Maybe "bad" wasn't a strong enough descriptor for it. Perhaps, awful, horrific, and excruciating would be more suiting. Forced to pretend to marry someone? And now the humiliation of bathing with her? Not to mention the incredible amount of danger he was in, if she so much as suspected… well, anything of him; she was liable to throw him through the nearby rocks, Sister be damned. Yes, bad certainly wasn't a strong enough word for the situation Kentaro Sakata now found himself in. Why? Why had he gotten into the idol business? What had he done to deserve this? A ruined business and a debt-slave job working over the stove of a tea shop kitchen… it was almost too much to bear.

However….

The kiss with Motoko hadn't been that bad. It was a once in a lifetime accomplishment, really. Making out with a swordswoman of the Shinmeryuu. Even for a playboy like himself, it was quite an accomplishment. Also, he had yet to take into account her feelings.

Poor girl; it couldn't be easy for her. After all, he was relatively accustomed to this sort of play-acting; but being forced to act like she had feelings for someone she truly despised; it must be awful for her. After all, she must despise him, right? A failed businessman and a playboy, he was practically the spitting image of everything she hated in men. And yet, in her moment of need, she had relied on him, opened up to him. Yes, it would have been cruel to not take into account her feelings. He should try to ease her suffering, or at least not exacerbate it. Perhaps he could make it up to her somehow? Perhaps there was something more to this than play-acting?

"Motoko-" he began.

"Don't. Talk."

Well, so much for that theory. He sighed, and reached up to adjust the blindfold Motoko had tied over his eyes.
"Don't touch the blindfold, either."

She was beginning to try his patience "Well did you have to tie it so damn tight? I fell like I'm going to faint from the blood loss!"

"I tied it tightly so that a man with such little willpower over himself could be reminded to refrain from looking upon a young woman's body with lust. Consider it penitence for your lustful ways. Who knows? Perhaps it will do you some good."

"Lack of willpower? Lustful ways? What kind of guy do you think I am? And it's not like you've got anything I haven't seen." Kentaro realized the mistake of his words as soon as he said them, and if he hadn't, he certainly realized it as Motoko's palm slapped him hard across the face.

"You impudent pig! To even think of taking advantage of a young woman in such desperate straights!" she fumed. Kentaro cringed in pain, and hoped silently that the slap wouldn't leave a mark.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, honestly, that hurt!"

"Good!"

"My, my… what's all this? A lover's quarrel?"