Author's Notes: This is a multichaptered fic set on Rukawa and Sakuragi's couplehood. In this era, same sex marriage is already allowable in the society.

[...] ---Rukawa's thoughts.

'...' ---Sakuragi's thoughts.

Warning: My first attempt on a romantic comedy, gomen. And oh, this chapter is especially crappy. I'm really no good at these things. Pardon me.

Disclaimer: Don't own SD. Period.

TRIAL MARRIAGE .

...........

Chapter 3--- Surface- Lickin' Clean: The Beginning of the Last or Something like It

............

"Kaede, would you like to help me out on my luggage? Your flat is not exactly on the lower floors, you know," Hanamichi grumbled, handing Rukawa some of his bags. "And goddamnit, did I not tell you to inform the staff about the busted elevator?!"

The two are presently moving some of Sakuragi's stuff to Rukawa's condo unit, as they have decided during their very interesting conversation last night.

"I did, Hana. They're working on it. Don't be such a whiner," Rukawa replied coolly, taking Sakuragi's trunk and overnight bag.

"Hello! Whoever told you to have your place on the 23rd floor of this bloody building?! I would've endured this since I know I am physically capable of anything, but no, you just had to tire me out of my wits last night," Sakuragi muttered, huffing as they climbed yet another staircase.

Rukawa smirked.

[He enjoyed it. Tremendously, if I may add.]

"Oi! What the hell are you smirking about?! Get your ass up here now and we still have, let me see, TEME! Seven more staircases to climb?!?" Sakuragi roared disbelievingly.

"Boys, could you keep it down a little? You are causing quite a disturbance," an old lady standing on a unit's doorway suddenly addressed the two, gesturing for them to minimize the noise.

Sakuragi made a face.

Rukawa climbed the stairs and apologized gently to the soft-spoken old lady, bowing respectfully in front of her, "Gomenasai, obaasan."

The lady smiled sweetly at him before retreating back to her room.

Sakuragi Hanamichi was incredibly amused.

'This, is Kaede's side he rarely shows.'

"Ne Kaede, that was utterly polite of you."

"Hn."

"I am serious."

"Right. Then maybe, play it down yourself, ne?"

[Play it down? Seriously Kaede, you're getting more and more pathetic each day.]

"Play it down?" Sakuragi asked the other, apparently stumped.

Rukawa sweatdropped.

Then realization hit him. "Hey, you think of me as a tape or something?! And are you telling me to shut up?!" the redhead replied, enraged, but careful in restraining his powerful voice.

'Teme! He's really getting to me today!"

"I tried to tell you nicely," Rukawa said back as a sort of consolation. "Anyway, you don't have to fret about it. It's only pertinent when you're in the building's public areas, particularly the hallways. You can scream all the noise you want in our room for all I care. Actually, I would love to tolerate your bedroom noise," Rukawa uttered, a mischievous leer on his face.

Sakuragi blushed like mad, rivaling the color of his hair. "Has anyone told you yet that you are one hell of a super sarcastic, A-class hentai smirk- er?"

"You're the first," Rukawa said, grabbing Sakuragi by the collar, pushing him to the nearest wall. The raven- haired guy assaulted the other's lips ferociously. Hanamichi moaned as Rukawa's lips traveled down to his neck...

"I'm pretty sure you have a unit somewhere in this building to privatize your intimate moments, dears."

[Holy...]

That was the old lady from before.

The two pulled away immediately as if a blazing torch has been placed between them, taking the steps upward as fast as they could.

[...shit...]

'How could she have...?'

............

Finally, they have arrived at Kaede's unit. Obviously, some of the things have been cleared out to make room for the additional ones, but it was neat and organized as ever. Without further ado, the two arranged the place right away, setting Sakuragi's stuff in all the appropriate spots.

Not long after, their home has looked all, what to say, cozily stuffed. Both of them slumped down into the dining chairs in absolute weariness.

"I am positively exhausted. I'm taking a nap." Sakuragi stood up after a few minutes to proceed to the bedroom.

"Wait," Rukawa grabbed Hana's arm, preventing him from walking away. "You can't nap. You're dirty and stinking and I just changed my sheets. Go take a shower first."

Yes, Rukawa Kaede has indeed, grown up to be a meticulous clean freak.

"Kaede! I-am-dead-sleepy. Can't the shower wait? Not a taint on your sheets, I promise," Sakuragi replied drowsily, resuming on walking towards the bedroom, only to be kept yet again by the other guy.

"No, Hana. No shower, no sleep. Go hit the bathroom," Rukawa told the redhead, adamant in letting the other bathe first.

"Onegai, Kaede? Just this once." Sakuragi was desperate in dozing off.

"No. You. Bathroom. Now." Rukawa stated, steering Sakuragi towards the lavatory.

Sakuragi was, at the moment, only half- aware of what was happening, his eyelids partially closed.

He was almost off to la-la land when...

"Aaaaaah!!! Shit, f#$&!!!" the redhead yelled incessantly when he felt cold water pour onto him, blasting him out of his trance.

"Gomen Hana, you have to take a bath. I'm doing this for your own good, baby," Rukawa told the other apologetically. "Oh, and we have a separate basket for wet laundry. Do place your soaked clothes in there 'kay?"

Fifteen minutes later, Sakuragi appeared out of the bathroom, all clean and fresh.

By now, he's fully wide awake.

............

Sakuragi didn't speak a single syllable to Rukawa that day, ever since the bathroom incident. But, considering Rukawa's not-so-bearable fetish for cleanliness and hygiene, seemed like it wasn't the last incident after all. So far, today was their fourth day of living together, and with what just happened awhile ago (which was by the way, Rukawa badgering Sakuragi for the nth time for leaving the toothpaste cap on the bathroom sink and leaving the medicine cabinet open), looked as if it was not an easy and all happy live-together after all.

As of now, the redhead was on the reception area of the condominium, on the phone with his best friend, Youhei, ranting once more, on what just took place.

Rukawa knew better than to keep the redhead from leaving the flat.

"And then right after, that stupid kitsune told me that I was so stupid for forgetting the stupid toothpaste cap on his stupid sink! I was so unstoppably edgy already so you know what I did? I punched the stupid asshole in his stupid gut! " Sakuragi rambled on and on, already attracting attention from several people in the area.

"Right, right. And you're sounding stupid yourself so just cool it, okay? Look, there's a newly opened coffee shop somewhere in the park and I heard they really serve good coffee, I mean freshly brewed and all with---"

"Damn it, Youhei! What does the bloody coffee shop have to do with my concern?!?"

"Uh, yeah, let's talk about your issue there. Meet me in an hour."

"I. Can't. Wait. That. Long." The redhead was awfully grouchy.

"Err, see you in fifteen minutes."

"You got it."

............

"So, what's the deal with this terrific relationship of yours? You were a happy couple," Youhei commented, taking a sip from his freshly-brewed coffee.

"That's the drift, we were. We were perfect before entering into this frickin' live-in crap!" the redhead replied strongly, staring at the tiny coffee cylinders across him. Turned out Sakuragi and Youhei were one of the first 100 customers of Coffee Frenzy.

"But Hanamichi, it's just your fourth day of living together. You don't expect to adjust to this matter overnight or even over four days. Your disagreements on some issues are perfectly normal. And besides, you agreed with this, remember?"

"Correction: Kaede tricked me into agreeing with this."

"And may I know how the cunning fox tricked you into moving in with him?" Youhei queried.

"Erm, that's definitely confidential," the redhead replied awkwardly. "But that's not the point! What I'm trying to say here is, Kaede being so difficult and all is not exactly tolerable. I understand his sanitation thing, I do have stayed in his unit at some point before and he does have shown this frickin' whim in the past, but still, this is worse! If he still wanted us to work, then he better stop being such an unrelenting freak!" The redhead being just agitated is a mere understatement.

Youhei stared at his best friend, surprised to see the other in such a distressed state.

"If he's being such a pain in the ass, then that's Rukawa's problem, not yours. You can't do a damn thing about that, Hanamichi. Now, now...for starters, basically, you got to have patience. Lots of it."

"Never heard that term."

The shorter guy rolled his eyes.

"I thought so. So, what do you do know? Punch him every time he reminds you that you've disorganized something? Seriously, Hanamichi, you're in this now. Cope with it. Better yet, learn. When he nags you for forgetting to put down the toilet cover after use, then keep that in mind so that next time you won't overlook it. This is not going to be that easy, but patience is really a virtue, Hanamichi, and I mean really," Youhei explained.

"Geez, thanks for the philosophical enlightenment, otousan," Sakuragi responded mockingly.

Youhei frowned.

"Kidding," Sakuragi smiled. "No, seriously, I appreciate it. You've helped me realize a lot of things. About the patience thing, guess I'll just have to grow up, ne?"

"You bet you should." Youhei grinned.

............

For some time, silence reigned between them allowing them to sip from their coffees. Not long after, Sakuragi was at it again.

"Uh, Youhei. I have a question," the redhead said, apparently confused.

"Something to do with your problem again?"

"No, actually it's with this stuff," Sakuragi replied, holding up one of the coffee cylinders. "What's with the cylindrical coffee candies?"

"No idea, maybe the owner wanted it," Youhei said back, sipping from his own coffee.

As if on cue, a certain somebody entered the shop, gaining himself a lot of oohs and aahs. Seemingly, the guy was beaming bright enough to compete with the sunlight.

"Hey! That's Sendou! Oi Smiley, over here!" Sakuragi waved for him.

The subject spotted him immediately, proceeding to their table as soon as he saw them. Several girls and guys looked over enviously.

"So, so...looks like the gorgeous redhead is extremely enjoying my coffee," Sendou commented flirtily, pulling a chair for him to join the two.

Sakuragi blushed. Apparently, Youhei snorted.

"Baka. Your coffee? So you own this place, then? Baka, baka smiley. I have to admit the coffee's great though," Sakuragi responded, lifting his cup to his lips as if to prove his point.

"Nothing could ever be greater than you, Hana-kun."

The redhead went red once again.

Sendou was more than willing to flirt.

"Player," Youhei remarked dryly.

Sendou looked at him, amused. "Hana-kun, why don't you introduce me to your lovely company?"

"Uh, yeah, I'd love to. Sendou, this is Youhei, my best friend, Youhei this is---"

"I know about him," Youhei snapped, cutting the redhead off.

Sendou's smile twitched slightly.

"Al...alright," Sakuragi said back, staring at the other weirdly.

Seconds later, Sendou had his toothpaste-commercial-worthy smile back on his face. "So, hot thing, what brings you here? Just for my magnificent coffee, perhaps?" He addressed Sakuragi.

Youhei made a choking noise.

"Uh, Hana-kun, you're friend doesn't seem well."

"You---"

"If there's somebody in here who isn't at all well, it pretty sure isn't me," Youhei retorted back, looking at Sendou accusingly.

For a second, Sendou looked at him disturbingly. But Sendou being Sendou, he easily dismissed the note. "So, my dear Hana-kun..."

"Oh, yeah, well, actually, Youhei and I were discussing some relationship problem, you know, the usual about live –in couples. Just decided to try the new coffee shop for a venue," Sakuragi answered. He just had to get used to Sendou's flirty, not to mention hentai-ish, attitude sometimes.

"Oooh... don't tell me..."

The redhead nodded. "Really, huh? Should I say congratulations, then? Where do you stay now?"

"Kaede's condo unit. Walking distance from here. Why do you ask?" Sakuragi questioned.

"But of course, I'd love to visit the beautiful redhead some---"

"Hanamichi, you better go home now. It's getting late and Rukawa should be worried about you by now, and I mean reeeeally worried. You wouldn't want to worsen your fight with him, would you?" Youhei interrupted for the third time.

"I guess," Sakuragi replied sadly. "Gomen, smiley, but we have to go now."

"Uh, okay, I'll see you sometimes ne, Hana-kun? By the way, your best friend here is reeeeeeally, exceptionally, tremendously cute," Sendou remarked, bordering sarcasm and amusement.

"By the way, Hanamichi, Mr. Smile here is reeeeeeally, exceptionally, tremendously IDIOTIC," Youhei snapped back.

For the first time ever, the eternally-smiling Sendou felt his perfect smile turn to a perfect scowl.

............

After a few minutes of discussing, not to mention arguing over, Youhei's attitude problem just awhile ago, Sakuragi was back at their place.

"Hi. You're back," Rukawa uttered timidly.

"I guess I am." Sakuragi was about to proceed to the bedroom, when he felt Rukawa's hand on his arm.

"Hana---"

"If this is about the dishes I forgot to wash awhile ago then give it to me now and I'll lick it sparkling," Sakuragi interjected cynically.

"I'm sorry."

"Come again?" Sakuragi was stunned.

"I said I'm sorry."

Sakuragi couldn't believe his ears. "You know how you're being lately is not exactly easily forgivable."

"I know. I suppose I just decided to try my luck," Rukawa replied, disheartened. He was about to retreat back when Sakuragi spoke.

"Wait. Are you absolutely sure you're remorseful of what you've just been like recently?"

Rukawa stopped in his tracks. "Should I say yes to that?" He said, turning back.

"You better," Sakuragi answered, grinning.

Rukawa pulled him into a gentle embrace.

"You know what? You're just so lucky I love you waaay too much."

As a response, Rukawa kissed the other, nibbling lovingly on his lower lip.

"I'm sorry too. You know, for being such a disorganized creep and all that," Sakuragi admittedly said.

"I didn't ask for any apology," Rukawa replied, rewarding the redhead another heart- stopping kiss, this time, leading to a heated, fiery one.

Bzzzzzz!!!!!

[Great. Who the hell could that be now?! Oh God, I swear...]

Rukawa turned to answer the door...just to slam it back again.

"Kaede, why---" The raven-haired guy mumbled something into his ear.

"NANDATO?!?!?"

............

Author's Notes:

So, what could that possibly be about now? Hm...

I am planning on a side pairing. Go figure.

Thank you so much to those who reviewed the previous chapters though I know they're all crappy, yeah, forgive me. I know this is worse.

To Insane Huntress: Hi! Bah, tgnan mo nga nman...dominated na ata ng mga Pinoi ang SD fandom...wekhekhek... steg tlgah un c dugong...GANDA nia. LOL! Do email me, my addie's in my profile. I've read your fic na and I've dropped a review na ren, pero nako, personal preference lng nman ung andun. Bsta take a look na lng.

Do leave a comment or two 'bout this pathetic excuse for a fic, ne? ARIGATOU! Ja!