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"Mm. I promise." Kyouya had already slipped into the water up to his chin, eyes half-closed. The last words of a doomed man, he supposed. Still, if he was doomed, the water felt heavenly. The normally tightly-wound Shadow King felt the edges of the tension he constantly carried starting to wear away.

But at the skiing question, he cracked one dark eye open. "No, I'm afraid not." And oh, did he sense more impending doom there. He'd never learned how; a side effect of his family not being one of the ones that did that kind of thing. A soft deflection, then. "But the cousins snowboard, and I know the twins both snowboard and ski. I'm sure they can teach you."

Yes, that was exactly the doom he'd been expecting. "If we go together, who'll be taking the pictures for the photo books?" Kyouya pointed out, very reasonably. "You don't want to leave that to the twins."

He closed his eyes again, breathing in the steam, and feeling the warmth of the water sink into every pore. Mm ... why bother with all that activity ... ? But he knew that Tamaki loved everything new and exciting. "I suppose it depends on how much you want to focus on each," he said. "There's only so much time, so you'll have to choose carefully. Besides, it's not like we can't take another snow vacation during winter break next year."

He caught that quiet undercurrent in his best friend's voice -- how could he not? -- the one that said he'd been missing his host club family, and he pushed a soft ripple of water at him. "We're glad you could too." I'm glad you could too.

"I already said I would." Baka. But the mild impatience in Kyouya's voice was interlaced with what might have been a touch of affection. He pulled himself further up on the rocks, baring his shoulders to cool off slightly. "You mean sled before the onsen, or sled to the onsen?" With his glasses off, Tamaki's face was more of a blur, and harder to read -- and it wasn't like the idea was the most impractical one his best friend had had. Ever the practical one himself, he began to mentally trace over the route to determine if it were even possible.

He blinked, partially taken by surprise -- Hokkaido ...! -- and then laughed, that almost-evil laugh that seemed reserved only for his best friend. "I should have known you would never forget about that. I suppose it's a good thing I never got rid of those guidebooks. When will your grandmother let you go, though?" That so-called goblin's smile subsided, somewhat -- that question was serious, and earnest.

Kyouya considered the question, tilting his head up to watch the clouds skid across the sky. "I don't recall seeing any," he said slowly, "but that doesn't mean there aren't any, or that we couldn't make it happen. I'll put it on my to-do list for later tonight."

That reflective expression hadn't left his face when he turned back to look at Tamaki, and slid a bit back more into the water again. "Yes. I wouldn't expect less." The open-ended statement indicated both sides of the coin -- Tamaki's devotion to his family, and his grandmother's determination about the company. "But at least it should be interesting ... " Tamaki's half-smiling, half-sad expression nudged that half-psychic sense of Kyouya's -- "and you have to have lunch sometime." A subtle indication of you know we'll kidnap you if we have to.

"Two weeks?" he echoed. That was a very generous chunk of time, in Kyouya's reality. He would have to ask his own father. Of course, he had the leverage of "spending time with the Suou heir" ... that might be enough. He mentally ran over his calendar. "I'm pretty sure I don't have anything I'm personally involved in scheduled for then, but I don't know about my family. I'll have to check."

Fortunately, this was one moment where those puppy-dog eyes weren't needed. Tamaki's declaration of not letting him off easily was simply met with lowered eyelids and a knowing smile in return. Kyouya wanted to go. And the two of them would likely have a long discussion of all the sights to see and things to do. He caught himself thinking -- almost as if it were traitorous -- This will be fun.

He kept his eyes down as he considered the question -- not really an evasion, but a pause as he thought over what he could and couldn't say. "My sister's doing well enough. She and her husband are trying for a baby -- you know that, right? but no luck yet. She comes over once or twice a week, still. Next time I'll call you." A touch of softness, perhaps. Kyouya knew how well Fuyumi and Tamaki got along.

"Yuuichi's been busy with his residency, Akito's been trying to meddle in my business as usual," those lowered eyes looked back up, and they were momentarily razor-sharp, then softened again. "Mother's been out of town for the past few months, and I don't expect her back until mid-March, though we might go visit her one of these weekends. Father ... well." He's Father. "You know, the usual. Business, luncheons, golf, cocktail parties, group meetings." But at least he's usually home for breakfast, and at least he listens. Sometimes.

If he were honest with himself, Tamaki's bright face, blurred though it was, always made him a little happier. It wouldn't be hard for Kyouya to keep that particular promise.

Those dark eyes flicked upward at the mention of his father. "He did?" There was an unspoken, though obviously inflected that's interesting, at the end of that simple question. He filed that bit of information away to overthink mull over later. At the question about the parties, he nodded. "Yes, I usually do, if schoolwork doesn't end up taking priority. Most of the time, I've already got it done, though. Father's very insistent that I make as many as possible." There were reasons Kyouya ended up so strictly scheduled; he had a lot on his plate -- and didn't want to entirely miss out on relaxing at least sometimes.

This trip really had been a godsend, on the relaxation front. Though he was starting to overheat. He worked his way back to the side of the bath and acquired his towel. "Mm, I think I'm done, or close to it." He hoisted himself out and covered up, leaving just his feet dangling in the water for the moment while he tried to readjust to the cooler air.

No question Kyouya recognized the code -- and perhaps the moment when his head was down and he was toweling off his hair was an excuse to hide a smile. Because it certainly wasn't all that wet; it wasn't like he'd been swimming. Maybe he was looking forward to those parties as much as Tamaki was. While Kyouya enjoyed power politics, it was a nice relief to be around people who were absolutely honest and themselves, rather than putting on masks.

It was true ... they so rarely got the chance to catch up, just the two of them. And perhaps there'd be even less time as the two of them went to college and then on to business ... Kyouya buried that thought. He had time now. "Sure, I don't see why not. It's been a pleasant vacation so far, and everyone seems to be enjoying it." Myself included. He, too, tracked the horizon to the mountains, and perhaps sighed with a moment of quiet contentment, before starting to slip back into his clothes.

"I hear there's a place three doors down that serves dumplings steamed over the hot spring water," he said lightly. "Hungry? We could go get some."

Kyouya looked meditatively out at the surrounding area, the steam from the spring obscuring the mountains slightly for a moment, then clearing again. "Maybe," he allowed. There was a certain appeal to the idea ... although he would never have a moment's peace, he realized. But perhaps that would be better than enforced solitude. Perhaps that maybe was a soft, conditional yes -- if not for this particular place, for some place that the two of them would share.

He couldn't help the lopsided quirk of one of those true smiles as Tamaki headed for the door hot on the chase for the dumplings. Reaching for his jacket, he followed -- not quite at such a rapid pace, but with an easy deliberation that said volumes about the tranquility he was feeling at the moment.