A/N: I asked you, and most of you chose this one. You know, I read some parts of the other two choices and realized that the first one is the "naughtiest" and the third choice is the "funniest". This story is the simplest. I guess the title is quite deceiving ;)

Anyway, I'd like to repeat what I said before. In Excapades B, both Sachiko and Yumi are adults and that they are together already.

The title meant literally, okay? ;)

And, I never owned Sachiko and Yumi, no matter what.

Moreover, read at your own risk!

Here's my 18th story!

"Excapade (B) 01: Lady on Top"

---Arvendell---

Chapter 1

Fukuzawa Yumi pushed the door quietly and peeked inside. She saw Ogasawa Sachiko's, her love and partner's, back facing the door. She could tell by her posture that Sachiko was deep in thought at whatever she was doing at the laptop. She sighed as she slowly pulled the door close, and with quiet steps, walked back towards their bedroom.

She was worried.

Sachiko had been so busy this week that they hardly talked save greetings when Sachiko arrived at the afternoon and when Sachiko left at the morning.

As Yumi once again lay in their bed, she tried to get some sleep. But she couldn't. Her mind was full of anxiety for Sachiko. Sachiko hardly slept at night for the past several days. She had been leaving for work early in the morning, coming late in the afternoon or sometimes night, and when she was at their home, she was still busy with work, even during the weekends.

What if she got sick with too much working? That would be bad.

After an hour of rolling and tossing in bed, Yumi sat up and took a look at the alarm clock. It was already 1:00 in the morning, and Sachiko was still at the study. She decided to go back there and this time, to urge Sachiko to get some rest. But probably she needed not to, because she saw Sachiko asleep with her head resting on her arms at the table. She must have fallen asleep while typing because she could see unfinished document at the screen of the laptop. Quietly, she saved Sachiko's work and turned the laptop off, before she gently touched Sachiko's shoulders.

"Sachiko, you have to go to our room," she whispered. She didn't want to wake her, but Sachiko could rest better lying on the bed rather than sitting there.

"Hmm…Yumi?" Sachiko said with sleepy eyes.

"Come on," Yumi urged, guiding Sachiko to her feet. She led her to their room right into their bed and tucked Sachiko in. As soon as Sachiko's back hit the soft bed, she fell asleep.

She studied her sleeping yet tired face for a while. They needed to talk about Sachiko being so workaholic. However, that was for some other time, she thought, before she kissed Sachiko's forehead gently and then joined her in bed to get some sleep, too.

---o---

"I'm not saying that you should not work when you're at home, Sachiko. All I'm asking is for you to get some rest, too. Look at you, you look so tired," Yumi explained when Sachiko's expression turned into an annoyed one when she told her to get some sleep.

"It's past 11:00 PM already," Yumi continued.

However, since Sachiko had many things to do and was also tired, her temper immediately flared at Yumi's request for them to get some sleep. That and the fact that she was a bit guilty of neglecting Yumi. But she really had too much to do to sleep early.

"You need not to wait for me to go to bed, Yumi. You can go to sleep ahead. I told you already, I wouldn't mind. It was you who's insisting to stay awake while I'm working."

"Because I'm worried about you. You probably won't get some sleep if I'm not asking you," Yumi said in frustration. If before she was worried for Sachiko, now she was sure that if Sachiko didn't stop working too much and too late at nights, or make that until dawn, she would get sick.

"I told you I'm perfectly fine. I know my own capacity. I know when to stop."

"Do you really? Look at you, you've lost weight. You look so tired."

"What is it really that you're complaining about, Yumi?" Sachiko asked impatiently. She needed to finish something for the next company meeting and arguing with Yumi wouldn't help her finish the job.

"I'm complaining that you're not getting enough rest and pretty soon you'll get sick," Yumi said in exasperation. Sachiko was being her stubborn self. While at times she found it endearing, now she did not, not when it was Sachiko's well-being that was at the stake.

"Don't worry, I won't ask you to take care of me when that happens. I could just hire someone to do that for me."

Yumi's eyes widened.

"I'm not saying that I won't take care of you when you got sick. Why can't you get my point? I don't want you to get sick," Yumi said, gritting her teeth.

"Or is this because I've been neglecting my other duties, is that what is it, Yumi?" Sachiko continued, as if Yumi didn't speak.

"What other duties?" Yumi asked in confusion, forgetting her exasperation.

If they weren't arguing, Sachiko would have smiled at Yumi's expression. She really looked charming like that, like she used to when they were in high school.

"Bed duties."

Yumi's jaw clenched as she fought her blush. How did Sachiko arrive into that conclusion, she didn't know.

"I'm not saying that, and you know that's not what I meant. Besides, you're probably too tired to even lift your hand, let alone do that," she said, slowly getting impatient, too.

Yumi knew that it wasn't a good idea to argue with Sachiko when the latter was tired, but then, when would be that time if Sachiko was always tired because she wasn't getting enough rest? She would probably have to wait in months and still that wouldn't change unless Sachiko listened to her.

That was the last straw for Sachiko. She didn't want to admit that Yumi was right about her not getting enough rest.

"I knew it. So that's why you've been acting cold at me now, because I'm not…"

"Stop it!" Yumi cut Sachiko off. "You know perfectly well that that isn't the issue here. If you don't want to get some rest, then fine. Do as you please."

"Of course. I would and could have finished some of the many things that I have to do if you aren't being inconsiderate, Yumi. And then I would probably get some rest early like you wanted me to."

"What?!" Yumi exclaimed. And I was the one who was being inconsiderate, she thought. She was about to say something when Sachiko turned to the papers in her table and started reading them, completely ignoring her. The act made her lost all her patience. Without another word, she left Sachiko alone.

Once Yumi was out of the study, Sachiko put the papers back on the table and rubbed her temples. She felt so tired. She hated arguing with Yumi. What had gotten into her, provoking her like that? All Yumi wanted was to take care of her.

A/N: It had been such a long time since I posted something during the weekend. I'm bored, that's why I'm in front of the computer right now, something that I hardly do anymore during the weekends unless it's very important. In fact, my boredom from Friday night to Saturday night had resulted to writing two Excapades, something which I also didn't do in a long time. You can expect it after I completed posting Love Will Lead You Back.

I'm not sure how long those two stories are because I wrote them in scratched papers (I can think better that way, in fact, except A Dream Come True, Taking Chances, The Princess Sleeps Tonight, some chapters of In A Rush, and the revised version of Love Will Lead You Back, every story I wrote were first written in papers ;)

My estimate is Handcuffs (that's the title and it's your idea Ayou - if you're reading this - during Little by Little) has 3-4 chapters, and The Gift has 6-8 chapters. Mind you, the latter will be the most detailed I ever wrote (in terms of the ex part). Let's just see if I'll tone it down once I encoded it ;)

Oh, and did you know that I was smiling most of the time that I was writing those two stories? ;) Actually, I do smile a lot when I'm writing, except for the sad ones like Blame It To My Heart and Love Will Lead You Back ;) That's why I hardly write when there are people around me. They'll think I've gone crazy :) :)

2 November 2008

4:00 PM