Disclaimer : I don't own Skip Beat!

Salt

He knew that she was angry with him. He was actually kind of happy that she was angry. It kind of told him that she cared if he treated the other girl gently. He really only thought of the petite girl as a scared hamster. She looked like one after all.

He had told Setsu so but the girl still looked angry. She might think that he wasn't aware but it showed on her face. From the messy pile of food before him, it was really clear. He thought that she would scare the poor hamster that instant with her fierce look but she didn't. He was a little disappointed with that.

He started to eat his food in silence.

When he heard the door clicked, he knew that it was Setsu coming back. She had told him that she wouldn't take long.

It was Setsu, alright. The girl walked in and put the thermos of hot water on the table. He eyed her every movement with a smile on his face.

"What?" She asked when she noticed his gaze on her. She was making a pot of hot tea for both of them.

"Nothing. I love looking at you."

His answer made her stunned for several seconds. She didn't look at him and resumed with her tea making.

He frowned. Then he sighed and continued eating.

Their head snapped up from their food when they heard several excited knocks on the door. They looked at each other.

"Maybe it's the director," Setsu said. "Just continue eating. I will open the door."

Cain nodded.

Setsu stood up and went to the door. She opened the door and her eyes widened when a bullet like shadow slipped in. Her eyes narrowed when she acknowledged the shadow.

The hamster girl actually got in before Setsu let her in. She had just opened the door and she tried to tamp down her anger when she saw that girl pestered her niisan.

Cain was surprised upon seeing the hamster girl. The girl stared at him with gleams in her eyes. When the hamster girl opened her mouth and bugged him with nonstop chattering about how Cain was just like Kyoushirou, the hero in a manga, he wanted to snap instantly but figured that it was best to just ignore her.

He was still eating and went with his decision to completely ignore the girl's presence. He thought that she would just leave if he didn't bother with her. On top of that, he felt Setsu's gaze on him.

After closing the door, Setsu leant against the wall with her arms crossed across her chest. Her gaze looked as cold as the ice. Her lips pursed tight but she still didn't do anything to help him or sit down with him.

"You should really come and join us for dinner. I promise they're all good people," Manaka said.

Cain was finally at his limit upon hearing the nonstop chirping. Cain glared daggers at her and said, "Annoying! Go away!"

"Kyaa, you know that you're actually a good person. You just did that because…"

Cain stood up and Manaka followed him like a chick with the mother hen. "You did that just because you're not used to being around people, right? Right? Right? You're actually gentle like Kyoushirou-sama."

Cain walked towards Setsu, still ignoring Manaka and asked, "Setsu, do we have salt?"

"Salt?" Setsu raised her brows. "I guess so."

"Get me some salt!"

"Okay!" Setsu walked off to the other table and gathered ten or so sachets of salt.

When she was beside Cain again, she resisted an urge to slap the girl silly. That girl actually reached out both her hands to hold Cain's arm and kind of try to pull him with her though Cain didn't budge at all.

Cain swatted away the persistent hands and the girl fell down on the floor. Cain opened the door and pulled on the girl's collar and threw her out of their room.

"No, this is not Kyoushirou-sama," Manaka cried. "You're just not yourself. Please go back to becoming the gentle heart Kyoushirou-sama!"

When he saw Setsu was beside him again, he held out his right hand. "Setsu, salt! All of those!"

Setsu tore down all the sachets and poured it on his hand. She still didn't get what he wanted to do with the salt. She thought maybe he would sprinkle it on their door for after the girl left to ward off all bad spirits. She wouldn't know.

With salt on his large palm, he glared down at the still chirping petite girl with all her nonsense Kyoushirou talk.

The girl was stunned when she saw Cain's scary look. He looked like he wanted to kill her. She now realised that the guy was really angry at her though she didn't understand why.

"Don't ever come to this room and talk to me, ever again, hamster girl!" Cain said and threw the salt on her.

She blinked when she felt the salt on her face. Her tears fell down. The salt got into her eyes. Her eyes hurt and she started to cry loudly.

Setsu also blinked and almost blurted out a laugh. No girl deserved that kind of treatment but it was funny.

"Manaka-chan, there you are…" Their heads snapped up to Murasame. Murasame walked fast towards the still sitting on the floor Manaka. "Told you that this guy is no good bum and did you listen to me?"

Manaka still cried loudly.

"What did you do to her?" Murasame snapped.

"You should have your pet in control so then it won't go bother people." Cain shrugged. "Bye!"

With that Cain closed the door in a loud thud, leaving a crying Manaka and gobsmacked Murasame.

Cain let out a relieved sigh. "Hamster could be a pest as well. Well, after all, it's part of the rodent family, a rat? Remind me to never pat one again, ever!"

"You're so contradicting. Well, and one more. Salt is to ward bad spirits off, niisan," Setsu reminded.

Cain shrugged nonchalantly. "I read on certain site that Japanese would sometimes use it to shoo unwanted persons or animals." Cain patted Setsu head softly then went towards the table to continue his lunch.

Setsu shrugged and followed suit.

A/N : I hope I'm not too cruel! Haha! This is a challenge issued by my beta reader. And well, Manaka got on my nerves with her fan-girling action in chapter 199. Didn't she know how to hold back? *sigh*

I need to add these words here. I am terribly sorry for the spoiler. I didn't know that the English translation hasn't out yet so probably most of you haven't even read chapter 199. I read chapter 199 in Baidu but of course it's in Chinese. To those that could read Chinese, you can Google with keyword "Skip Beat Baidu". It would appear. As for those that couldn't, at least you can enjoy the pictures?

Thanks to Shiroyuki76 for proofreading this one shot, and for the challenge!