

Netto rolled his eyes. Usually he was the dense one. “She won’t have a chance to try something,” he pointed out, “If you do something first. Just talk to her, Enzan. It can’t get any worse, right?”

Enzan gave him a look. “I bet it can.”

“Enzan!”

“All right, all right! You win.”

-ooo-

“Just talk to her,” Enzan grumbled under his breath. “Yeah, right, Hikari.”

“That frown of yours isn’t helping things,” Blues reminded him.

Enzan sighed. The day of the party had come, and he was stuck in a tux greeting guests. It was the celebration of the merger, but with a company as big and important as IPC, it became the hottest social gathering of the season. Along with business associates, politicians, celebrities, and other high profile people, there came the rare unexpected guest and, of course, Enzan’s friends. Hikari Netto, a celebrity in his own right, was one of the first to arrive with his wife.

“Blues, you should be greeting the navis,” Enzan pointed out. “Not hanging around my shoulder.” Another aspect of the party was the virtual reflection of it for the net navis and other visitors. The arrival of Aki-chan, the virtual idol, had caused quite a stir.

“You expect me to leave you alone?” Blues made a soft noise at that. “If you insist, Enzan-sama.” His tone was dubious, but he vanished from his operator’s shoulder.

“The Queen of Creamland!”

Enzan turned at the announcement. “And escort,” he remarked, reaching out to shake hands.

Laika made a face as he shook back. “I’m not nearly important enough to be announced.”

“He told the announcer not to mention him,” Pride explained, poking the mint-haired man. “The future king of Creamland certainly is important enough to be announced.”

Laika looked sheepish. “Well?” he said to Enzan.

“Well what?”

“Have you talked to her?”

Enzan glared at him. “You’ve been talking to Netto, haven’t you?”

Searchman appeared on Laika’s shoulder. “They have a bet going,” he explained.

“Oh, look, there’s Netto now,” Laika said hurriedly. “Pride, let’s go talk to him. We’ll talk later, Enzan.” He took a hold of his fiancée’s arm and hurried to talk to the scientist, much to her visible amusement.

“Some friends they are,” Enzan muttered under his breath. “I’m going to—”

“Ayanokouji Yaito!”

Enzan struggled to keep a neutral look on his face and turned to greet his latest guest. His efforts failed, however, when she walked into sight. Instead of the pink mess she had worn earlier, her dress was red, simple, and elegant. Her hair was pinned up, except for a few intentional ringlets around her ears.

Ayanokouji Yaito had never been a knock-out. Even as an adult, her forehead was still too large, her eyes were an unattractive shade of brown, and she was more gangly than lithe. Usually, she was just a little more than average.

Tonight she was stunning.

Sucking in his breath, Enzan opened his mouth to say something, anything. He promptly shut it when Yaito breezed right past him without acknowledging his presence.

Across the room, Laika winced and Netto slapped his forehead. This was going to be a long night.

-ooo-

“It’s been two hours,” Netto complained. “If he doesn’t talk to her soon, we might as well cancel the bet.”

“Enzan may be a brilliant businessman, but he’s a bit of a bonehead when it comes to women, isn’t he?” Laika replied with a shake of his head.

Netto gave him a sidelong look. “He’s not the only one.”

Laika froze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Netto snorted. “I heard you made a mess of your proposal to Pride. Tripped and fell flat on your face, and then you were almost too embarrassed to get the words out.”

“Who told you that?” Laika yelped, turning pink.

“Rockman did. He heard it from Searchman.”

Laika mentally swore at his navi. “Like you’re the great Romeo,” he grumbled, folding his arms. “Who’s the one who forgot his anniversary last week? Or put us all through hell because you dropped the ring for Meiru during a mission?”

“I made up for forgetting!” Netto exclaimed. “And that wasn’t my fault! I got knocked down before I could cross fuse!”

“That hardly makes you the smoothest ladies man,” Laika remarked.

“Oh, look, now they’re dancing,” Netto said. His eyes widened suddenly. “Uh-oh.”

“Um, perhaps there’s something else that needs our immediate attention?” Laika suggested.

Before they could scatter, two sets of arms grabbed them.

“Nice try, boys,” Pride said with a grin.

“Hikari Netto, you aren’t getting away that easily,” Meiru scolded, dragging her husband off before he could start squirming.

-ooo-

Yaito hadn’t said a word to him. It was like he was invisible to her. He had to admit, she was pretty good at denying his existence. She was snubbing him just enough to be noticeable, but not enough to cause a scandal. But there were eyes watching, people whispering. Hikari Netto making faces at him from across the room. He was well aware of all of this.

Well, that would soon change. Yaito had been avoiding him by seeing him coming and moving before he got there. Standing as tall as Laika, it was easy to pick out his familiar hairstyle from the crowd.

She did not take his Net Savior training into account, and he was behind her before she realized he had vanished from her sight.

“Where…?” Yaito turned, muttered to herself. She jumped nearly two feet in the air when she saw who was behind her. “Gah! Enzan!”

Enzan worked very hard not to smirk at the look on her face. Instead, he bowed slightly, hiding his smile. “I’ve noticed there are people taking advantage of the music.”

“What about it?” Yaito said shortly.

Enzan’s eyebrow twitched slightly. “Would you care to dance?”

“With you?” Yaito replied flatly.

“That’s the general idea.”

“Not if you were the last man alive,” she hissed, whirling and storming away.

After a second, Enzan turned and went in the other direction.

-ooo-

At least the roof was quiet. Enzan took another long sip of his champagne, watching the darkly clouded sky. Next time he would just bring the bottle with him.

“They’re looking for you inside.”

Enzan finished the glass with a gulp. “Why should I care?”

“It’s your party.” She walked over and sat down on the bench beside him. “And it looks like rain.”

“Do you want something from me, Yaito?” Enzan snapped, giving her a dark look. “An apology? My resignation? My complete and utter humiliation?”

Yaito returned the look. “I didn’t come here to fight with you.”

“No, you came to gloat,” Enzan muttered bitterly. “Thanks to your campaign, my stockholders are talking about pulling out of the deal. In a few days, you’ll be legal to take over Gabcom and break it off yourself. You won, Yaito.”

“I wouldn’t have to do it if you weren’t such a coldhearted—” She stopped and took a deep breath, looking anywhere but him. “Enzan… remember when you came back from Ameroupe two years ago?”

Enzan looked at her, surprised. Now what was she up to?

“Yes.”

“It was summertime, and everyone wanted to go see the fireworks. Netto dragged you along, but you wandered off before they started. I found you.”

“And you yelled at me for disappearing. I remember.”

Yaito fidgeted. “You wouldn’t leave, so I stayed with you. It was cold, and you gave me your jacket.”

“Yes.”

“You kissed me.”

Enzan snorted. “You kissed me.”

“You did it first,” Yaito said stubbornly. “And… I… What happened? Where did… that go?”

Enzan stood up suddenly, looking troubled. He walked away from Yaito, his back to her.

“Enzan, wait!” Yaito stood and tried to follow. “I was trying to—”

“Yaito.” Enzan turned back towards her, his face in shadows. “I need to ask you something.”

“Oh… okay,” Yaito said softly, confusion on her face.

Enzan approached and knelt in front of her, pulling something out of his pocket and showing her what sparkled within. Yaito’s gasp was almost breathless.

“Will you marry me?” he asked quietly.

Yaito stared at him silently. Then she began to cry.

“Y-Yaito?” Enzan stood and tried to wipe the tears away. “Yaito, are you okay? I didn’t mean… I’m sorry.”

“That’s what this has been about?” she cried. “The merger and the party and everything?”

Enzan nodded slowly, biting his lip.

With a sob, Yaito threw her arms around him and held tight. “You’re a jerk, Ijuuin Enzan,” she muttered. “You’re a stubborn, arrogant jerk. You don’t know how to deal with people when you aren’t running a business or fighting. You don’t know how to keep your mouth shut.”

“Yes, I do…” Enzan said weakly, wondering where this was going.

Yaito kissed him then, tears still running down her cheeks. His eyes widened. “Of course I’ll marry you, you jerk,” she whispered when she pulled away. “Why didn’t you ask me sooner?”

“Oh,” Enzan said, dazed. Somehow he managed to slip the ring onto her finger without being aware that he was doing it. Yaito admired it—flashy, but tasteful—and hugged him again.

“We should go back before they send a search party,” she said with a giggle. Enzan still looked dazed.

“Not yet,” he replied, coming back to reality. Pulling her closer, he kissed her, a kiss she returned without hesitating.

In a corner, Netto gave the net navi sitting on his shoulder a thumbs up and grinned. Blues grinned back. It was about time, and Netto had finally won the bet. The scientist snuck off to find a hose.

It looked like rain, after all.

The End

Author's Note: Just a cute little Enzan/Yaito fic. I like this pairing far too much, methinks.