Summary: About 3 years after the series. Kagami ponders on Tendou Souji's protectiveness, and whether he would get himself a girlfriend. Kagami/Hiyori. A wee bit of Tendou/Renge if you squint hard enough.

A/N: First fic, from a about thousand of supposed-to-be firsts. Methinks the Kamen Rider series could use a little more rabu-rabu.

Disclaimer: Kamen Rider Kabuto's characters and storyline are not mine. Yeah.


01. Romantically Inept?

Kagami slumped tiredly on one of the wooden chairs of Bistro La Salle. He was exhausted. Their department was very busy these days, and for almost a month he has been working overtime. And the hot weather wasn't helping either.

Looking up he saw Hiyori walking towards him from the kitchen, holding a pen and a pad. She stopped in front of him, not even gracing a smile. "What would you be getting?"

"Oh… uh, the usual," said Kagami, blinking. He offered a small smile.

Then he cringed as Hiyori glared at him. Without another word, she turned around and went back to the kitchen.

Kagami sighed. What did he do now? He knew Hiyori was not much of an affectionate person, but that was just weird. He could have sworn that her look earlier had murderous intent.

What did I forget? Come on... think, think! He was quite sure it was not about the bird seeds she asked him to buy the other day. He brought it in time, didn't he? Yesterday? Well, it was another late night for him yesterday because of the briefing and... Oh. Oh no.

Clumsily, he reached for his phone. It read: 10 e-mails received. 7 missed calls.

Kagami hit his head on the table.

If there was one thing Hiyori hated, it was not returning her messages or calls. Why, oh why did he forget to check his cellphone after the briefing? Or even this morning?

He checked one of the messages. "Have you arrived home? Come by the Bistro tomorrow at lunch, I'll be trying my new recipe for tofu. -Hiyori."

Kagami again hit his head in frustration. He was in big trouble now.

"Kagami-san!" Two voices disrupted his line of thinking. Tendou Jyuka and Takatori Renge stepped into Bistro La Salle with a bounce.

They were an odd yet refreshing combination. Renge was working full time in the Bistro these days. Jyuka also works here, though temporarily, only until summer break ends.

He nodded as Renge disappeared behind the kitchen curtains. Jyuka, in a particularly good mood, sat in front of him.

"Ne, ne, Kagami-san!" Jyuka said in a hush. "What did you do this time?"

"Eh... eh?" Kagami looked at the youngest Tendou incredulously.

"You know, Hiyori nee-chan wasn't in a good mood this morning, so I suspected..." she smiled charmingly, "ne, so what did you do?"

Kagami sighed once more. This girl was just too smart for her own good. He briefly wondered on how the whole Tendou household was sorely distressing him. First Hiyori, now this. And he didn't want to start on the one who presumably walks the path to heaven.

He was about to answer her when the door opened once more.

"Ah, onii-chan!" Jyuka stood and waved in front of him.

Kagami turned around.

Tendou Souji stood by the door, holding a cylindrical container in his hand. He smiled at her youngest sister. And then he glared at Kagami, with a stunning resemblance to that of Hiyori's look earlier.

Surely, heaven was against him today.

"You'd better stay for lunch here Jyuka-chan," the oldest Tendou said as he went straight for the kitchen, "Hiyori is cooking up something good with the tofu I bought today."

"Hai, hai, onii-chan!" The girl stood and promptly saluted as his brother passed by.

Kagami stared at his retreating form. He wondered if that's all he would be getting after three years of friendship... if that's what you would call it. Frankly, he thought he should be getting more credit.

Well, of course, there was the fact that he was responsible for his beloved sister's sour mood today. He idly thought if he was getting any of that tofu.

"Are you going somewhere, Jyuka-chan?" Kagami asked, noticing that the girl was a little freshened up.

"Oh.. un." The girl nodded with a hint of a blush. "Takamura-kun and I will go watch a movie later."

"Ah.. Takamura, eh?" Kagami smiled.

He still remembered the first time Jyuka showed an interest in the boy. It was one of the times when almost all people he knew were at the Bistro to have dinner. Dinner started and her friend suddenly popped the question.


"Ne, Jyuka-chan, did Takamura ask you out on a date? He wanted to talk to you after homeroom, right?"

Suddenly, all eyes were on the girl at question. She blushed and looked down.

"Um, yes, he did."

The sound of a fallen spoon was heard, and Tendou Souji fell from his seat. A look of pure shock was upon his features. "I-Is it that time already?"

People stared at Tendou. He walked clumsily towards Jyuka, and asked pleadingly, "Di-did you say y-yes?"

By this time, Jyuka was scarlet. She nodded.

For almost ten excruciating seconds, the oldest Tendou just stared into space. The people in the room continued to stare at him.

When he finally gained a bit of composure, he said crisply, his eyes sharp, "Who is this Takamura?"


And for a week straight, it was as if the oldest Tendou was in some sort of trance, always mumbling to himself. Once, he almost cooked Hiyori's apron.

Knowing about him and Hiyori however, was not a comical episode.

It was almost half a year after the final battle when he started noticing his growing feelings for the girl. During that time he was still working part-time at the Bistro, even though he just started working in the police force. Yumiko, ever wise, noticed this. With a lot of help from her, he mustered up his courage to ask her out on a date - after a month or so, that is.

Surprisingly, she said yes. He didn't really think that Hiyori would like him, or even consider liking him. They weren't really that… sweet with each other. Hiyori would always roll her eyes at his tardiness, and he was a most likely target of her sharp comments. But he found that through the days she has been a constant source of comfort. It seemed that his day wouldn't be complete without even a glimpse of Hiyori.

The date went well. A few weeks passed and it seemed that they were going out too often.

Only their employer knew what was happening. They decided to wait a few more days before telling everyone else.

But it seemed that a few more days was a bit too late.


Tendou Souji walked inside Bistro La Salle and stopped in front of Kagami, "Kagami Arata," he sneered. "Follow me."

Not liking the sound of his tone, he hastily followed Tendou outside.

Tendou led him to an open area. The fact that Tendou wasn't talking didn't help either. He really didn't like the looks of this.

"What is it, Tendou?" Kagami shouted. They were now face-to-face, a few meters away from each other.

In a blink of an eye, Tendou charged at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Kagami dodged Tendou's right hand. "Tendou!! what..."

Tendou suddenly stopped.

"Tell me." He looked Kagami in the eye. "Do you love her?"

Kagami looked back at him without wavering. "Yes. More than anything else."

"I see. And do you-"

"Tendou, you know me better than that," he cut him off. "It doesn't matter to me. I accept everything that she is... her past and present." Kagami paused, his eyes not leaving his. "And I want to be part of her future."

The air was still for some time. Neither showed a sign of moving or even talking.

The sound of footsteps broke their silence. Looking behind them, they saw Hiyori.

Hiyori stepped in between them and faced his older brother. "Nii-san, I.." Hiyori breathed deeply.

"Hiyori..."Kagami began.

"Nii-san," she cut him off, looking at his brother with a determined look in her eyes, "I... I really like being with Arata. "

Kagami was taken aback by this sudden confession. He didn't expect Hiyori to tell her feelings like that to her brother.

She continued. "When I'm with him, I feel that I'm the most important person in the world. And I... I want him also to feel that. That he means that much to me." She looked again at her brother. "And when he's around, I feel safe... safer than I've ever been... with myself, with my feelings."

"Nii-san, you don't have to protect me all the time. But whatever happens, you're still my brother. Nothing's going to change that. So you don't have to worry."

Hiyori's words rang through the air. She seldom said anything, but when she did, she meant it with all her mind, heart and soul.

Tendou's eyes softened. "I understand." He walked towards her and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry."

Hiyori smiled at him. "We're sorry for not telling you earlier." She then turned to face Kagami, and laced her fingers with his. The couple looked at Tendou.

Tendou nodded.

"Kagami Arata. Take very good care of her." And then he left.


He wondered whether there was too much drama on that particular incident. But he expected nothing less of Tendou, especially regarding Hiyori. Her identity was a very sensitive issue, and he surmised that it was hard for Tendou to entrust anyone with Hiyori's feelings.

But looking back, he was quite satisfied at how things turned out after that. Even though the next day, he would immediately be the subject of Tendou's scrutiny.

Kagami suddenly had an idea.

"Ne, Jyuka-chan," Kagami asked. "Does your brother ever consider having a girlfriend?"

It was a weird question, really. But now that he thought about it, wasn't it weirder that his younger siblings were a lot more romantically accomplished than him?

"Eeeeeeh!!" Jyuka's eyes widened. She sat once more, suddenly interested in the topic of conversation.

Kagami gave Jyuka a look which urged her to go on.

"I haven't thought about that, really! Onii-chan hasn't really been showing signs of liking anyone since... well, since I've known him." She rested her chin on her right hand. And then, she asked with some urgency, "Why, do you think he likes someone?"

Kagami was at a loss. "Ah, no... not really. To tell you the truth, I just thought of it... I don't really know whether he likes someone or not."

Jyuka pouted. "Aww. That's too bad. I was wondering if..."

A clanging noise was heard from the kitchen. Suddenly, Tendou and Renge were pushed out of the kitchen by the boss.

"Renge, maybe you should just get the orders." Yumiko barked. "And Tendou-san, if you want to be able to eat Hiyori-chan's cooking, maybe you should just sit and wait. You're not officially part of my kitchen are you?"

It seemed that Yumiko was a bit touchy today.

"Oh, and Renge, dear, serve this one to Arata-kun."

"Hai!" Getting the food from the service window, Renge promptly set the food in front of Kagami.

Kagami almost forgot that he ordered something. Tendou sat beside them as he started to eat. Jyuka-chan started complaining something about summer break being too short.

As he was eating, he again started to ponder on Tendou's lack of love life. Didn't he like someone? Or is the path to heaven requiring him to be celibate?

The bell rang, and in came a customer, a man in dressed in a suit.

"Irasshai!" Renge greeted. "Oh, it's you again, mister!"

"Ah, well... yes." The man cleared his throat. "I've taken a certain liking on the menu..."

Jyuka whispered "More like a certain liking on someone..."

"...offered in this restaurant."

"Ah, is that so? Well have a seat then!" Renge led him to a seat. "What will you be having?"

Looking at the Jyuka, Kagami asked, "What did you mean by that?"

"Eh... isn't it obvious?" Jyuka blinked. "That mister likes Renge-chan. Being here for nine straight days is a strange thing isn't it?" The girl pondered.

"Well, not really... I mean, I go here everyday..." Kagami said.

"Well, of course you do! Hiyori nee-chan's here!" Jyuka laughed. "And besides, that mister works far from here. He takes at least 2 hours to get here."

"Eh?!" Kagami exclaimed.

"And how is it that know that, Jyuka-chan?" Now, even Tendou was interested.

"Well, the first time he was here, it seemed he was with some officemates. After eating, I overheard one of them saying, 'The food was great, wasn't it? Too bad we can't afford to travel 2 hours every day just to go here.'"

"The next day I saw that man come back again. And it really seems to me that he has that habit of looking at Renge-chan every now and then."

Kagami and Tendou looked at the man. Indeed, he was now stealing filthy glances at the former soldier, who was now entertaining a new set of costumers.

Suddenly, Tendou was pointing his hand to the ceiling. "Obaa-chan said this: 'The heart of a maiden is not worthy of a man with ignoble intentions'." With that, he stood up and went to help Renge serve dishes.

"Oi! Tendou.." He was sure weird, thought Kagami. Surely he didn't think that Renge couldn't take care of herself?

"Ah, sishou! Arigatou for helping!" Renge said, looking over at her master.

As if on cue, a tray flew as Renge tripped on one of the chairs.

Okay, so Renge was a little clumsy, Kagami thought. And truth be told, she was a little too innocent for her age. And by the looks of it, the man interested in her did not look innocent at all.

The man saw this as an opportunity. "Ojou-san! Are you.."

But before the man could stand up to help the fallen Renge, Tendou made sure his order was placed in front of him.

"Here's your order, sir. Enjoy," Tendou remarked, with a hint of a smirk. Obviously disappointed, the man was forced to remain seated while Renge helped herself up.

Kagami raised an eyebrow. Tendou sure was protective. He briefly wondered if he'd do the same thing if someone had the hots for Yumiko-san. He then noticed that Jyuka's face was all scrunched up.

"Jyuka-chan, what's wrong?" Kagami asked, eyebrow still raised.

"Oh, I was just thinking..." Jyuka said. "'The heart of a maiden?' I wonder when obaa-chan ever said such a thing?"

Just then, Hiyori stepped out of the kitchen, bringing with her the tofu she prepared. She placed one plate in front of Jyuka and another in front of the empty seat beside him, probably for Tendou.

She did not even spare him a glance as she made her way back to the kitchen.

"Suuuuper! Arigatou, Hiyori nee-chan!" Jyuka exclaimed. She then stared at Kagami. "Ne, Kagami-san. What DID you do?"

For the third time, Kagami sighed. He decided that he needed ignore Tendou's love life for the time being. Right now, he had to think of a way of making sure that Hiyori would not be having his head later.


Reviews are very much appreciated.