---Chapter 11: Counting---

…How many? Allow me to count…

------------------------------

It was a bright and sunny morning. Sanada and Atobe were sitting beside each other by a table. They were studying basic arithmetic, in particular, the multiplication table.

"…Nine times eight is 72. Nine times nine is 81. Nine times ten is 90." Sanada recited the table of nine.

Atobe sighed. "Ore-sama knows all of these." He gazed lazily over the series of tables of numbers.

"If you really know everything, then let me test you," Sanada challenged him.

"Sure. Bring it on."

"What's 6 x 3?"

"18."

"4 x 9?"

"36."

"2 x 7?"

"Fourteen. Genichirou, make your questions a little harder. It's too easy. I can even answer it while sleeping."

Sanada looked at his friend. "I really don't understand how I can tolerate your arrogance."

"You're simply charmed by my prowess," Atobe answered airily.

The other boy shook his head in disagreement. "Let's continue. What's nine times six?"

"54."

"8 x 7?"

"56."

Sanada decided to make the questions a little harder. "12 x 4?"

"Hey, that's more than the table of ten."

"If you're really good, you should know it."

"Fine. It's…." Atobe didn't memorize the tables after ten, so he took a guess. "…48?" A lucky guess.

"How about 13 x 6?"

"68?"

"That's wrong."

"72? Or 74?"

"It's still wrong. The answer is 78. You don't know the answer. Do you, Keigo? You're just guessing."

Atobe hated it when someone pointed out that he didn't know something, especially if that "someone" was Sanada. "So what if I don't know it? I only memorized up to the tens."

"That's no excuse. You failed my challenge." Sanada almost smiled.

This irritated Atobe. "Don't even think you're better than me. I can compute what you asked on paper."

"Sure you can." It seemed that Sanada was actually taunting Atobe.

Atobe narrowed his eyes. "If you think you're so great, then let me challenge you. I'll make sure that I'll only ask the difficult ones."

"Be my guest. I've memorized up to the table of twenty."

The young heir got more irritated. He looked upon the tables of 12 to 19. "Let's see if you know this: 16 x 8?"

"128," the other boy replied smoothly.

"15 x 9?"

"135."

"17 x 3?"

"51."

Their question-and-answer continued for some time. And always, Sanada would answer correctly.

Atobe decided to ask something that was out of the line of his previous questions. If Sanada really had a good memory of numbers, then he would know this.

"How many times have we kissed?"

The capped boy was taken aback. He didn't expect that question to be asked. "That question is irrelevant. We're talking about multiplication."

"Of course we are. I asked you about 'times' and you should answer me with a number."

"That's illogical."

"Oh? Am I sensing that you're excusing yourself, Genichirou? Maybe because you don't know the correct answer?" Atobe gloated.

It was Sanada's turn to narrow his eyes. He kept silent while Atobe continued to talk.

"Tsk, tsk. You make Ore-sama really sad, Genichirou. You can remember the multiples of a number and yet you cannot remember the instances we kissed. I'm disappointed," Atobe said while acting a little dramatic.

Then, in a quiet voice, Sanada responded, "five, including the time I kissed your hand."

Atobe looked intently at his friend. Then, a small smile formed on his lips.

"That is correct. You pass my challenge."

Sanada was about rub in that he's better than Atobe; however, his lips were hindered from talking. Atobe had placed his lips on Sanada's before he could speak a word. Sanada felt very warm inside.

When they pulled away, each had an obvious blush on their face.

"And that makes six," Atobe stated.

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A/n: Please review. :)

In case you were wondering, these are the chapters that they kissed: 2, 5 (implicit), 7 (hand), 8 & chap. 2 of "Pure and Innocent."

Um….I need someone to beta-read another fic that I'm writing (although I'm not yet done with it). Will someone kindly help me? Please? -smiles shyly-