A/N:

Y'know, I do appreciate it even more when a person does not make a mule account solely to use it as a way to hide behind their complaints. I have a great respect for those who speak their minds. And so what if I'm uncomfortable with sexual material? I may hint at something like that that could happen, I refuse to blatantly write/type it. So make what you will with this. You use your head on how this ends. Sorry if I sound upset, but it's only towards one particular reader since it's obviously my fault that I can't appeal to all of my readers.

It was late by the time Kaito returned to his apartment, the dim sun setting to the west made him aware of how fast the time had passed. He hadn't shown up at Crypton that day and he wondered vaguely if his Master would yell at him and cut off some of his ice cream reserves when he went in tomorrow.

Sighing, he made his way to his garden, the only sanctuary he h;ad when he was feeling down. Well, it used to be second but it quickly swapped places with the freezer when he had forgotten to place in the door stopper and ended up accidentally locking himself in. He had always dreamt of being turned into a popsicle (blue raspberry of course. Actually, vanilla's a nice flavor , too, come to think of it.), but it was no longer an appealing thought after that. That was certainly not a way he'd like to go. He thanked the higher powers that Miku had dropped by his place to share with him a bowl of hot tuna and spring onion soup that she and Luka had prepared. Anyways, tending to his garden always helped him relax.

He lifted his hand to the latch of the gate, eyes narrowing when he found that it lifted without any resistance. Someone had unlocked it.

Kaito frowned. The only ones who had a key to the garden were the landlords, Miku and himself. Not many of the residents of the complex knew about it and he'd only ever showed one other person before. . .

Miki.

Shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat, he wandered around the side of the fence and into his garden. Miki was on the patio, sporting a new long sleeved dress that he hadn't seen before that barely went past her backside, and he couldn't help but notice how wonderfully the fabric clung to her slender frame. As always, the tiny redhead looked neat and tidy, careful to keep her new heels out of the wet as she continued about her task.

"It rained today," Kaito called out.

Miki kept watering the plants. "Not enough."

He tilted his head to the side, regarding his "intruder". "Since when were you into gardening?"

"Since you talk about it almost every damn day."

Miki shut off the nozzle of the hose, but continued to hold it as she turned around to face the older man. "Why weren't you at the studio today?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I had some things to take care of."

Miki's eyes narrowed and she clutched the hose tighter in her hands. "That's a lie, Kaito."

Kaito didn't reply, just stared past Miki's shoulder. But out of his peripheral vision, he could see the way, quite clearly, how the young woman's jaw tightened in a deep frown. "Idiot, people count on you. Meiko needs you because you're supposed to be the second authority figure. You're suppose to make a good example to give her a lending hand if she starts being careless about her health. Luka needs you to make sure you have the members in order, Rin and Len need you to keep them out of trouble and Miku needs your support and because you were suppose to be her duet partner today! You need to be more responsible."

Miki was right, but Kaito didn't have to say so. "Were you worried about me, Miki?" he asked instead.

The redhead's face took on a flustered expression that quickly soured and Kaito had to bite the inside of his cheek to hold back the grin at catching her off guard.

Ignoring the question, Miki responded indifferently as if the disturbance never happened. "Anyway, Miku volunteered me to go and look for you because she's busy with photo shooting and because she had a flight to catch for America. Something about Toyota. All of our Masters want us all to present our reports about how much progress we've been making in the morning at the Studio. Following that will be a debriefing."

"What time is the meeting?"

"At seven. I'm not here for small talk, Kaito, nor am I here to be pacified."

"I thought you came because Miku 'volunteered' you?"

"Don't interrupt me. I came because—" Miki's eyes widened, and then narrowed as she stepped back. Kaito had stepped forward and there was no mistaking the meaning of that slow smile. "Don't even think about it. I'm nothing like Miku, Lapis, and all of those other girls. I couldn't be less interested in kissing you right now."

"Then I'll kiss you and maybe you'll get interested."

"I mean it, Kaito!" Miki aimed the hose like a weapon. "Just keep your distance."

But Kaito took another step forward, not at all bothered by the prospect of being drenched. "Go ahead and shoot," he invited, "or was that all talk just now?"

"Just stop it!" Miki danced back several steps as Kaito advanced. "This isn't a game, Kaito, and you know just as well as I do that I do know a thing or two about games! This isn't funny!"

"You're so cute when you're angry, Mii-chan." He made a grab for the hem of her dress and instinctively Miki tightened her fist on the nozzle and nailed Kaito. The spray hit him on the chest and Miki giggled at the sight of the soaked bluenet. "Serves you right! I'm not playing around with you. I'm serious, Kaito."

Dripping, Kaito made another grab and feinted right. This time, Miki scowled at Kaito's persistence and this time aimed for his face. Unfortunately, she underestimated how fast he really was —how was that even possible with all of that ice cream that he consumes?— and yanked the hose out of her hands. He laughed at the shocked look on her face as she turned to create a large gap between them. But since she was new to heels, it was no wonder when Kaito easily caught up and looped an arm around her waist and hauled her off her feet at the back end of the patio.

Caught somewhere in between anger and disbelief, Miki kicked, squirmed, and screamed until her lungs began to burn for oxygen. Panting, she made one final attempt and and buried the tip of her shoe in his shin. Instead of loosening his hold on her from when she landed on top of him, he threaded his fingers in her hair and held on fast.

"Let me go, you moron!"

"Don't see why I ought to."

Miki scowled again at the smirk on Kaito's face.

"Here you are trespassing, watering my plants, spouting off lectures, calling me names. . ." Kaito counted off, rolling to the side as he pinned Miki beneath him. Blue eyes were shining with absolute triumph and thin lips were spread out in a wide grin. "For having such a nice pretty set of lips, it's pretty hard to imagine all the mean things that slip out of them."

Miki glared up at him, cheeks colored a faint red, evidently not liking the turn of events at all. "Get off, I haven't finished fighting with you!"

"I'm sure you'll pick it up where you left off." He leaned down to playfully nip at the redhead's chin, then her collarbone, her shoulder. . . "You always do."

"B-Bakaito! Thi-this is disgusting! You're wet and sweaty and Kozaki-san is going to kill me once he sees the grass stains on my new dre—"

The rest of her words were muffled against his mouth as she felt his fingers lightly graze her thigh. There would be time for arguing later, Miki decided, as she reached her hands up to loosen Kaito's scarf.