A/N: I OWN NOTHING! I am just borrowing Naoki and Kotoko for my own amusement.

-3K+N3-

Naoki woke up and got ready as if everything was normal before going downstairs for breakfast. When he got there, he made up his coffee and picked up the newspaper, reading about stocks and the happenings in the world as he ate. After a while, he heard Kotoko come in and sit down before he felt her gaze on him. He just continued to read while he finished his breakfast.

"Kotoko-Chan," his mother prompted. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, Oba-sama." She responded happily.

"Ai-chan still sleeping?" his father asked.

"Yes, Oji-san. I am sorry about that." She sounded slightly bashful.

"Oh, it's no bother." His father chuckled. "I know he works late with the restaurant."

Naoki put the newspaper down and began finishing his coffee, side eyeing the young woman that was sitting diagonally from himself. He could see the rosy cheeks and the quick pace at which she consumed the toast in her hands. She raised her eyes to his and blushed harder, then started quietly giggling. 'The blush I understand,' he muses. 'She is embarrassed at the thought of me having read the letter. Why is she giggling though?' "Thank you for breakfast, I will be going now." He says as he stands up. He then starts to the door to put his shoes on before leaving. Behind him, he hears the girl rushing and his mother's hurried footsteps as well.

As she pauses next to him to slip on her own shoes, he glances towards her, seeing his mother out of the corner of his eye, a hopeful look on her face. "You have bread crumbs on you," he sneers before starting out the door as she begins brushing the crumbs from her person and saying goodbye to his mother. By the time he reaches the end of the driveway, she is right next to him. "Let's get some things straight. I am going to show you the way once, so pay attention. Stay at least 2 meters behind me, not next to me. Don't talk to me at school, and absolutely do not tell anyone that we live together."

By the time he finished speaking they were a few minutes away from the house, so he began to relax slightly, not seeing the telltale shine off the camera that his mother usually wields. He observed the shocked and hurt look on Kotoko's face, inwardly sighing in exasperation. "BAKA," he drawls, bringing his hand down on her head. "What did I say last night?" He pauses to look at her, amused when he sees the proverbial light bulb flash before they continued on their way to school. As they drew closer to the building, he noticed her drop back so she was not walking next to him. He nodded in approval and gave her a small smile before he went to his class to being the day.

As the lunch hour broke, he heard a lot of yelling coming from Class F. 'If they actually paid attention to their studies instead of goofing off, I wonder where they would be.' As he was pondering this, he reached into his bag to bring out his bento, pausing in horror as he noticed the pink wrapping. 'Mother,' he cursed in his head, dropping the box back into his bag before standing with the bag in hand and striding out of the classroom.

He paused outside of Class F, takes a breath then opens the door. "Aihara," he spoke clearly, watching as her head snapped up from the book she was studying. "Grab your bag and come with me." With that, he turned and waited until he felt her close behind him. He led them through the school to outside under a cherry blossom tree.

"I thought you said we couldn't talk at school?" she quietly asks, brushing a strand of her copper hair behind her ear.

He sighed softly, noting her friends off in the distance attempting to hide behind small twigs with leaves. "I wouldn't be talking to you right now if I didn't have a reason, BAKA." he explains. "Mom mixed up the bento boxes this morning." He pulled hers out of his bag.

"Oh," she replies, reaching to pull his blue wrapped box out. "You're right. Crazy mix up."

"These mix ups are unavoidable with us going to the same school. It's really annoying." He responds in mock frustration.

"Yeah," she says slyly, causing him to look at her with a puzzled look. "Who knows, you might accidentally show up to school wearing my skirt."

"What?" he asks confused, before a brief flicker of a memory crosses his mind. 'She wouldn't have…'

"Well after all, you were raised wearing skirts, right?" she chuckles, flashing a horror photo from his childhood at him. The photo shows little him with his hair in bows and a princess dress on. He gaps at the photo, before turning to the girl wielding it.

"Where did you get that?" he grits out between clenched teeth.

"Oba-sama gave it to me after she showed me the album last night," she smiles. "You're so cute, Irie-kun."

"Well, give it back!" he demands, holding out his hand.

"No," she answers simply. "I will give it back to you if you tutor me."

"Me? Tutor you? Why?" he asks incredulously.

"I want to make the top 100."

"Only those from Class A and Class B make the top 100. That would be a miracle." He answers.

"I'm not stupid," she insists. "I just get confused. You can either tutor me, or I can share this photo with the entire school."

He pauses, watching her as he weighs his options about what to do in this situation. He does not want that photo getting out. He has a little bit of respect for her blackmail scheme, even if it is against him. It clearly shows the passion she has to achieve her goals. 'I wonder,' he muses. "Can I make a counter offer?"

"I am willing to accept alternatives," she replies calmly.

"I will tutor you for the next week before the midterms," he began, watching her face light up at her victory. "In exchange, you give me the photo right now."

"But what if you stop? This is my incentive for you to help me."

He sighs again, contemplating how he could sweeten the arrangement to convince her to agree to hand over the photo immediately. Suddenly, he had an idea. "What if I promised you a wish? Whatever you want, if you hand over the photo right now and exceed my expectations and make it on the board. This means I will have to help you, because I will not go back on my word, and you get a reward if you apply yourself."

He watched her as she mulled over the offer. 'Please accept,' he begged her internally. At her nod, she hands over the photo, which he quickly shoved into the pocket of his jacket. "We start after dinner tonight." With that, he strode away from her, going to his class to eat his lunch before class resumed.

After class, Naoki started the walk home. As he was leaving the school, he heard the voice of the black haired menace.

"KOTOKO!" he screeched. "Where are you going? We are all going out for ice cream.

"Ikezawa-san," she replied, not seeing his mouth drop as he stopped. The disbelief on his face in the way that she addressed him. "I am going home so that I can study."

"Why did you call me that?" he demanded. "You always call me Kin-chan."

"I know I did," she responded absent mindedly as she started checking her bag to make sure that she had her planner and all of the school workbooks that she needed, not wanting to inconvenience Naoki by not being prepared. "I just had it pointed out to me that I shouldn't refer to you in such an informal and affection manner when I am making declarations of my feelings to another person."

All of her friends paused to look at her, shock crossing all of their faces. Naoki went to smile before he realized that Watanabe was standing next to him. "Looks like the girl with the letter stunned the Class F kids," he observed.

"Bu bu but Kotoko!" the fool whined. "I am going to be your future husband. It is fine for you to be affectionate with me."

"No, you aren't Ikezawa-san," she stated calmly, fire burning in her eyes as she looked at him. "I love Irie-Kun, not you. I do not want anyone to get the wrong idea by how I call you. I would also appreciate you not making declarations of your affection for me, and for you to refrain from draping yourself all over me. These actions give the wrong impression, and are not things I am comfortable with continuing."

Naoki stopped after Watanabe did, both of them shocked over the words that had come out of her mouth. Ikezawa seemed to be broken, his mouth just opening and closing, unsure how to take what she had said. After a few seconds, he seemed to have recovered. "How can you say you love Irie-Demon?" he cried. "He didn't even read your letter!?"

Having enough, and just wanting to go home and get Kotoko away from the fool who refuses to respect her wishes, Naoki speaks. "Who says I didn't read it?" Everyone stops and stares at him, as he watches the dumb boy break for the second time in a matter of minutes. He shifted his eyes to the woman in question, seeing the color on her cheeks, and that intriguing spark burning in her chocolate gaze.

"But you didn't accept the letter!" Ikezawa screamed, pointing at him. "Did he Kotoko?" As he issued this demand to the girl, he put his hands on her shoulders. Naoki had officially had enough of the dumb black haired boy. Moving swiftly to her, he gently grasped Kotoko's arm, sliding her behind him, and placing himself between her and her male friend.

"I believe she asked for you to stop touching her in such a familiar fashion," he stated simply, glancing back at her to make sure she was okay. At her soft nod, he focused back on the small group in front of him. "I did not accept the letter the day she presented it, this is true."

"HA!" the idiot cried in triumph.

"I did however accept it from her yesterday when we happened to run into each other," he continued as if there was no interruption. "Would you like for me to recite it to you?" he asked, knowing he never would despite the offer. The contents of that letter were private and meant for him and him alone. He turned to face the girl in question, ignoring her gaping friends. "Are you ready to go?" he asked calmly.

"GO!?" Ikezawa screams. "Why are you going anywhere with him? Are you two dating now?"

"What if we are?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "How would that be any concern of yours?" Naoki saw Kotoko nod in agreement to leaving, but it played in well to his previous comment. He put his hand on her lower back guiding her away from them all. "To answer the first question though, I am tutoring her."

As the pair continued their trek home, he could read the clear confusion on Kotoko's face. "What's bothering you?" he asks simply.

"I thought you said not to talk to you at school?" she responds.

"I did, but I could not stand Ikezawa just blatantly ignoring your request for him to not touch you in an overly familiar way."

"You do realize rumors are going to spread that we are together now, right?" she queries.

He simply shrugs before looking at her. "Maybe so. It might make Ikezawa take notice that you are not his to touch freely. I am surprised about you making that request though."

"I realized that you were right." She responds while staring off in the direction they were headed. "How can I claim that I have feelings for you while I am basically leading someone else on by not being frank with him. It made it seem like I was leaving things open for Ikezawa-san by not straight out telling him to stop. It was not fair to him and would not be doing right by my feelings for you."

He simply nods in acceptance, happy that she took his advice to heart, and made her own decisions from there. He glances at her out of the corner of his eye before saying slyly, "So you only have feelings for me now? Just a few minutes ago you were proclaiming your love for me in front of a group of people." He smirked in satisfaction as her cheeks flushed brilliantly. "If people decide to spread rumors, we will either ignore them or deal with them. You being comfortable at that moment was more important to me than maintaining any sort of silence or illusion."

"Well, thank you, Irie-kun" she mutters softly.

"You're welcome," he replies as they walk into the house they now share. Taking off his shoes and moving up the stairs, he goes into his bedroom to change and complete his homework before he tutors Kotoko that evening. 'What did I just do?' he wonders as he finishes his own work. 'I wanted to avoid rumors and now I am giving them a reason to spread them. Would it necessarily be a bad thing?' As soon as he finished that thought he heard his name being called as he was summoned down for dinner.