A/N: I heart Keigo. He's just so….awesome.
Wealth, looks, power. Arrogant, determined, and also ridiculously stubborn.
He had women all over the country falling over themselves to catch a glimpse of him, and not simply because he was the heir to the Atobe Zaibatsu. It was because he was one of the best-looking young men in the country.
"Atobe-sama was crafted by the most gifted of angels. He is stunning, and he's MINE to marry." They would say.
Women fought over him more than they did at the supermarket for the last fish. You would be surprised how much they fought for fish, if you only knew….
And Keigo knew this.
And he used it to his advantage.
Atobe waited quietly in one of the many sitting rooms in his mansion. The room had been decorated with the purpose of complimenting him in mind, and was done in simple royal purple and gold. Everything was silk and velvet, or expensive mahogany and oak.
The chair he sat in was soft and comfortable, one he had picked out for himself. It was done in solid wood, polished to a shine, with curving paws as it's legs and velvet cushions lining the armrest. The back of the chair extended high above his head, lined with deep maroon velvet befitting of a king's throne.
In his long, pale fingers, Atobe held a glass of his favorite fruit punch, waiting patiently.
He had been waiting for an hour now.
His grip tightened on the stem of the glass, and the maid who had been sent to wait on him flinched.
Atobe was angry.
Who was the foolish being that had stood him up?
Head of the Atobe Keigo fanclub, Asakura Reiko dozed quietly in her bed, ignorant of the fact that she was supposed to have been awake two whole hours ago.
Her mobile, a blue and gray contraption with a plain four-leaf clover keychain, began rattling against her bedside table. Frowning into her pillow, Reiko reached for her phone and looked blearily at the Caller ID.
BigHead Keigo.
Hmmmm….
What was the time now? She squinted at the numbers in the corner.
Twelve thirty-four….
What day was it?
Saturday. Right. She slept in on Saturdays. Screw BigHead Keigo, she was going back to sleep.
Flinging her phone back onto the table, Reiko buried herself into her bed and drifted back to slumberland.
Atobe seethed.
He couldn't believe he was chasing after that slip of a girl who dared to stand him up. But the only thing he knew about the president of his fanclub was that she was from his school, her work was flawless, despite her lazy nature, and her name was Asakura Reiko.
A plebian name, a plebian person.
It seemed that she was asking for a lesson in courtesy and etiquette.
Alright, it had been a bit unreasonable to demand her presence at eleven last night because he wanted to look over the pictures they had taken of him during yesterday's practice, but there was nothing wrong in wanting his flawless personality to be displayed to its fullest potential.
And so, he waited.
Reiko yawned, stretched, and rolled over in her bed before straightening and standing. Bending down to reach for her toes, Reiko tickled her insteps with the tips of her fingers as she felt her bones pop, and straightened.
The room was dark, as she had drawn the curtains before going to sleep. The maids didn't dare enter the room without her express permission. Pressing a button next to her head, Reiko watched the curtains draw back and fold in on themselves, revealing
the expanse of blue, blue sky outside of her third floor bedroom.
Ah, she loved Saturdays. No need to suffocate under the pressure of other sex-starved girls, no boys, and best of all, no one to interrupt her lazing about.
Then, she remembered.
She had woken up once before this, and someone had been calling her.
Who was it again?
Oh well, she could just check. Picking up her mobile, Reiko pressed a button.
BigHead Keigo, Missed calls [2]
Wow, the great Atobe Keigo had called her TWICE.
Reiko glanced out of the window. No signs of flying pigs. So maybe Atobe Keigo was capable of being impatient as well….
There was something approaching the house though.
Something that was flying….and black.
A helicopter.
Hmmm, but her home was….deep in the woods….
Then, she glimpsed the Atobe logo on the helicopter, and screamed.
Atobe had been waiting for four hours straight.
Frustrated, he had contacted several individuals to find out Asakura Reiko's home residence, and how to get there. Within the hour, he was in his personal helicopter and on his way over.
If she had started printing the pictures already, then all would be ruined.
Strangely, Reiko's home was situated deep in the woods to the north of Japan, located near a beach and a sea cliff. It was larger than his home in town, but older. He landed on her lawn and stepped out, looking about at the place as the copter settled.
Green everywhere.
A plebian color, he decided. Then, the doors to the old stone mansion were flung open, and a pair of maids bowed.
"This way please, Atobe-sama."
Reiko brushed and flossed her teeth faster than she had ever brushed and flossed anything, and pulled her hair into a ponytail with forceful jerks of the comb, separating the knots with her fingers as the comb pulled at her scalp.
She changed out of her underwear, seeing as she slept in the nude, and pulled on the most formal things she had in her weekend home. A plain white button up shirt, and jeans.
Cursing Atobe Keigo's existence, she grabbed her make-up bag and was dipping a brush in a tub of gel eyeliner as a maid knocked on the door.
"Atobe-sama has been seated in the study by his request and is asking for ojou-sama."
Damn it, no time to doll up. Slapping lip balm on, Reiko popped a mint into her mouth and shoved her feet into a pair or flats.
She hated men. Especially Atobe Keigo.
Keigo looked down at the cup of tea that had been served to him in surprise. English raspberry, his favorite.
He had gotten the habit of drinking tea in England, where he had studied for the better part of his life. It brought back fond memories of beating those arrogant British into the ground with his superior intellect and tennis.
But for now, he was not in the proper mood to enjoy his favorite tea. The door to the impressively stocked study was swung open, and Reiko walked in, her usual confident glide impeded by the absence of heels.
In fact, that was not the only thing missing.
When Keigo saw her in official capacity, Reiko was always dressed immaculately in the Hyoutei girl's uniform, the skirt the proper length of just above the knees, and her black socks were pulled high, her shoes giving her about an extra inch in height. Her hair was always loose and perfectly coiled, and her face flawless with ivory skin, her plain eyes outlined in black to make the whites stand out, her lips glossed.
But today, she wore a plain shirt and jeans, her hair was up in a ponytail, the curled tips coiling about her shoulders and neck. She wore no make-up, and there was a rather fetching pink flush in her usually pale cheeks, and she looked extremely flustered.
Good.
Keigo stood to tower over her as she stopped in front of him, inclining her head politely. She seemed so small and different. He realized he had sort of been expecting her to be in her school uniform on a weekend.
"Keigo-sama. Is there a particular reason you made your way all the way out here?" Reiko asked, sitting in a chair a maid had left for her.
Keigo was glad to see despite the casual clothing, she still sat tall and straight.
"Ore-sama has informed you that he would like to see you this morning. Did you not receive my message?"
Reiko's expression was blank.
"Um, no." She eventually replied, snagging a small triangular sandwich from the tray in between them and biting into it almost viciously. There was a wild, desperate look about her that told Keigo he had interrupted her plans for the day.
He recognized it for what it was, because when that happened to him, he often adopted a similar expression. But then, things rarely went wrong for him.
Well, it was poetic justice, because she had interrupted his plans for the day anyway, even if there weren't exactly any plans at all.
Her teeth were even and white and she nibbled at the sandwich, accepting the cup of milk tea her maid handed her with stable fingers. Her nails were trimmed and even, just like his own.
"Well, I have sent you a message informing you that I would like to take a look at the material the girls have collected during yesterday's practice at eleven this morning. However, no one turned up." Atobe raised an expectant brow.
"I apologize, Keigo-sama. If I had received your message before I left the city, I would have made it in time."
"Are you implying it is ore-sama's fault that you cannot accomplish a simple task?"
I'm not implying it's your fault. It IS your fault.
"Of course not, Keigo-sama. The fault lies with me. Could I get back to you tomorrow?"
"Fine. Ore-sama shall overlook this mistake and allow you one more day to pull yourself into order. I shall expect the material ready on Monday."
"Of course, Keigo-sama. Will there be anything else?"
"No." Keigo stood and turned his nose up at her.
"Well then, I shall walk you out." Reiko said, smiling and hoping he would hurry up and leave.
Keigo walked out of the mansion, pausing before the door of the copter closed behind him. His gray eyes pierced into Reiko.
"Monday, Reiko."
"Yes, Keigo-sama. I understand." Reiko stepped back, and the helicopter lifted into the air.
Had he just really took a helicopter all the way over to her place to tell her how to do her work?
Indeed, Atobe Keigo was more than just his namesake. To Reiko, he was just an ordinary rich pretty boy.
And that made all the difference in the world.