Safe Haven | Yuzuru Hanyu

30.

Emma was as red as a tomato after the small peck. It was just that Yuzuru managed to embarrass her in front of someone that she barely knew.

She could only imagine what Ghislain thought of her now, especially after Yuzuru called her kitten.

Of all the nicknames that he could have chosen...

Not that it didn't work, because she was still smiling from ear to ear as he hugged her close.

All of the thoughts of his previous troubles were almost completely forgotten if he wasn't softly panting against her.

"What's going on with you?" She asked, looking up and down and examining him like a mother would, with extreme concern.

He turned around and gestured to Ghislain. Emma didn't quite understand what he meant, but the coach apparently did since he disappeared from the room right after.

"Asthma."

"No shit..."

Emma wasn't at all entertained by him stating the obvious.

"I had an attack before the program."

"But aren't you controlled? You do your measures and everything..."

"Yes, but there were some things going on here."

"Like what?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Em. I'm seeing you for the first time in a whole year!"

Had it really been that long?

Yeah, almost a year. It went by faster than she expected.

"I can't believe you skated after having an attack!" She ended up saying and hitting his chest in complaint. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I'm fine, my fierce kitten."

"Stop calling me that!"

"You like it!"

"Not in front of your coaches! I can't even imagine what's on Ghislain's head right now!"

"That I found a beautiful girl for myself?"

"Your assistant, you mean..."

Yuzuru chuckled and brought her body close, hugging her body against his warmth.

"There are so many more things we could be doing instead of you telling me how mad you are."

"Like?"

"Making out, going to my hotel, dinner... Anything would be better."

"Dinner? There's nothing open, Zu."

"That's what room service is for... It has the advantage of being closer to the bedroom too."

And boy, did Emma want to be in his bedroom...

She wanted it, badly, but her concerns also spoke very loudly as she thought of today's events.

Emma wanted to drag him to bed, and she would probably do just that, but not for what he imagined.

He needed to rest.

Even if she wanted something else.

"You should take some rest, yes."

"I'm just fine."

"Fine? Sure you are..."

"You don't sound convinced."

"I can feel you breathless against me!"

"That's entirely normal and off-topic."

"How so?"

"I'm always breathless when you're around"

Cute, she thought, but not funny at all.

He was lucky that she loved him so much, otherwise, it would be unlikely that she would humor his stupid comments.

The eminent discussion was broken by a knock on the door. He stared at her with a contemplating look before pecking her lips and placing his mask on before answering the door.

"Yuzu, there's someone from the JSF to speak to you."

"Send them in."
Brian looked between him and Emma a few times back and forth as if questioning. "She can stay."

The coach smiled through his mask at the unusual occurrence. Yuzuru never wanted anyone in the room when he spoke to the Federation, at least not until now.

Brian waved at her and she answered right back before leaving them alone once again.

"What's this about?"

"Probably nothing good."

Emma frowned at that, she always expected the federation to adore him.

The lady in question entered the room mere seconds after and Emma placed the mask on her face. She had to protect herself to protect him too.

"Who is this?" The woman said in Japanese, completely ignoring that Emma was a person.

Oh, she didn't like her straight away.

"My assistant."

"She understands Japanese?"

"No"

Well, she did, but none of them needed to know about that right now.

"I won't take too much time. Yuzuru, you know why I am here."

"Enlighten me."

"Aren't you embarrassed? A bronze medal?"

Emma scoffed while trying to be discrete. What the hell did this woman want?
She was speaking to Yuzuru without any respect, no honorifics, and a tone that Em hated.

"It's a medal... Before I came to skating you settled for far less."

"Yes, but you've done your job, maybe it's time to allow the younger generation to step up."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You're occupying their spots."

"I earned those spots."

"And yet, you didn't bring the gold."

"What do you want, Suzuki?"

"For you to understand that it's time to hang your boots."

"Is that really what you want?"

"It's what needs to be done for Japan to win again."

"No, this is you settling for anything but gold."

"What does that mean?"

"You know what it means."

"He can win."

"Can he?"

"Yes."

"Curiously enough, it's not the first time I hear this. Have you ever considered that in the last years, Japan only won gold when I was the one on that top step? I haven't seen any other Japanese doing enough to win."

Emma was proud of Yuzuru, that he was strong enough to understand his own worth, even when they tried bringing him down.

"Don't be naive... You only win as long as we allow you to win."

The implication was striking, especially for Emma that didn't expect her to be this direct. This woman was a bitch.

Maybe she should have just kept shut and gone along with it, but there was something about anything related to Yuzuru that brought her self-control down to a minimum.

And so, she gathered her rusty Japanese, stood up directly in front of the confused woman, and said exactly what she thought.

"You ungrateful bitch... Do you even know what he has done for your country? Where is your respect? Are you even aware of who you're speaking to? If it wasn't for Yuzuru, most of your Japanese skaters wouldn't even exist. Get a hold of yourself.
Yuzuru doesn't need the federation, but I can tell you with certainty that you need him."