A/N: Thank you so much for Sakagami Hina for being my beta, thank you for your patience with my grammar TvT, and of course thank you for you who still read this fanfic, sorry for the long wait :)
Chapter 9: One Room
Sighing for the zillionth time that day, Luka found herself sitting inside the room provided. After learning the truth from the elder men, she didn't pay attention to anything they said after that. Not that she disrespected them, but she had to deal with her twisted feelings – from using people for her amusement now she was in the position of being used – is this some kind of karma?
Now sweeping her eyes around the room, she realized that Gakupo's brother took her to his purple-haired little brother's room. Smirking with amusement, she started to rummage through his stuffs; Who knows? Maybe I'll find something to blackmail him with.
From wooden airplane to photos, from a bed to posters on the wall, this room held what a little boy needed. Luka herself couldn't remember her own bedroom when she was little, but why would Kiyoteru-san let her inside? Not so that she would sleep with Gakupo, right?
The thought of that made Luka's cheeks burn slightly; she shook her head to erase her thought and inhaled to slow down her heartbeat.
Damn, what's the big deal about sleeping with him? It's not like I've never slept with a guy before!
She took a book filled with child's writing and began to read. No doubt this book was his and filled with his activities while he aged as a brat – not that it had changed so much today – but what was inside made her curious.
"What is this I found, he hates to eat broccoli?" she snickered. "Interesting…"
She kept on giggling until a mysterious hand grabbed the book from her hands. She yelped and turned to see her soon-to-be-fake-husband eyeing her with his sharp gaze.
"Well, I think you've found something interesting here," Gakupo said.
"Why, of course, to know my fiancé further is a task I should do to work on this marriage, right?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and smirked.
Gakupo threw poisonous looks at the woman, but Luka just ignored them and snatched another book from the drawer. After choosing a book, she waved it in front of his face.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Reading the next; if I found out that you hate broccoli or you still wet your bed when you were 7 in that other book, I wonder what I'll find in this one." She opened the book cover painfully slowly, like she was in slow motion. It made Gakupo's eyebrows twitch.
"Gimme that."
"No."
"Tch, don't be a bitch, gimme that." Gakupo reached out his hand to grab the 'top secret' book.
"You already know I am one." Luka blocked Gakupo's movement with one of her hands while her other defended the book and brought it out of Gakupo's reach.
"You won't get any benefit from that." He was still trying.
"Oh you're so wrong my dear, the fact that a boy wrote diaries alone has already made me laugh my ass off. Besides, this boy has grown up to be someone like you."
"Hey, what's wrong with boys writing diaries?"
"Sissy."
"Why you…" He gritted his teeth and pushed forward. Luka lost her balance and fell to his old bed making the bed creak loudly as it bore their weight.
Aquamarine eyes stared into the purple ones as he towered over her on the bed; she held her breath and shifted her gaze lower. Not good! When she realized that he'd unbuttoned his shirt until she could see his well-chiseled chest – Luka gulped.
"Like what you see?" he said with husky voice that snapped her back to her senses.
"Get off of me!"
"You're not answering my question."
"Why should I?" she wriggled to free herself. "Would you move a bit?"
"Why should I? I like what I see here, you're more beautiful when I see you close up," he whispered to her ear and made her face turn crimson-colored.
"YOU JERK!" She slammed the book to his face and he giggled after letting an 'ooofff' out from his lips.
He moved and sat on the floor, still trying to calm down his laughing while Luka straightened her clothes. She sighed again; this wasn't good for her heart.
"It's no good, eh, Luka-chan. If you keep on blushing like that, you'll fall for me soon."
"Pardon, I won't fall for someone who peeped on his maid in the bath when he was 10…" Luka scoffed, and sneered when she saw him blanch.
"…Alright, how much did you read?"
"Depends on how nicely you treat me, Mr. Peeping Tom."
His eyebrows twitched again and he suppressed the urge to pull her hair there and then. He counted to twenty but his patience snapped when the woman sang 'Mr. Peeping Tom' in replay just like a broken cassette.
"Knock that off."
"Mr. Peeping Tom, Mr. Peeping Tom, Mr. Peeping Tom, Mr. Peeping Tom…"
"Megurine Luka, I warned you…"
"Mr. Peeping Tom, Mr. Peeping Tom…ufff!"
Unknown to her, his strong palm already covered her lips; in his deep voice, without moving his gaze from Luka's eyes, he whispered, "Would you cut that out? Or do you want me to kiss you to shut you up?"
He loosened his grip. Luka's eyes challenged his, and with mocking smirk she replied to his question. "Why don't you try, Mr. Peep-"
In one swift movement, he silenced her blabbering with a kiss. He felt her soft lips which he was eager to know further since the first time he felt her strawberry lip gloss on her lips in the hotel room. It might sound stupid from a man of many women like him, but the pulse in his heart to have won and tamed this lioness overtook his rationale.
Luka herself tried her best to not to respond to the kiss. She clamped her eyes and shut her lips tighter when she felt him trying to nibble her lower lip, but why oh why it was so hard to ignore the tingling sensation inside her stomach?
He broke the kiss. A little of his pride was hurt: no one had resisted him before. But he wouldn't let her know; instead he smirked and acted like usual. "Hadn't I told you before? I didn't buy the trial, you sell, and I buy – you won't like it when you challenge me."
Luka diverted her gaze everywhere besides his face. He'd know that her face was extremely red, and she bit her lower lip to erase the taste of his kiss. "Pervert, stupid," she mumbled.
"Why thank you…"
The sound of someone clearing his throat made them jump a little bit. Gakupo turned while Luka raised her face to see the newcomer. In front of the door, two pairs of blue eyes were watching them, one blushing and the other slightly annoyed.
"Are you done making out without closing the door?" asked the annoyed blond boy who was tapping his feet on the wooden floor.
"Ah~ I didn't know Len-kun and Rin-chan love to sneak peeks at our lovely dovey moment, how long did you watch us?"
Len rolled his eyes. "Kiyo-nii said that your fiancé is here, in your room, and I, being a good little brother, wanted to introduce myself and Rin to her, and we found both of you wrestling on your bed."
Gakupo put on a sour face. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't you notice us? We were standing in front of the door for quite a long time, you know."
"Well, that's…" He couldn't find a good reason, so he decided to clamp his mouth shut.
Len grabbed the girl's hand and walked towards Luka who still hadn't moved from her spot. Then Luka suddenly realized the similarity they held. "Are you two twins?"
Gakupo let a 'duh' sound escape his mouth and Luka glared at him.
"Yes." Rin smiled widely and Len nodded. "Luka-nee, please take care of our stupid brother," she continued.
"Eh… well, of course." Lying to little kids like this made her feel more guilty than before.
"Luka-nee, do you already know the people in this house?" asked the little girl again.
"Well, I haven't got the chance; will you take me sightseeing, Rin-chan?"
She beamed and nodded. Taking Luka's hand in her own small hand, she left Gakupo's old room. Gakupo sighed and Len watched him – well, that's weird… He never sighs if it concerns women, he thought.
"Why so desperate?"
"What?"
"The sigh; is that the girl you gave orchids?"
"Mmm…" He stood, dusting himself, and took the books from the floor to put them back on the shelf. This time he made sure that he locked it. "What's for dinner?"
Len sighed in defeat: if his brother changed the conversation it meant he wouldn't get any information from him. But still Len couldn't help but think that to have Luka here would somewhat change his brother… Besides, he was so curious as to what spell that woman had used over his confident and arrogant brother.
"Today's dinner is sushi; dad decided to celebrate Luka-nee's coming…" he answered.
When dinner time came, everybody was laughing and drinking as much as they could; even Oyabun forgot his act to pretend to be sick and started to sing enka songs. This kind of situation made Luka want to cry, and she muttered about why she was involved in it.
But one thing was for sure: she couldn't deny that this kind of atmosphere was good for the mood. So, she took her chopstick and devoured her sushi tuna; high-class sushi was indeed different! She could eat it again and again and felt bad if she left even one.
"Chubby."
A voice suddenly broke her mood; she glared the purple-haired person beside her who was eating his tamago roll slowly. "What did you say?"
"How much tuna did you eat already?"
"None of your business. While I'm here, I'll try to enjoy myself to the fullest."
"You'll be living here sooner or later, so why hurry?" He picked up his tuna sashimi and placed it on her empty plate.
Luka eyed him suspiciously. "Correction: I'm not hurrying but adjusting myself so I won't be surprised about the fancy things."
"Alright, whatever you say." He sipped his sake and glanced at his foster father who was dancing with his underlings. "Don't you think my father is incredibly healthy today, as if he was never sick before?"
Luka sprayed her tea from her mouth, making Gakupo cringe. She pulled her lips to form an awkward smile. "Mu-must be because he's very happy that his son decided to settle down…"
"Hmm… maybe you're right."
Safe…
She didn't know how to act; she was a double agent. One for the bratty son who wanted his father to be happy but refused to be bound, and one for the father who wanted his son to stop playing with women's hearts and continue his throne. Between the two sides, she had to think about her own profit, which was staying at this household and put bigger money into her savings. So she decided to be the biggest liar of them all.
"You must be tired…" A soft voice startled her.
"Ah, no, I'm…" She lost her words to Gakupo's brother when she saw him smile.
What a good-looking man…
She shook her head to erase the thought.
"If you still have stamina, why don't you join us to dance?" he asked, still with that smile plastered on his face. Luka started to think of the change from the sour-faced Kiyoteru-san to this welcoming, smiling face caused by the alcohol he'd consumed.
"Eh, no-no-no I can't dance…"
"Come on~" Kiyoteru reached out his hand, waiting for her to accept his request.
"But I…" Luka glanced at her fiancé but the man was busying himself with his cigarettes and sake.
"What?" Gakupo noticed her gaze. "Just do it, let me see your stupid octopus dance."
Luka knitted her eyebrows at his ignorance. Well, what did she expect from her fake fiancé? Luka took Kiyoteru's hand and dragged him to the center of the wide room. She cleared her throat and she had all eyes set on them.
"I will dance, on one condition… please change the music"
Take the henchman nodded and put a CD labeled 'greatest love songs' on the CD player. Soon the soothing sound of the singer filled the room.
Luka faced Kiyoteru and put one of her hands on his shoulder while the other one entwined with his hand. Realizing his soon-to-be sister-in-law wanted to have a slow dance, he put his other hand on her waist.
Everybody in the room couldn't take their eyes off of them; some of them started to murmur that Luka was a perfect match for Kiyoteru without realizing their words could be heard by her supposed fiancé.
Gakupo didn't care; he kept munching edamame while watching his brother and the hostess dance in some kind of erotic movement and the people around him started to murmur about his ignorance, too. How should he have reacted as her fiancé? Jumped and attacked his brother? Foolish.
The music faded and Kiyoteru let go of her, planting a kiss on the back of her hand. Luka smiled and everybody clapped their hands - not excepting the Oyabun.
She walked back to her seat and smirked. "Sorry to disappoint you, I didn't have the octopus dance for your entertainment."
"Nah, as long as you're happy groping my brother, it's fine, really."
"What?"
"Having fun aren't you, with him?"
"Why of course, he's so gentle, not like someone here…" Luka took her chopsticks again and grabbed one of the sashimi he'd piled on her plate. "He's not forceful, not perverted, very, very gentlemanly…"
He gulped his sake and fumbled on his food as he listened her mention his brother's pluses. His shaking hand made him unable to pick up the food; Luka continued her blabbering and his breath hitched. He couldn't stop the drumming sound on his head and he gripped his chopsticks harder.
"Okay, okay, I get it… Kiyo-nii is nice and I'm not."
Luka stopped her rant and gaze to the man beside him. He had his right hand propped up his chin, he was looking anywhere except her. "Jealous?"
"What the heck?" Her statement made him turn his head to face her. Somehow, it made her relieved that her bickering friend was back. "Don't flatter yourself, girl."
"No, I'm not, because you were sulking when I was talking about your brother." She grinned.
"I didn't sulk."
"Yes, you did."
"No, I'm not…"
"Yes, you–"
"What are you two still doing here?" another voice broke in. "You're supposed to be in bed already."
"Wha-father, I'm not a little boy anymore," Gakupo protested.
"Oooh, you're my little boy always," Oyabun beamed, his face red – he was very drunk.
Then he took Gakupo's and Luka's arms to make them stand. With one gentle push he led them to the door and opened it. His smile never left his face that night.
"You must rest," he insisted.
"Well, talking of rest, you seem to need it more, father."
"No, I don't, I'm very hea–"
"AHEM," Luka cleared her throat awkwardly. "I-I'm sleepy, please take me to the bedroom, dear."
Both of the men were stunned, but it wasn't that long before Oyabun pushed his son to his fiancé while talking about having grandchildren and anything else he had blabbered that night. Both Luka and Gakupo just sighed and walked away from the noisy room.
"So…" she started. "I don't want to sleep on the floor."
"What do you mean by that? We can share."
"I don't want to if you're in the same bed as me."
"You were sleeping with some men before and refuse to share the bed with me? We won't even have sex on it. And please take note: this-is-my-bed."
"Humph, yes, but I don't know what you're capable of when we are sharing the same bed."
Gakupo's eyebrows knitted. "Do you think I'll pounce on you when you're sleeping?"
Luka shrugged and Gakupo scoffed; he didn't believe her gesture. Seriously, this woman is more troublesome than any woman I've ever been with. Every woman would be glad to have him in their bed, but this stubborn woman just kept refusing him – for the second time today, she'd tried to make him angry and even burn him with jealousy.
"Alright, I get it…" he rubbed his temples and walked out of the room.
"Where are you going?"
"To brush my teeth."
She eyed him until the door closed/. Slowly she walked towards the fought-over bed and laid her back on it. Her eyes blinked when she realized there were fluorescent star-shaped stickers on the ceiling. The green light made her smile, remembering their bicker they had on the riverbank.
Maybe this isn't so bad after all…
Grumbling while closing the bathroom door with his feet after he brushed his teeth, Gakupo slowly walked back to his bedroom – well for now it had become their room – he thought about dragging some futon to save him from a backache tomorrow even though it would be suspicious when he did it. The egoistic woman was so hard to handle, it was like… facing himself in the form of curvy female body, and that wasn't good at all.
"Oi, if you want to dominate the bed alone, help me to find a good reason to borrow a futon–" He cut himself off at the sight of sleeping pink-haired woman on his bed.
She looked so serene, with a little help from Mr. Moon which shone its light through the slightly opened curtain; she really was a heavenly sight. There was no trace of Ms. Egoist that made his head aching and about to burst some veins.
She slept so peacefully, her right hand was on her stomach while the left was on the side of her head and she hadn't pulled the blanket over her body. Gakupo silently walked towards her after he closed the door and put her left hand to his palm, feeling the warmth seeping through his cold one. He sighed and smiled.
"It's not fair you know, to look this pretty…"
He tucked her under the blanket; she stirred and grabbed his clothes, pulling him to her. He tried his best not to let any voice escape his lips so he wouldn't disturb her sleep even though he knew his weight on the bed could've woken her anytime.
But surprisingly she didn't budge.
After a moment of awkwardness, he decided to deal with it and started to stroke Luka's back. He didn't know why he did this but it pleased him to watch her sleeping face and hear her steady breath.
Luka's hand suddenly grabbed his back, bringing him closer to her. She buried her face to his chest and started to sob. This startled him; he removed her hair that covered half of her face to see better, and wasn't that surprised that she was crying.
"Please…don't go…" she murmured.
His memories brought him back to their conversation on the riverbank. Her condition now might be referring to the man she'd mentioned before. He sighed and held her tighter to sooth the pain she felt from her dream.
"Yosh-yosh… I won't leave you…"
She started to calm down and he felt the night become eternity. The warmth of her body made him begin to stir into his own dream. He dropped his head on the pillow and he suddenly saw a green field on a sunny day; there was his father, Rin-chan, Len-kun and scowling Kiyo-nii. He waved his hand to make them notice him; his other hand held something heavy like a rock, which made it so he couldn't move towards his family. He turned his head to see Luka; her eyes were dark, like she was holding some grudge against him, and before he could ask her 'what's wrong?' he felt her palm visiting his cheek.
He snapped his eyes open, the feeling of her slap was somewhat real and he found half of his body laying on the floor while his feet were still on the bed.
"You perverted jerk!"
And it hit him, her slap was real…
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed.
"I'm the one who should ask! Why are you on my bed, holding me?"
"What? Excuse me, as far as I remember it is my bed and you're the one who pulled me onto it!"
"Well it's not your bed anymore." She pulled off the blanket and threw it to him. "Plus, I will never do that to you, now shoo to the corner and sleep there."
"You… little…" He threw the blanket to his side his palms clenched.
She stared at him with the same dark glare he saw in his dream. "You won't like it when I leave this house, right?"
"Tch."
He took the blanket and dragged himself to the corner. She snorted and laid her body back onto the bed, her back facing him. He covered himself like cocoon with the blanket, sitting in the corner, and tried to close his eyes.
"Damn you… damn woman," he muttered.
"I learned to be annoying from the best; it's your own fault."
"Tch!" He just hoped that tomorrow he wouldn't have a backache.
~to be continued~
