Hey everyone! Thanks to all the lovely reviewers who made me very happy. ;3 Thank you to katy007, blessed-with-a-curse, anon, Depthmon, January and Etheron, and The Illustionest.

I'm running short on time, so I can't reply to your individual reviews here right now… Except that one will slightly be addressed to one. Er… confusing?

Thanks to January and Etheron for giving me Ryo's dad's name. I searched everywhere for it and couldn't find it… So I made up Akira Akiyama. x3 Except I think I'm going to keep it as that now… I've written three chapters of this already, and I am now attached to the name for some reason. xD I just love the way it sounds! But uh anyway, thank you for telling me his real name. ;D

Okay here we go!

Chapter Two: Public Humiliation, part one

"And who are you two lovely ladies?"

Rika glowered at him. Since when did speed dating get a sleazy bouncer? As Rumiko was a terrible liar, Rika had been put in charge of getting them in. "We're the Nonaka sisters," she said, remembering the words her mother – aka sister for tonight – had told her. Ugh. "She's Rumiko Nonaka, and I'm… Ruki." She sighed. "I'm very protective of my sister, so I wanted to come along."

The bouncer grinned. "Sorry, honey, but this is a catered event. We don't have any extra seats for anyone."

"I don't need a seat," Rika argued. "I'll just stand there. Really."

"It's not really about the seats," said the bouncer. "It's about the amount of food we have for everyone here."

"Do we look like we eat much?" Rumiko asked sweetly, smiling at him.

"Of course not, you two have perfect figures!"

"Then you won't mind letting us in for the price of one," Rika snapped. "Unless you're calling us fat. In which case, my sister would be very upset. She might sue. She's in the modeling business, and they're allowed to sue if anyone calls them fat." Hopefully he had no brain whatsoever.

"Okay, okay, go on in," he said. "Just don't tell anyone, right?" He grinned. "If you're still available afterwards, I'd love to take you out! Either one of you!"

Rumiko smiled, and Rika was glad to see she'd taken over. "We'll see," the model said coyly, then wiggled her fingers at him. The two entered the speed dating building.

"That was disgusting," Rika muttered. "I can't believe we were both hit on at the same time."

"By someone older than both our ages combined, I'm sure," Rumiko giggled. "Ooh, Rika, this is exciting!"

"Ruki, remember?" Rika reminded her.

Rumiko wasn't listening, though. She hurried over to the arrangement of tables, where she found her name quickly and sat down. Rika headed over as well, feeling self-conscious. It seemed like everyone else was already there, and some of the men were leering at her. Gross. Why had her mom talked her into wearing this?

Rika looked down at herself. This was terrible. She wore a dress Rumiko had bought her, one of the many she'd shoved in her closet and had never tried on. It was a silky reddish-purple color, and Rika hoped it wasn't a sign that it resembled a bridesmaid's dress. The dress had thin straps and a scoop neck. A sash was around the empire waist, tied in back with a large bow. The dress fell to mid-calf, and Rika was wearing some of Rumiko's smaller heels to go with it. The girl scowled as she had to pull up the dress again. It fit her perfectly, but showed a little bit too much cleavage. For Rika, any bit was too much.

It didn't help that her mother had painted her face with makeup. Rika didn't know what she'd done, but she looked like she was an actual adult. Her hair was down and Rumiko had curled it so it fell in loose auburn waves around her thin shoulders. She barely recognized herself in the mirror.

Yes, she looked legal. Maybe that was why so many of the balding men in suits were ogling her. Irritated and tired of their stares, she headed over to the food table and began scooping food onto her plate.

"Hey," came a voice behind her. A male voice. Was she about to get hit on again?

Rika spun around, violet eyes narrowed. She was surprised, though, at the man who the voice belonged to. More of a guy than a man, actually – which was why she was so surprised. He looked like he was her age. Okay, maybe a bit older. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and a sort of lopsided smile on his face. Rika was annoyed to see that he wore jeans. What the hell? All the other guys were dressed up. Rumiko had told her that it was a formal event. She was even more annoyed to note that he was attractive. But not her type at all. He was wearing a sweater. She didn't like guys who wore sweaters. She barely liked guys at all. They were only bearable as friends, but once you started thinking they were more than that, you were expecting too much of them. They didn't know how to deal with stuff like that. Rika had been trained well in the Art of Men according to Rumiko, and she knew that they were only after one thing. Hopefully she could get rid of him before he tried to get this from her.

"I am happily married," Rika said in a monotonous voice.

The guy looked confused.

-x-

They were almost late, traffic was so bad. But they finally pulled up in front of the building and got out.

"Speed dating?" Ryo said in shock, reading the sign by the door. He looked to his father. He was blowing off his birthday dinner for speed dating?

"Hurry," was all Akira said. They walked up the steps, Ryo feeling like an idiot. He didn't want to be speed-dated! It was his first night as an adult. Did he really have to do this?

"Names?" asked the bouncer outside.

"Akira Akiyama," said Ryo's father. "And this is Rei Makino."

"Thanks," the man said. "Go on in."

Ryo and Akira entered the building, and Akira looked at his son. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. You can just wait… Look, there's a girl over there just waiting too." He pointed towards an older girl in a purple dress leaning boredly against the wall.

Ryo nodded with relief. "Okay," he said. "See you afterwards. Good luck…"

"Thank you, Ryo." Akira headed off to find his name.

Ryo's mother Emily had only been dead three years. Had Akira been dating the whole time Ryo was gone? The boy felt like he was going to throw up. Didn't his dad still miss her? Ryo thought about his mother every day. And here was Akira, speed dating. Ryo would never understand him.

At least this place had lots of food. Hungry, Ryo headed for the buffet table. He noticed that the girl in the purple dress was doing the same. He was glad there was someone else there who wasn't scrambling to find her name. She seemed about his age, too, if not a few years older.

Grabbing a plate, he went to stand next to her to get a bread roll. "Hey," he said, smiling at her as she turned around to face him.

The girl glared at him. He continued to smile, though he was taken aback by her. She wore a lot of makeup, but other than that she was beautiful. Her hair was brown, with hints of red and gold where the light hit it. And her eyes were an iridescent purple. She was tall, and he couldn't help but think she must be a model. How could she not be? Her copper-colored hair, unusual violet eyes, and pale skin all contributed to a kind of ethereal, mythic quality to her.

But he couldn't avoid the fact that she was shooting daggers at him.

"I am happily married," she told him.

Ryo blinked, confused. Could she read his mind? It wasn't like he came over there to hit on her or anything. He was just hungry. Yeah, she was pretty, but he wasn't planning on doing anything about it.

"Congratulations," he said, not really knowing what else to say.

If her glare could possibly have intensified, it did. He smiled back.

They were both startled by the loud voice on the microphone: "It's time for speed dating!"

-x-

Rika had tried to get away from the creep who kept following her around, but she couldn't. Actually, Ryo was kind of following her around, but it was just because they were both going along the table to get food.

When she had filled her plate, thinking of course about the bouncer and revenge, Rika walked to a table that was off to the side a bit and sat down. Unfortunately for her, it was like all the other tables and had two seats. Ryo looked around. He didn't want the girl to think he was stalking her or anything, but there was nowhere else to sit. So he walked over and set his plate down on the table. "Is this seat taken?" he asked with a grin.

She nodded.

He laughed. She wasn't smiling. The bell for the men to change seats and meet their new speed date rang. Ryo wasn't sure what to say. He just stood there awkwardly.

Rika took pity on him. She hated to feel embarrassed in public, probably because it didn't happen very often. "Sit," she said. "Just don't talk to me."

Ryo smiled again, though not as much as before. He sat down. Who was this girl – woman? He was probably right the first time and she was a model. She was probably one of those stuck-up girly snobs that wouldn't acknowledge anyone without millions of dollars or a perfect body. Well, it was his eighteenth birthday. He wasn't going to have to feel inferior to her just because she was pretty. He wasn't going to let her boss him around.

"So you're here but not… Amongst all that," he said, looking towards the tables where temporary couples sat jabbering to each other. The bell rang, and he watched the men scurry to their next seats. They all seemed eager to talk to one blonde woman who looked younger than everyone else.

"So?" Rika asked, taking a huge bite of food.

Ryo blinked. If she was one of those annoying models, why was she eating so much? And if she was the kind who thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world, why was she stuffing her face and eating with her hands instead of cutting things up and nibbling on them delicately? He exhaled, confused. "So how come you paid for this but you're not taking advantage of it?"

"I could ask the same about you," Rika said, her mouth full of food. Rumiko would have scolded her, but oh well. Maybe this guy would leave her alone if she talked with her mouth full. He was annoying her. He hadn't even touched his food yet. He made her feel incredibly obese. Eat some damn food already, she yelled at him in her mind.

He laughed. "I'm with my dad," he said. He didn't want to tell her the whole sad story about his dad forgetting his birthday. Did he really have to? "He dragged me along. You?"

"I'm with my mom. Damn, I mean my sister." Ugh. She had to let that slip to the most annoying guy in the room. Oh well, maybe now he'd know she was underage. Hmm. Good plan, actually. "I'm supposed to say she's my sister. She's really my mom. I couldn't get in cause I'm not eighteen."

The bell rang and one man tripped over his chair. He was pulled up by his neighbor, and they both laughed.

Ryo blinked, staring at Rika. She wasn't eighteen? She looked a few years older than him. "How old are you?" he ventured.

She glared across the table at him. "All you need to know is that I'm underage. Illegal. And I can and will sue if you touch me. Got it?"

So she still thought he was hitting on her or something. Ryo couldn't help but laugh. "Relax," he said. "If I was here for that, I'd be over there."

Rika hesitated. He had a point. But all guys were only after one thing, like Rumiko always said. She may not have agreed with her mother on many things, but they shared the same dislike of males. Or so Rika had always thought… She glared at the guy across from her. She was tired of his stupid smile and his annoying eyes and his droning voice. "And if I was here to socialize with sleazy sex-obsessed losers, I'd be over there. But I'm over here. So shut up, please."

Ryo gaped at her. Was she serious? God, she thought she was so superior. Sleazy sex-obsessed loser? Him? If only she knew how untrue that was. He couldn't believe what a bitch this girl was. Guess the stereotype about pretty girls is true after all, he thought.

Rika was relieved. He wasn't replying now. She scanned the room to find her mother sitting across from someone who looked older than Rika's grandmother. They were talking animatedly. Gross. Did Rumiko really think someone like that could satisfy her 'womanly needs'? Rika couldn't help but smirk.

Ryo was still staring at the bitchy girl. Nobody had ever said something like that to him before. Girls were always nice to him, even to the point of being obsequious. But she was something different… Ryo was even more amazed to see she smiled to herself.

Ugh. He was still staring at her. Rika's eyes slid back over to look at him and her smirk rolled right off her face as she gave him the worst glare she could come up with.

The bell rang.

When she'd glared like this to her 'friends' Kazu and Kenta recently, they'd run away. Kenta had nearly peed in his pants. They were smart enough (was she really putting Kazu and Kenta in the same sentence as smart?) to know that when Rika was mad, Rika was scary. You didn't cross Rika. And when she gave you that glare, you better run away or it was your own fault what happened next.

Ryo didn't run away.

He was still staring at her, but at least he'd finally closed his mouth. But he didn't run.

Instead, he laughed.

Rika gasped and she grabbed the sides of the table. "What are you laughing at?" she growled.

"You!" he couldn't help but sputter. "Your face – your expression! It was just…" He laughed again.

Rika's anger about whatever she'd even been angry about before washed away, confusion taking its place. He was laughing at her? At the worst glare she had? Nobody laughed at that. That glare meant business. That glare meant death.

But he was laughing.

He was absolutely insane.

Her face flushed red. Did she really look that stupid when she glared at someone? No, because Kazu had never remarked about it before. Kazu had admitted he was scared, and Kazu never did that. Who was this guy?

She remembered why she was mad before. And she remembered that she was still mad at him, and that he'd laughed at her. Her previous anger grew about ten times.

"Do you have a death wish?" Rika spat.

He just kept laughing. He couldn't stop. He didn't even know why he was laughing so much. Her expression hadn't been that funny. But it was this whole situation. Accompanying his dad to speed dating? On his eighteenth birthday? And this girl, who thought so much of herself that no guy could talk to her without it being considered hitting on her. It was all that – plus her expression. The way she narrowed her eyes and stuck out her bottom lip ever so slightly – not in a pouty way, of course – god, no, nearly the opposite of that – and lowered her head a bit as if she were a bull, about to charge. The way the temperature in the room noticeably lowered a few degrees from the glare alone. Cold violet fire raged in her eyes. She was so mad. And he couldn't help but find that extraordinarily funny.

She couldn't believe him. He was crazy on top of being a sleazy sex-obsessed loser. What a wonderful combination. Worst of all, though – and this was the ultimate insult as far as she was concerned – he had embarrassed her. He didn't take her seriously, and she was completely and utterly embarrassed. She hated being embarrassed.

I'll show him what public humiliation is, she thought bitterly to herself, a small smirk growing across her face.

Rika stood up and promptly poured the contents of her plate over Ryo's head. Then she gave an ice-cold chortle and strode away to lean against the other wall again, leaving the boy to gasp in shock as food ran down his perfectly styled hair.

The bell rang.

End of Chapter Two: Public Humiliation, part one

Yay there it is! Please review, and thanks for reading!