A/N: Here's the next chapter!
The sun shined brightly through the motel window and illuminated the bed in the middle of the room. Iori's eyes flickered open and he groaned at the intense light shining down on him. He turned to his right, lying on his side to get rid of the annoying radiance that was ruining his sleep. His hand grazed the smooth skin of the woman next to him, sleeping soundly in spite of the brightness.
Opening his green eyes, Iori smiled at the sight of the sleeping form beside him: Akina Arai. Her dark brown hair fell gracefully around her face in a bob haircut. Iori moved some of her hair out of her face and she murmured blissfully, a smile forming on her pink lips. She then opened her light blue eyes and Iori gazed into them.
"Good morning," she mumbled, rubbing her face and moving so she was on her back. Iori kept his smile and sighed. Then reality hit him and he sat up with a jolt.
"Damn…It's morning. We never went home last night…"
Akina realized this and widened her cerulean eyes. How could she be this irresponsible and stay out all night; and in a motel nonetheless?
"Iori," she groaned, "how could we be so careless?!" Akina quickly got up and started to put her clothes back on from the previous day. Iori watched her and looked back at the sheets. It was an amazing night and he wished it hadn't ended so quickly. He sighed again and fell back onto the bed. At least it was Sunday now.
"I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my friends…especially Jyou," Iori explained. Akina looked at him and gave a slight glare; her bob haircut was now getting a little messy.
"What am I supposed to tell Rei?! He's going to wonder where his wife was all night," she stated, trying to put on her shoes hastily. Iori winced at her words and a sudden guilt filled his chest. Did she have to be so blunt about it? He knew she was married but did she have to keep reminding him constantly. She was just as guilty as he was.
"This was wrong, Iori, this shouldn't have happened. We got out of control. How could we be this careless, goddamnit," she cursed to herself, racking a few frantic fingers through her soft hair. Iori got up and put on his boxers. He walked over to her and took hold of her shoulders.
"Look, calm down. We'll figure this out," he soothed. Akina stared into his eyes and instantly calmed down. Iori was always very calm and always knew how to make her feel better, even in the worst of situations. She leaned up and kissed his lips again, forgetting her husband and morals. Iori gladly returned it and pulled away after a few seconds.
"Since its morning already, there's no use in trying to get back to our homes any time soon. Let's go get breakfast," he suggested, running his fingers through her chocolate hair. Akina bit her lip hesitantly but smiled. She couldn't resist Iori—the sound of his raspy voice, the look of his green eyes, the feel of his silky brown hair.
"That doesn't seem like a bad idea," she smiled, running her hands down his chest. She remembered when she first met Iori during their first year at Law School. He had this goofy, brown, bowl haircut and nerdy clothes. Now in their second year, he had changed so much. He spiked his hair up a little bit and finally learned how to dress himself nicely. Akina and Iori had been in many of the same classes and clicked quickly. She never thought that she'd ever do anything like this with Iori…never in a million years.
Iori turned to put on his shirt and pants. He really didn't know how he was going to explain this to Jyou. How was he going to explain being out all night? Iori sighed and turned to look at Akina again. She was checking her cell phone with a morbid look on her face.
"I have about fifteen missed calls. I guess he gave up after that…"
Iori really didn't want to hear about her husband. Honestly, he wished she didn't have one so he could have her all to himself.
"Akina, just tell him that you were at the Campus Library studying all night and you had your phone on silent so you didn't know he was calling," he advised. Akina looked at him with the biggest guilt on her face and ran more nervous fingers through her hair.
"Iori…do you regret that this happened?"
Iori looked at her fully this time and smiled.
"How could I ever regret it? I wouldn't have let it happen if I didn't want it, Akina," he reassured, walking up to her again and placing some hair behind her ear. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist. Iori was always the awkward type but with Akina, he never felt uncomfortable.
"I don't know…I feel like I should regret it. A little part of me does because of Rei but…I can't seem to regret it," she vented, looking up into Iori's eyes again. Iori winced slightly at her comment but she pulled him closer to her, her cotton white shirt becoming more wrinkled.
"How about we just get some breakfast?" he asked quickly, trying to change the topic. Akina sighed and gave a half-hearted smile.
Hikari grinned cheekily and turned to look at the apprehensive lavender-haired girl. Currently on their way to the café, Miyako and Hikari walked at a slow pace on the sidewalk. Miyako sighed and slowed the pace even more.
"I don't know about this, Hikari…" Miyako stated softly, pushing up her glasses. Hikari furrowed her brow and nudged her best friend.
"Why not?! I thought you were excited!"
Miyako pursed her lips and came to a complete stop before stating, "But what if he doesn't like me?"
Hikari smiled sweetly and took Miyako's hand, dragging her closer to the café.
"You worry too much, Miyako. I'm sure he'll like you."
Miyako glowered and took in a sharp breath as they stood outside the café. Hikari pulled her in and looked around for Takeru and Miyako's blind date.
"Hikari, Miyako, over here!"
Hikari turned at the sound of Takeru's voice and smiled. Before Miyako could question why Takeru was in the café, she noticed the very handsome man next to him, idly sipping his coffee. His navy hair came effortlessly to his shoulders. His eyes were a very dark shade of blue and his skin was so perfectly pale, he looked like a porcelain doll. Miyako didn't even notice that Hikari was dragging her closer to the beautiful man.
As they both approached the table, Miyako stupidly stood there with her mouth slightly agape. Why did Hikari set her up with a hot guy?! A hot guy out of her league, nonetheless!
The beautiful man turned and looked up at Miyako, smiling gently at her apprehensive face.
"Hello, my name is Ken," he introduced, standing up and holding out his hand. Miyako stared for a little bit longer until Hikari nudged her and motioned for her to shake his hand. Miyako quickly shook it and pulled back.
"My name is Miyako," she mumbled quickly. Hikari took a seat across Takeru, and Miyako glowered when she noticed she had to sit across Ken. Hikari gave a sneaky smirk to Takeru who smiled and bobbed his brows.
"So, how are you both today?" Ken asked Hikari and Miyako. Hikari smiled and answered sweetly while Miyako mumbled something nervously and bit her nail. A period of silence fell on the four café customers and only the jittery tapping of Miyako's foot could be heard.
"So…I have some work to do at home…"
"Yeah I have some errands to run…"
Takeru and Hikari smirked at each other and got up after those statements, obviously wanting to leave the two to get to know each other. Ken sat there coolly, saying a nice "goodbye" to both of them while Miyako looked at Hikari wide-eyed.
"B-But, Hikari…!"
"I'll see you at home, Miyako," Hikari announced, leaving quickly with Takeru. As the bell above the door rang as two left, Miyako and Ken looked at each over quizzically and quickly looked down. How awkward was this?
Mimi smiled, wrapping a towel around her head to prevent it from dripping all over the place; taking a shower was renewing. Everything that had been bothering her washed away and now she felt refreshed. Sighing, she opened the door and walked into the living room, only to stop in her tracks to see Taichi sitting at the table, eating toast and reading the paper.
Feeling ugly with the towel around her hair and the atrocious baggy attire she was wearing, Mimi quickly threw her towel onto the ground and shakily walked towards the object of her affection. He was currently wearing a white beater and sweat pants. God, did he look sexy.
When Taichi heard her approaching, he turned and gave her a smile.
"Morning, Meems," he stated, motioning for her to sit across from him at the table. Mimi willingly obliged.
"W-Where's Sora?" she asked, trying to smile and not look him in the eyes. Taichi dropped his newspaper on the wooden table and shrugged.
"I don't know, I came in and she told me that she had a few things to do and left. She told me you were in the shower so I waited until you finished," he grinned. Mimi cursed Sora in her mind. She knew that Sora did this on purpose.
"Ugh…Sora," she whined a little too loudly. Taichi looked at her and raised a brow, leaving Mimi to blush in her seat, "Sorry, I-Its just that I needed some milk and I forgot to tell Sora before she left."
Taichi didn't recognize her lie and chuckled.
"Sora always messes things up, doesn't she?" he smirked, taking a big bite out of his heavily buttered toast. Mimi scowled playfully. She loved talking to him.
"Hey, she's my best friend, you're not allowed to say stuff like that in front of me," she stated, crossing her arms. Taichi laughed and mimicked her actions.
"Excuse me? I've known Sora way longer than you have. I think she's more my best friend than yours. So, I'm allowed to make fun of her as much as I want," Taichi announced immaturely. Mimi laughed and rolled her eyes at the man in front of her.
"Whatever you say, Taichi, whatever you say."
Taichi grinned and eyed Mimi humorously.
"You know, your hair looks good wet," he stated sarcastically while bobbing his brows. Mimi flushed again and felt embarrassed by the huge puddle of water forming on the table from her hair. She should have just kept that towel on.
"Stop analyzing my hair," she pouted, coming a few fingers through it. Taichi grinned that famous grin of his and leaned back in the chair.
"Why? People always analyze my hair."
"That's because it's huge."
"No! It's because it's sexy."
Mimi bit her lip for a second. She couldn't deny that it was sexy but she didn't want to give in to him.
"Stop being so conceited, Taichi," she laughed off. Taichi smiled and quickly looked at her, his smile slowly fading. Mimi bit her lip and quirked a brow, waiting for him to speak.
"You know, Meems, I only kissed you on Friday because Sora told me to… I don't want you to think I was taking advantage of you after you kissed me to make your father angry," he explained with slight guilt. Mimi's heart kind of fell. She knew that Sora had told Taichi to kiss her at the end of the party, but she didn't want to believe it.
"I-I know, Taichi. I'm sorry I used you to make my father angry," she apologized unenthusiastically, "You don't have to listen to Sora all the time, you know."
Mimi looked at the table with a slight glare. Sora really did mess things up.
Taichi chuckled and shook his head.
"Yeah, I know. But she's like another sister to me. I've got a sore spot for Sor," he stopped to grin, "I feel bad when I don't listen to her. She's like another Hikari."
Mimi laughed and sat for a second. Then another thought hit her.
"Wait, how did you know I wanted to make my father angry?"
Taichi bit his lip and sat up straight in his chair, leaning forward, now.
"Well Sora said it at the party, remember? When everyone was joking around about you having feelings for me," he started, leaving Mimi to blush like crazy. So, he didn't really believe that Mimi had feelings for him; he thought his friends were just joking around. Interesting, "Well I called Sora up the next morning, really early, to make sure you were okay. We got to talking and she mentioned it again. I mean, I told her I felt guilty for kissing you later on, and she told me not to worry about it but, you know me, I don't like doing stuff like that to my friends."
Mimi felt bittersweet. Sweet because Taichi had worried enough about her to call Saturday morning, but bitter to know that he only thought of her as a good friend. Maybe she should just tell him now, right? No, she couldn't do that. She had to wait for Taichi to fall for her, too. She didn't want to get heartbroken.
"I mean, I don't mind kissing some random girl, you know? Hook up for a night and then never see her again. That's fine with me, but I can't do that to a friend. Even though we didn't hook up or anything, we just kissed."
God, he just needed to stop talking. Mimi was ready to smack him at this point. Why couldn't he understand!? Wasn't it pretty obvious that Mimi had feelings for him? Maybe he was just in denial or maybe he was just thick-headed. The worst part was that he wasn't uncomfortable talking like this at all. Mimi, on the other hand, was fidgeting in her seat.
"Mmhm," she agreed, not able to say anything more.
"So, I'm sorry Meems. I don't want you to think I'm a pig or anything…" he trailed, smiling at her innocently. Mimi rolled her eyes slightly. No, his last remark definitely didn't make him sound like a pig.
"Its okay, Taichi, there's nothing to be sorry about," she stated with a smile to mirror his. Taichi sighed and leaned back into his chair.
"Good! Now I won't feel all guilty."
Mimi chuckled and stood up. She was kind of bummed at the thought of just being Taichi's friend.
"Alright, Taichi, I'm going to go dry my hair. I'll see you later," she stated, walking towards the bathroom and picking up her towel on the way there.
Taichi smiled and said a quick "bye" as he shoved the rest of the toast into his mouth.
Ken looked at Miyako and sighed to himself. They'd been sitting there for the past half hour now and had barely spoken a word to each other. Takeru had mentioned Miyako being very loud and talkative but this was the complete opposite of that.
"So, where do you work?" he asked her, placing his head on his hand. Miyako looked up and then back down at the table.
"I work for a computer company in software enhancing…what about you?"
Ken quirked a brow. That was the first question she'd asked him this whole time.
"Well, I'm a detective for the Tokyo Police Force."
This caught Miyako's attention and she raised her brows. Damn, he was hot and had a cool job.
"Really? Wow, that's way more interesting than my job," she stated with a smile. Ken chuckled. Finally, they were getting somewhere.
"Yeah, I guess the badge and gun make it a little more adventurous."
"So, have you ever been, like, shot at?" Miyako asked fascinatingly. She didn't realize how immature the question was. Ken laughed, finding her, suddenly, very cute.
"Actually, I think I have been shot at a few times. Never actually got shot before, though," he explained with a smile. That just made him seem even sexier to Miyako. His deep voice and piercing eyes were just so captivating. Her nerves started to diminish a little.
"That's got to be exhilarating, being out in the world, chasing bad guys!"
Ken took a sip of his cold coffee and nodded.
"In a way it is, but sometimes it can get to be too much, you know?"
Miyako shook her head, understanding that the hardships of being a cop must be intense.
"S-So what are some of your other hobbies?" she asked shakily. Ken thought about it for a while. He never had much time to do anything else other than work.
"Well…I used to play a lot of soccer when I was younger, before my work took over my life," he stated. Miyako grinned at this.
"You'd get along well with my friends Taichi and Daisuke, then. They're soccer maniacs," she informed, resting her arms on the table. Ken chuckled.
"That's cool, I'd love to meet them sometime," he stated. There was another awkward silence until Miyako spoke again.
"So, how do you know Hikari and Takeru?"
"Well, I met Takeru two months ago when he was writing a story for the newspaper about one of the cases I'd just solved. He interviewed me over a cup of coffee and we became friends. I just met Hikari today when I met you," he explained with a smile. Miyako quirked a brow and looked at the man in front of her.
"You're too cool to hang out with Takeru," she complimented, smiling while pushing her glasses up. Ken smiled back and leaned forward.
"And you're a lot cuter than Takeru described."
Daisuke groaned, sulking around the apartment in his pajamas still. He was going to die alone and poor. He knew it. He was going to have a depressing job for the rest of his life. He was going to-
"Daisuke, will you stop moping around? Goddamn," Taichi stated, walking out of his room with a few papers in his hand; probably some extra paperwork he needed to finish. Daisuke moaned from the couch and shut his eyes.
"Just let me live in my misery, sheesh."
Taichi rolled his eyes and sat down on the counter, looking at the papers in his hand.
"At least you're allowed to mope around. I can't sulk when I've got so much shit to do for work," he explained, trying to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. Daisuke glared.
"At least you're going somewhere in life!"
Taichi chuckled and rolled his eyes again.
"Calm down, will you? If I can find something to do with my life so can you," he stated. Daisuke didn't reply and stuck his face in the couch. Why did his life suck?
"What if I end up homeless?" he mumbled.
"Then you can come live with me. Don't worry," Taichi stated with a smirk. Daisuke didn't answer again and Taichi turned back to his work.
Koushiro entered the apartment and averted Taichi's look. He placed the mail from yesterday, which they forget to get, on the table. Taichi raised his brow and watched the red head. He knew something was bothering Koushiro but they'd barely talked since Friday so Taichi didn't want to push him.
"Hey, Koushiro, where've you been?" Taichi asked. Koushiro had his back facing the brown-haired man as he looked through the refrigerator for something to drink.
"Out."
Taichi looked at him a little hurt. He didn't like when his close friends acted this way towards him.
"Oh really, where?"
Koushiro didn't turn around, opening his can of soda with his back still facing Taichi.
"Just out."
Taichi glared and dropped his papers on the table.
"What the hell is your problem?!"
Koushiro turned around and didn't say anything, walking towards Daisuke and the couch, taking a seat nonchalantly. Koushiro knew that the best way to soothe an angry Taichi—or tick him off even more, in this case—was to ignore him. Taichi grumbled something about 'moody roommates' and walked towards his room, slamming the door.
"You know, you shouldn't piss Taichi off when he's stressed. He's been working since breakfast," Daisuke explained, looking at the red-haired man. Koushiro shrugged his shoulders and sighed. Daisuke got up and walked towards the mail. He looked through each envelope but one caught his eye. He picked it up and saw that it was for Taichi...
Daisuke's eyes widened and he looked down to see that both he and Koushiro also had the same envelope addressed to them. Daisuke called for Koushiro to come to the counter and Koushiro walked up.
Koushiro's eyes also widened when he saw the envelopes. Koushiro cautiously looked in the direction of Taichi's room. Even though he was being resentful of Taichi, Koushiro didn't want to hurt Taichi with this envelope.
"What should we do? Should we give him the envelope?" Daisuke asked, looking at Koushiro with hesitance. Koushiro bit the insides of his mouth.
"Of course we should, Daisuke. Here, I'll give it to him," and with that Koushiro walked towards Taichi's door and knocked softly. Daisuke followed Koushiro and watched as he knocked again, a little louder.
"What?!" Taichi barked from the other side. Daisuke was scared to give Taichi the envelope with him in a cranky mood to begin with, but Koushiro didn't falter.
"Tai…something came for you in the mail that I think you might want to see…"
There was a few mumbles until Taichi finally opened the door. He gave a glare to Koushiro, but when Koushiro held up the pearl white envelope, Taichi paled when he saw the name of the person who had sent it. Taichi took the envelope and slowly walked to the counter, Daisuke and Koushiro following.
"Is he fucking serious…?"
Daisuke and Koushiro kept quiet as Taichi stared at the envelope. After a few seconds he tore it open and read the invitation inside. Disgusted with what it said, he quickly threw it in the trash and glared at the counter. Daisuke placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"What was it, Taichi?"
Taichi didn't answer, taking a seat on the chair by the counter. Koushiro opened his envelope and read the invitation, sighing.
"It's a wedding invitation…"
Daisuke looked over Koushiro's shoulder and his eyes widened.
"He's seriously inviting us to his wedding after not communicating with us for three years?" Daisuke asked incredulously. Taichi kept quiet, placing his elbows on the counter and bringing his hands, fingers laced, to his closed mouth.
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Yamato Ishida and Hitomi Aikawa.
That bastard.
Taichi sighed and looked at his two roommates.
"We can't let Sora see this…"
A/N: Dun Dun Dun Dunnnnn...review! haha
