Disclaimer: Takehiko Inoue owns the stuff, so you can't sue me! sticks tongue out at court

A/N: Gomen for taking so long!!! My exams were okay, so I worked on this immediately! I was supposed to up this last wednesday October 9. However, the worst thing happened when I was about to upload this... MY FREAKING COMPUTER CRASHED!!! *cries in a corner* my files, my beautiful files, all gone... Plus I had to retype this chappie... I feel so bad in missing HanaRu day!!! Anyway, it's okay, coz there's another occasion coming up... Guess what? It's my 17th birthday today October 14!!! So this chappie is my blow-out for you guys... I figured I couldn't invite you all to my party, so there...

Legend:

~place/time/flashback~
"dialogue"
//thoughts//
*sigh or something like it*
inserts
/*stuff outside of the fic*/


Chapter 5: A Very Fine House


After a semi-long ride, the limousine finally stopped. Its passengers clambered out of the said car and proceeded to have a good look at their surroundings.

"Wow, we're like, in the middle of nowhere!"

"Well, almost..."

"Yeah, except for that house behind you.."

Ryota turned to look at whatever it was that Kogure and Mitsui were pointing at. The others followed suit and saw HUGE gates.

"What house?! It's just a gate..." Miyagi said in a vain attempt to cover up his blunder.

"Ah, but there is a house behind the gates; so technically, there's a house there," Kogure said, in a manner that reminds one of a preschool teacher explaining a very simple concept to a particularly slow student. It was annoying, really.

Rukawa was already at the gates, punching in an alphanumeric code in the high-tech electronic security system. After a little beep, the gates opened to reveal the most beautiful house the team had ever seen. They followed Rukawa almost numbly, mainly out of shock and awe. The rookie, on the other hand, was acting as a tour guide /*if you call this Rukawa: *points to living room* "Living room." a proper tour guide*/ For once, the guests used their eyes more than their big mouths. Rukawa, noticing that something was amiss, stopped the tour when they passed the living room again. He decided to make announcements about the room arrangements instead.

"There are seven rooms," he announced.

/*chibi-onna: you call that an announcement?! oh well, at least he's not ooc...*/

"Hmmm.... I know! We should occupy the rooms in pairs," the ever so thoughtful Ayako said, "And, oh, let's just draw lots so there wouldn't be much fuss."

"But--" Mitsui was about to protest.

"No buts and that's final. You WILL make do with the results, and no switching will take place... Or. Else."

"Hai, hai..." almost everyone chorused. //as if we ever had a choice to begin with...//

//But I wanna be with Min-kun!!!// Mitsui's chibi self whined in his head.

The manageress proceeded to tear up pieces of paper while Haruko wrote their names down.

Rukawa faced his senior. "Ayako-sempai," Ayako looked up at him. "I have my own room."

Ayako nodded. "Haruko, don't write Rukawa's name, okay? He has his own room."

"Okay," Haruko said, and turned back to her work with a pinkish tint on her cheeks.

"Aya-chan! I hope I get to bunk with you!!!"

A vein pop was throbbing on Ayako's temple. WHACK! The lethal harisen was out again.

"Baka! Haruko and I will automatically be roommates since we're the only girls! What were you thinking?!" You could actually feel the raging embarrassment radiating from the manageress.

"Hentai," Mitsui chided Ryota. He felt a little better after he did that, seeing that he wasn't the only one who was wallowing in misery at the moment.

"Shut up," Miyagi told Mitsui through clenched teeth and slumped down at one corner whimpering, "Aya-chan..."

Meanwhile, the pieces of paper were put in a black hat that Haruko got from her bag. She passed them to Yohei who handed them to Ayako. Nodding in acknowledgement, she started to pick out the names.

"Ahem! Okay, people, the first pair would be...*picks from the lot* Mitsui-sempai and...."

//Kami-sama if you're there, please hear my prayer... I promise not to do naughty things ever again... /*chibi-onna: Now, what did he mean by that?!*/ Please, just let it be---// Mitsui's thoughts came, pleading with whatever supernatural force there is to listen to his silent plea.

"...Kogure-sempai."

//Wahoo!!! Somebody up there must REALLY love me!!! Thank you!!!// Mitsui almost clicked his heels in delight, apparently forgetting about his promise regarding his--ahem--naughtiness judging from the thoughts running around in his head. /*chibi-onna: go figure...*/

Kogure just smiled, as always. Ayako had that amused look. The others were of course oblivious to the hidden implications of the scene before them. Unbeknownst to all of them, Rukawa raised an eyebrow.

And so, the sorting went on. "Next is, Noma and Takamiya." The two just shrugged.

"Then there's Akagi-sempai and you, Miyagi."

At this, Ryota jerked his head up from his corner, comprehending just now what his crush had said. //Of all the people...//

"Ooksu will be rooming in with Yohei, and the last pair will be Haruko and I." Ayako didn't bother to pick the last piece of paper in the hat. She passed it to Yohei who gave it back to Haruko.

"E? How about Hanamichi?" Yohei asked, concerned for his bestfriend.

"There are seven rooms, ne?" Everyone nods. Ayako continues, "Well, there are five pairs and Rukawa has his own room, so that would mean we would occupy six rooms. The extra room goes to Hanamichi."

"Hey, not fair! How come you get to have your own room?" Takamiya complained to Hanamichi.

"Oi! I should be the one complaining. You snore a lot you know..." Noma defensively said.

"Nyahahahaha! It's because the tensai is lucky! Nyahahahaha!"

"Rub it in, will you?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Hence a fight ensued. Ayako was having another vein pop. "Guys, stop that now, before I get mad." She was looking scary.

But still, the bickering gang paid no heed to the beautiful Ayako. She was looking scarier, though. "I said, stop it," she said in a sing-song voice.

Now, Ayako was looking REALLY scary. This time, Yohei noticed, and being the sensible one, broke up the fight and pointed out that it would not be wise to cross a tired, fed up, pissed manageress wielding a life-threatening fan. The fight stopped as suddenly as it started. An eerie silence engulfed the room.

After a few tense moments, Ayako finally said, "That's better." And the gundan found themselves wiping sweat from their brows.

In the course of the events, Rukawa had fished out five pairs of plastic cards and let a person from each pair pick one.

"What's this for?" Mitsui asked.

"Keys to your rooms," was the answer.

By now, they were almost used to the fact that Rukawa was just so damned filthy rich. Updated with the latest technology, too.

"Oi, kitsune, how about the tensai?" Sakuragi asked.

"Where? I don't see any geniuses around..."

"Temee.... Baka kitsune!" Sakuragi let out a huff and started to make furious moves towards the said fox. Fortunately, the gundan held him off; the reason for this was to avoid angering the already irritable Ayako. They were starting to wonder whether that fan was really made out of paper...

Rukawa was walking towards the marvelous stair case. The white marble reflected everything with its flawless shine. He climbed it and took a left, since the staircase diverged after a fairly good number of steps. He stopped and said, "The rooms are this way."

Everyone just followed him, even the redheaded chibi with smoke coming out of his ears.

"Oi, you're going to activate all the smoke alarms," Rukawa tried to strike another 'conversation' with his Hana.

He didn't know it, but Hanamichi was making Kaede suffer by not retaliating. For once, he was the one who chose to ignore the other.

Anyway, all the rooms were identical. They saw that each room had two spring beds, a comfortable-looking couch, fine persian carpets, a large wooden dresser, a coffee table, a television, simple yet elegant wallpapers, and exquisitely draped curtains. Each also has a bathroom consisting of a very large full length mirror, a shower stall with glass doors, a white lavatory with golden faucets, a matching toilet, and soft white carpets.

The guests soon found that the rooms were situated next to each other in an arc. There was nothing but wall on the opposite of the rooms. They soon realized that the corridor was indeed circular, for they ended up back at the stairs. Only this time, they were on the right hand side.

"Kitsune!!! Where's my room?!" Sakuragi asked the Super Rookie again. No, scratch that. Demanded would be a better word.

"Hn."

Suddenly, a butler appeared. "Rukawa-sama, lunch is ready," he informed his master.

"Oh good! I'm starving," Takamiya was rubbing his hands together.

"You're always hungry," commented an exasperated Ooksu.

"Temee.... Show me my room!!!!" Sakuragi was having a tantrum attack.

"Let's eat," the stoic player said.

"Wahahahahahahahaha!!!" Mitsui and Ryota were laughing their hearts out. "Looks like his room will turn out to be the living room! Wahahahahahaha!!!" Ryota couldn't stop laughing, so he just nodded his head to whatever it was that Mitsui said.

"URUSAI!!!" Sakuragi yelled, only to find that everyone was filing out of the living room on their way to eat lunch.

"Traitors..." Hanamichi mumbled under his breath. He stared at their retreating backs, full of anger and hatred.

Without warning, Sakuragi's stomach growled. After a few moments, Hanamichi sheepishly scratched the back of his head and followed his friends to the dining room.


A/N: This is a lot longer than the other chapters, ne? I hope you're happy with this... And Rukawa's mean for a reason. Things will get better in chapter 6. Please, r&r!