A/N: Hey folks! Thanks so much for the nice-to-read comments! It made me happy! And it made me want to update as soon as possible! ;) So taking a break from all the paper works I have to do for both work and studies, I present you this chapter haha ;) Hope you haven't fallen ill yet with all the sweetness and fluffiness I've been giving you. You can't blame me haha coz I did tell you that you are reading at your own risk ;)

Nope, I still don't, and never will, own Misaki and co. ;)

Chapter 11. Key

She sighed in bliss, enjoying the softness her back was resting with. She moved, curling herself to the source of warmth at her side. She felt happy and content as she snuggled deeper to the source of warmth.

"Hmm..Takumi..."

She inhaled deeply, smelling his scent in the air, a combination of mint and something uniquely him that she couldn't describe.

'That's odd. I never knew my bed smells like him. To think that he had never touched my bed, let alone step in my bedroom.'

She burrowed her nose to where the scent was stronger. She stayed in that position as thoughts of him flashed her lethargic mind. But as her thoughts became more coherent, she wondered why she couldn't remember coming home. She cracked one eye open to look at her bedside clock, but her eyes only saw pure white. Her other eye cracked open. She blinked once, twice, before she quickly sat up. Well, she did try to get up, but she realized she was trapped.

"Did you have a nice nap?"

She looked at the source of the voice and saw his smiling eyes. Her eyes widened in surprise as blush crept in her cheeks, before her eyes narrowed into slits.

"What do you think you're doing, alien? More importantly, what are you doing in my bed?"

"Ah. I didn't know Misa-chan has a sole claim on this bed," he said in monotone, releasing his hold on her.

She immediately sat up, her eyes widening again when she took in her surroundings.

"What am I doing here? How did I end up here?" She screeched, looking at him suspiciously. "You better had not done anything perverted, alien!"

"For starter," he said, stretching at the bed, making himself comfortable. He smirked when she blushed anew at his actions. "You're in this bed because I carried you here. That's how you got in this bed. As to how you had ended here, in my apartment, I don't know. I presume you took the train and then took a walk, rode the elevator, made yourself comfortable outside my apartment, and slept there."

Her blush intensified, memories coming back to her. True, she had come to his apartment, but he wasn't around. She decided to wait for him, and sat on the floor near his door, leaning at the wall. She didn't know she fell asleep. She had been busy at the school today, and on top of that, she had been worried about him. He didn't show up at the school today, which was very uncommon of him as of late. At first, she thought that he was just giving her some peace of mind to finish the piling student council paper works that morning. But when classes started and he still didn't show up, that was when she started to worry. For the whole day, she couldn't focus on anything as her mind drifted to him, wondering if something happened, if his family...

"It's your entire fault, you stupid Takumi!" She exclaimed, pointing at him accusingly to emphasize her point.

"What did I do this time?" He asked, though he already knew the reason why she was at his apartment waiting for him. He held the finger pointing at him and used it to pull her back to him. She resisted, but lost against him anyway, so she settled for glaring at his smirking face. They had a staring contest for a while.

"W-where...have you been?" She finally asked after she settled her head in his shoulders.

"Hiding."

She gripped his side at his answer, but otherwise remained quiet. She knew he would eventually give in and tell her the truth. Or if he couldn't, he would tell her so.

"I went to visit the family house. I had to take care of some things. Sorry for making you worried. It was urgent that time," he said in an apologetic tone, running his fingers at the exposed skin of her arms, inwardly smiling when goose bumps appeared in her skin.

She raised her head and looked him in the eyes, searching something.

"Are you...are you okay?" She asked softly. She was relieved when he smiled. It wasn't a sad, forced smile. It was a contented one.

"I am now that I have you here," he said softly, cupping her face.

"Idiot alien," she murmured as she closed the distance between them and rested her cheeks against his bashfully. She rarely did it, so every time she did, he was always caught by surprise, but nevertheless accepted it with ardour.

"What is this?" She asked in confusion, looking at the silver object in her palm.

"That's a key. It is a small, shaped cut of metal, used to move or release a bolt or catch in a complementary mechanism. (11) See this? You can use it to open lock in..."

"I know what a key is, stupid alien," she interrupted, glaring at him for treating her as if she was stupid. He had been doing that a lot lately. "What I meant was what this key is for?"

He chuckled, closing her fingers around the key and engulfing her small hand in his much bigger hand.

"That's a key to my apartment," he said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?"

"Ouch. That hurt, Misa-chan," he complained, rubbing his ears. He pointedly looked around, reminding her that there was a possibility that someone would hear if she continued shouting.

"What do you mean a key to your apartment?" She hissed. She had an idea what this particular key was even before he said so. But why he was giving it to her, her mind couldn't understand. She stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate.

"You're my girlfriend, isn't that enough reason?" he asked.

She blushed at being called as his girlfriend, but still, she didn't accept his reasoning.

"You're so stubborn, Misa-chan," he said with a sigh. He pulled her to him, applying force when she resisted. She landed in his lap conveniently. He enclosed her in his arms and burrowed his face on her neck. "I don't want to make Misa-chan wait outside my apartment again. What if a pervert saw you sleeping cutely and make a pass on you?"

She glared even though he couldn't see it with their current position.

"Not everyone is like you. If I'm in danger of being harassed, then there's only one person who could be the source of that danger and that's you, Usui Takumi."

He chuckled.

"I would kill anyone who would harass my Misa-chan. Only me can do that," he said, kissing her neck. She shivered, but didn't pull away. Instead, she reached backwards and tangled her fingers in his soft hair.

"Now there are two of us who have the key to my apartment. You can come anytime you want, Misa-chan."

He chuckled once more when a thought crossed his mind, and it grew louder when he felt her tensed in his arms, no doubt anticipating that whatever was to come next from his mouth was something that would make her annoyed.

"It will be a pleasant surprise to come back and find you in our bed..."

She bristled in anger and pulled at his hair, hard. He had said it in such a perverted way that she shivered with alarm. She was tempted to hack him into pieces and threw his remains anywhere where no one would find.

"...naked," he added before he sunk his teeth and nipped at her delicious neck.

"YO aah..."

Whatever she was about to say, or scream at him, it ended with a moan. When he heard her moan, he made a strangled sound and abruptly turned her head to face him, before he pressed his lips into hers. It was a heated kiss, more than they had done before. He immediately plunged his tongue inside her waiting mouth, and caressed her tongue with his, sometimes tender, sometimes rough. He explored the insides of her mouth thoroughly, his hands clutching her to him tightly. If she was hurt by the strength of his hug, she wasn't complaining as she also clutched him to her. Their bodies were pressed tightly that they looked like one person. When their lungs finally screamed for air, they both pulled away, panting heavily, lips moist and a bit swollen. They both leaned closer to rest their foreheads in each other.

"Misa..."

"Hmm?"

Their eyes remained closed until their breathing returned to normal. When it did, he pecked her lips and then turned her around so that her back was on his chest, his arms around her with hers on top of his.

They were quiet for a moment as they watched the light slowly turned into dusk. They enjoyed their little moment.

"Just because you're my boyfriend, don't expect that I will give you the spare key to our house," she said, breaking the silence between them.

"I won't," he answered quickly.

"Good."

"The key to your room is enough for me."

She rolled her eyes at his response.

"I should have known you would say something like that."

He chuckled while the corners of her lips turned upwards in a hint of a smile.

"Let's go home."

"Yeah."

Together, they walked in a comfortable silence until he had to bid goodnight and go to his own not-so-empty-anymore apartment. The thought that she had the key, and would come to his place anytime, made up for his want to not leave her side forever.

(11) "Key (mechanics)." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

A/N: Okay, now that I have that out, I'm going back to stuff that I should be doing right now, which is get some rest after doing my homework for several hours ;)

-Arvendell-

11 January 2011

11:41 PM