Tainted

Chapter Four

A/N: Days are winding down to my con. O_o I'm almost panicking, because I don't have all of my costumes finished yet… So I'll probably be working on that more than on fan fictions, unfortunately. However, I made it my goal to have chapter four of Tainted out before I left; it's quickly become one of my favorite fanfics to write, and I'm glad that people seem to enjoy reading it.

The story's going to be getting a bit darker starting now, but hopefully Akihiko and Misaki will keep their heads above water… Also, reading back on the few chapters I've posted, I seem to switch back and forth between 'Akihiko', 'Usami', and 'Usagi'… It usually depends on the mood I'm in when I'm writing, but it makes it extremely confusing/jumbled-looking at times, so I'd like to ask the readers which name they prefer. Thanks for your reviews and opinions!

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Misaki fidgeted, uncomfortable. He disliked being in an enclosed space with Usagi-san. Particularly when they were alone.

"I'm driving, Misaki. I'm not going to do anything," the older male said, almost impatiently. He then smiled. "Unless you want me to?"

"Not in your life," Misaki grumbled darkly. "Idiot Usagi."

Usagi-san laughed. "Even you call me that, huh?"

"…Nii-chan never called you by your real name. It's hard to think of you as Usami Akihiko when you've always been 'Usagi' whenever nii-chan talked about you."

"Try it. Call me Akihiko."

Misaki glared at him defiantly. "I think not, Great Lord Usami."

"Ah. That could be nice, too. Would that make you my servant? Or slave?"

Misaki's face flushed a deep red and he lashed out, smacking Akihiko across the head with a fist. "Perverted old man!" Usagi-san chuckled to himself, enjoying Misaki's embarrassment.

Misaki practically threw himself out of the car when it pulled up to the car, glad to be out of the small prison. Ahead of him loomed the gates of his college. He still couldn't believe that this stubborn man-child was willing to let him go to school.

Though, then again, Misaki shouldn't be too surprised. He was stuck living with his tormentor now.

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"Ah, Misaki," Takahiro greeted, his voice a little grainy through the phone Misaki was currently using. Takahiro was on his cell. "Usagi told me that you were staying at his house instead of the dorms!"

"Well, uh, the key to my dorm room broke, so I was just going to stay the night, but—"

"He offered to let you stay for free, too," Takahiro continued. "So nice of him! You'd save a lot of money in the long run, Misaki. He said you wouldn't even have to pay for food so long as you cooked for him, too—"

Misaki's eye twitched. He had too cook the pervert's meals now, too? "That's all fine and dandy, nii-chan, but Usagi-san's—"

"A really nice guy, right?" Takahiro laughed. "I know! He comes off as a bit of a cold person at first, but you just have to get to know him and he's the best friend you could ever have. I'm glad I can trust him to protect my little brother!"

Misaki attempted several more times to tell his brother that he did not, in fact, plan on staying with Akihiko, and that the perverted novelist had already assaulted him as well as his past 'novels' that included not-too-flattering portrayals of his older brother.

However, Takahiro, being the thick, naïve, beloved idiot he was, didn't seem to hear Misaki's complaints.

Eventually, Misaki gave up. He'd live with the pervert. Fine. After all, it would save money. But there was no way he was staying with him any longer than necessary.

He didn't want to be any more of a bother to his brother than he had to be, anyways.

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Misaki watched as Usagi-san pulled away (after making Misaki promise six times to be home before five to make dinner, though Misaki had a feeling that he wouldn't get around to cooking until far later), and the freshman made his way through the gates of his school, sighing in irritation. This was going to be a long day, he thought tiredly.

He wasn't wrong, either. In the course of twenty minutes, he'd gotten two books, a piece of chalk, an eraser, and a large assortment of pens thrown at his head by "The Demon" Kamijou-sensei.

What the hell was his problem, anyway? He could just say "Takahashi, pay attention" or "Wake up", but instead, he chose to chuck the nearest random object at him.

He blamed Usagi-san. If that pervert hadn't kept him up all last night, he wouldn't be sleeping and dozing through his class. He hated Kamijou for the abuse he suffered at his hands. But he hated Usagi-san for making it necessary (at least, it was necessary in his professor's view).

Nursing a black eye and a rather large display of bruises every color imaginable, Misaki was rather sure that he looked like quite the sight.

He heard chuckling from behind him, and turned, an eye twitching in irritation. "What's funny, you?"

A tall student laughed again, shaking his head. "You have it wrong. You're a new student to Kamijou's room, right? I'd be willing to guess you won't be falling asleep in his class again."

Misaki sighed heavily. "Damn straight. They don't call him a 'Demon' for nothing…" Misaki sighed.

The other student nodded, chuckling. "I'm Sumi. You'd be Takahashi, right? That's what Kamijou was yelling, anyways."

Misaki coughed a bit, but nodded. "Yeah. Takahashi Misaki. Nice to meet you, then, Sumi-sempai."

Sumi nodded a bit, giving Misaki a friendly enough smile. "Well, it's lunch time. Care to join me?"

Misaki nodded, enthusiastic. Maybe he'd just made his first friend in University?

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Misaki had to wonder what was wrong with cafeteria food. At least, the food he was given. He'd heard a lot of good things about the food at other schools, but, just his luck, every time he went to a new school, the food seemed to get worse and worse as each year went by. Was he cursed to be haunted by gravy that had the same texture as Jell-O, half-frozen pre-prepared foods, and milk that, for some reason, was a week past its expiration date, for the rest of his life?

Evidently, he was, because the cafeteria food at the University wasn't much better than the stuff he'd had at his high school.

Granted, the milk was only two days past the expiration date.

Sumi didn't let the gravy or half-frozen chicken breast bother him, and dug in with eagerness that made Misaki wonder if he even ate at home. Misaki poked at his food, thinking forlornly of starving children in Africa.

Reluctantly, he ate, muttering something about lunch workers that needed to learn the proper method to use an oven.

Sumi listened to Misaki's grumbling with good humor, even laughing at times. "It's not that bad, Takahashi. At least it's cooked."

"Thanks for another thing to add to my list," Misaki said, gesturing to the milk. "And you're gonna jinx it."

Sumi shrugged. "Well, they have a microwave, if it bugs you that much."

"Have you ever eaten a breaded chicken breast after you microwave it?" Misaki asked dully. "It tastes three times worse than it did half frozen. The breading gets all wet and… gross." Misaki dutifully took another bite of food. "That's it. I'm bringing lunch with me from now on."

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Misaki entered Usagi-san's apartment, arms laden with groceries. He bumped the door closed with a hip, and somehow managed to carry the six grocery bags over to the kitchen counter. He was still surprised that he'd been able to carry that many without dropping one…

He began unpacking the groceries, packing them into the novelist's empty pantry, refrigerator, and shelves. For such a large kitchen, Misaki was surprised to see that it was nearly empty, save for a few take-out boxes in the fridge (of which half were empty). Akihiko had extremely nice appliances, but other than the fridge and the coffee maker, Misaki doubted any of it had ever been used.

He was just getting to the canned goods when he felt strong arms pull him back against a broad chest, a cold hand snaking up his shirt.

He let out a strangled scream and beat back his attacker with a can of corn, swearing profusely. "Damn it, Usagi-san! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I can't help it," Akihiko sighed. "Seeing you doing things like this for me… It's too cute."

"Going grocery shopping to feed your sorry ass is cute?" Misaki asked, deadpan. He turned back to his work, tossing the last few cans of food into the pantry, tying up the bags as he went along to save for later, and tossing them in a random drawer.

Akihiko watched as Misaki picked out a few ingredients for dinner that night. "Care to explain why you don't have any food in the house?" Misaki asked, mixing together a quick stir-fry sauce.

Usagi-san shrugged. "I don't know… I guess I never saw a reason to, considering take-out's so much easier."

"And about five times more expensive," Misaki scolded lightly, clicking on the stove and heating up his pan. "You should be putting money away for retirement or something."

Usagi-san smirked a bit. "Trust me, Misaki. After a few hundred years, the money builds up."

Misaki sent the writer a pointed glare. "Not the point," he muttered. "Wasting money like that… It's stupid."

"Is that why everything you bought was on sale?" Usagi-san asked bluntly, looking at the rather long receipt from Misaki's grocery-shopping trip.

Misaki glared at him. "You may be rich, but I'm not," he muttered darkly. "Idiot Usagi."

Usagi looked thoughtful. "You should have brought me with. I could have helped…"

"Right," Misaki said sarcastically, tossing a handful of shrimp into his pan and flicking his wrist, coating it with sauce. "I'm sure that you could have, when you've probably never set a foot in a grocery store before in your life."

Usagi-san gave Misaki a cocky grin. "Isn't shopping together what lovers do?"

Misaki sputtered, nearly dropping the pan. "Wha—you pervert, shut up before I hit you with this!" he threatened, hefting the handle of his wok a little.

Usagi-san laughed. "Your over-reactions are adorable, Misaki."

Misaki growled, his grip tightening on the wood handle. "I'll show you adorable, you—"

"See? You're doing it now," Usagi-san mocked.

Misaki gave a short, indignant 'hmph', and turned back to his cooking. The best way to get rid of the pervert would be to ignore him. Isn't that what you did with little kids that were doing something bad? Ignore the behavior, because they were just after attention? Maybe it could be considered the same kind of situation…

He jumped about a foot in the air when he felt Usagi-san's hand on his ass.

"YOU PERVERTED OLD MAN!"