Disclaimer I don't own any of the HYD characters nor the original plotline of HYD, but I certainly own this particular plot and all the characters I created for it...

Notes :

- a long chapter, where we begin (in fact, you begin, because I already know where I'm going...) to have some clues about the past. Oh, and Akira makes a fool of himself... ;o)

- And just to clear what could have been ambiguous, Sophie is fully French, she has no Japanese blood whatsoever. She just wanted to leran a challenging language, so she took Japanese, and she took it so seriously that she speaks it fluently now, which is the reason her father chose not to send her to the French highschool of Tokyo (where her little sister Marion goes, see Chapter 1 and what is going to happen afterwards).

Thanks : my new reviewer az09 ! Reviews and feedback are always most appreciated.

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8-That's not what the French eat

"Where the hell are you taking me ? It's been forever since we left Eitoku!"

Akira sighed and thought he should have taken her watch hostage instead of her bag. Was the girl ever going to stop looking at it every five seconds ?

"I knew I should have...

- ...body-searched me ? As saddened as I am by the fact that you'd rather not have lunch with me, I think I would have enjoyed that, he said with a playful wink.

- You really are a pervert. I should never have gotten in this car in the first place.

- Oh, calm down. We're having lunch at my family's mansion. I had a special meal ordered. We'll be there in no time. If you would stop looking at you watch every second and relax a little, it would not seem to be that long a car ride.

- You coerced me into getting in that car and having lunch with you, Mimasaka. I never agreed to be happy about it. I just want to get it over with so I can get my things and go back to class.

- Who could have believed you would be so eager to go back to class when you were complaining about the headaches they were giving you just moments ago ?

- Actually, those headaches are not as bad as the one I'm getting from being in a car you are driving as if you were a test pilot. Would you slow down ?

- Say 'please'.

- I'd rather say 'go to hell', if you don't mind, she answered with a smile.

- Then I think I'm going to have to drive a little bit faster."

She closed her eyes. The bastard. But contrary to what she expecting, she felt the car gently slowing down. Were they finally there ? Well, the car didn't exactly seem to be pulling up to a stop either. She opened one eye, and then the other, just to see that Akira was still driving, the same mischievous expression on his face.

"I really want you to have a good time with me, Sophie, as hard as it seems for you to believe – not for you to feel nauseous and faint in my car, as much as I would greatly enjoy waking Sleeping Beauty the adequate way."

She only glared at him in answer.

"If only you would be more gracious about it and accept the fact that you might actually have a good moment, it would be nice, you know.

- Look... There is no way I'm ever going to fall for you. So you might as well give it up before you make more of a fool of yourself.

- How cynical of you ! And to so say I thought you were a romantic one..."

Sophie removed the elastic band that she had kept on her wrist and began fastening her hair in a loose bun.

"It's just that I wouldn't want you to lose too much time on this. So be aware this is going nowhere...

- You're not even considering our becoming friends eventually ?

- You're an obnoxious self-centered and self-satisfied pig... What do you think? I dream every night that I might be your friend someday !

- Hold on a minute with the niceties, we're nearly there."

They had stopped in front of the fence of a luxurious mansion. The big crafted metal fence was still in the way. Akira removed some kind of remote control from the glove box and activated its opening. Moments later, he stopped by the house and a man came out of the house to take over the keys and park the convertible.

"My bag?

- It's safe in the trunk. Don't worry..."

Sophie looked at the car going away from her sight with a worried feeling. Why was she here anyway? And look at the time : no way she'd be back on time.

"You actually know that my classes begin again in forty minutes and that I have every intention to attend them, don't you?

- I promised you would not miss a class. So relax and stop worrying for nothing."

She breathed in as though she was going to reply something saucy again, but she managed to breathe out without voicing it. Boy, the guy was annoying as hell.

This is not going as smoothly as he had hoped, he thought. Usually, he didn't have to do much to charm any woman in his company, and this was just... laborious. It seemed he was not able to use his style correctly in her presence. Maybe it was because of the constant flow of remarks, but he could not really say. He felt that she more than disliked him : otherwise, she'd have gotten over it by now, wouldn't she ? Actually, he didn't really know what he should have expected with this girl. She had taken an awful amount of time and some blackmailing to agree to come here. Hopefully, though, she would soon stop looking at her watch as if every second in his company felt like hours to her.

She had stopped talking ever since they had entered the dining room. She looked about as excited and joyful as if she was going to have a root canal. Well hopefully, the surprise he had planed might cheer her up a bit, since she missed her country so much. He had to do something about the silence in the meantime, though.

"Okay, so please tell me why you hate me so much..."

She jumped in her chair in surprise at his words – her mind had been somewhere else. She looked right at him and he could see something disappear from her eyes as she regained her composure. What had he just missed ? He could not tell. But, somehow, he knew it was important. She took her time to answer. Pondering the answer, she licked her lips before actually uttering the words.
"I don't hate you. Hate is a time-consuming feeling. I don't have the leisure to hate you, because I don't think enough about you. Let's say I 'nothing' you.

- Hugh... This is harsh, you know. A few moments ago, you claimed to dislike me, and now you 'nothing' me ?"

He paused and looked at her expectingly.

"You're strange, you know ?"

It was more a statement than a question. She just raised an eyebrow at the comment and shrugged it off. It was the moment the maids chose to enter with two plates, covered with a silver lid. She smiled at the idea that he was really trying hard to get her where he wanted her. A European-styled meal..

But he would probably not try that hard if he knew, she reflected. She didn't lie when she said he'd never get anywhere with her. Because she'd never let him. She had to make him understand this somehow, but she couldn't find the right way to explain it to him without exposing herself needlessly. The plates were now in front of her and Akira, still covered. This felt... ridiculously too much. Then again, that was before the maids uncovered the plates and exited the room.

From dismay to disbelief through puzzlement, her face changed as she contemplated the contents of the dish. She swallowed hard, trying to remain composed, but soon, even Akira could see that things were not quite going according to the plan. He saw her cover her mouth with her hand, and he could see she was shaking softly. Was she crying ? Hell, this was not what was supposed to happen.

Finally, it dawned on him : she was laughing, or, more accurately, she was desperately trying to suppress a hysterical laughter. And if there was one thing Akira liked even less than being slapped publicly for being who he was, it was to be the subject of laughter without understanding why.

"What's so funny?"

She stopped trying to contain the laugh, and the display of her hilarity was certainly a sight to behold. She was actually holding her ribs from the pain of it. He just pouted, waiting for an explanation and a break from the laughter.

"You are... my Gosh... You were actually... Those... No-one... French..."

She was quite unable to utter anything that made any sense between two successivepeels of laughter. She nearly didn't have time to breathe. Akira just looked at the contents of his own plate. Well, it grossed him out, but you've got to do what you've got to do to seduce a difficult girl, don't you ? And those had been made according to the recipe the cook of the house had gotten from a French chef two days ago. So what the heck was so funny about Burgundy snails with parsley and garlic butter ? It was a renown French appetizer.

After her while, the young woman finally got a hold of herself. She delicately wiped the tears that had come to her eyes from laughing too hard with her handkerchief and looked at Akira with her eyes still full of her lingering laughter.

"I didn't think it could be possible, but, my Gosh, you're even more of a moron than I thought you were – and I really didn't have much hope for you before now..."

He was taken aback, and remained dumb, for the third time since he knew her. Okay. That could not do. How had she gotten the upper hand again? This was his plan, his home, his idea, for crying out loud ! How could she have gained control like this ? She was just infuriating ! He had to say something to stop her from having any more fun at his expense.

She bit her lips and proceeded to finish the kill.

"And what did you think of for the following courses? Are we to have frogs ? And where did you hide the 'baguette', anyway?"

She was trying to make a point, he was sure of it. But he was too troubled by the fact she was laughing at him for it to dawn on him immediately.

"Stop laughing at me, already, it's rude !

- And acting on prejudices is not ?"

It still did not really click. He frowned.

"Don't frown like this, you might ruin your pretty Casanova face with wrinkles, Sophie commented. You don't want to repel all your preys, do you? And since you don't seem to get the reason of my laughter, I'm just going to say it : that – she pointed to her plate as if if was containing a dead rat – is just not what the French eat. It may be on the menu for some people in fancy restaurants at New Year's eve or very special occasions, but very few people do actually eat this. And, just so you know, I personally find eating snails and frogs very gross, and I'm not an exception in the French population."

Akira looked stunned and puzzled. "So much for impressing her with my knowledge of her country. I knew I should have asked Rui about French specialities, and not just listened to Soujiro. Geez... How am I to ever fix the image of an idiotic playboy she has of me now?"

He bounced back from the shock he was still in : he just had to. He summoned his most disarming grin and flashed it at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I mean... Maybe that was a little...

- Moronic ?

- Although I'd really appreciate it if you would stop generally considering me as such... Yes, it was."

He paused. And then took a decision.

"Okay, we still have to eat, don't we? So how would you feel about regular Japanese stuff, then?"

She smiled indulgently. She nodded, and he called a maid to convey his new orders.

"No time to prepare anything very fancy now... And to think I was sure everything was figured out..."

He would have been disarmingly cute at the moment, if she didn't know better. Sophie shook her head.

"Why people do actually keep believing this kind of things always gets me laughing. It's not as if I was thinking all Japanese people are sex-craved over-working maniacs !

- And why would you believe something that stupid ?

- Because it's actually common belief outside of this country! As reliable as the 'French eat snails and frogs and never wash themselves...' shit some people take for granted outside of my country. And I can assure you, the overwhelming majority of the French wash themselves more than enough for hygiene's sake."

The rest of the meal had actually been quite uneventful. Though the whole incident had seemed to put her in a better mood than she had been to begin with. Akira still tried to make the best of it, as he was driving her back to highschool. That making a woman laugh was walking the path to her heart was common knowledge, after all. But he wasn't quite sure it applied to make the woman laugh at you. He didn't quite know what it was about this girl that always seemed to make things go her way in the end. That always made things so difficult.

He stole a glance at her and saw that she was hugging her backpack to her tightly, probably afraid he would resume its kidnapping any time. Once again, she seemed lost in her thoughts, as though he wasn't even there. This was so annoying, that she could just forget he was there. Women usually giggled and blushed in his presence. Well, maybe not this kind of women – Tsukushi didn't – but still, they acknowledged his being here.

Once during the car ride, she seemed like she wanted to say something, but she kept quiet. When she finally glanced at her wrist-watch he could almost feel her panicking.

"Don't worry, you have PE, don't you? Mrs. Aizawa will not be there today. So you won't be late technically.

- I'm having classes with her today, like five minutes ago, and you never go to class but you would know that she isn't there?

- Well... I go to class more often than you would think. Just not that often since you've transferred."

Why did he feel the need to justify himself, again? Damn the girl. And that was not like he could tell her the source of his knowledge. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and cleared his throat.

Sophie eyes opened more widely as she understood what the young Mimasaka was trying to hide.

"So Tsukushi was right about that. You do like older women."

He bit his lips. She was too smart for her own good. No need to deny, then, he figured. It would only make things worse.

"She's not that old. She's only thirty. And you have to admit she's a beauty..."

As he parked in the school's parking lot, she just breathed out. She opened the door and got out, to see most of her classmates waiting for something. That was until she realized they were actually waiting to see this – hers and Akira's return from the lunch break. And their opinion seemed quite clear and almost unanimous : they didn't like what they were seeing. Sophie was not in a mood to take any of their shit now, especially after having been blackmailed into this lunch – even if it had turned out not to be as awful as she had originally dreaded.

He still had to pay for this, somehow. But she would have time to think about that later. She turned towards him and raised one of her eyebrows.

"Do you think we are even, now that you've made almost all my female classmates want to skin me alive ?"

Akira just ran his hands through his hair. He smiled seductively at her.

"Shouldn't you hurry and go learn that you don't have PE today?"

She glared at him, but he could still see traces of her hysterical laughter underneath it. Great, she didn't even take him seriously anymore. If she had ever. And she knew about Hisaya Aizawa. That was bad.

She walked away from the car proudly, towards her curious classmates.

Akira looked at her, admiring her graceful figure. He answered her question for himself. "Not even close, little girl..."

Oh, and he had to thank Soujiro for the lousy advice on French cuisine. Or he could also kill him.

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Okay, please don't kill me ? I know Akira is not that stupid... But imagine, this girl is a puzzle for him. He doesn't get her, and let's say that's what makes him act a little strangely... Next chapter : the debriefing ! ;o)

Don't worry, this is actually going somewhere – I swear – but she is really not going to fall easily for the womanizer type, and she has good reasons...

Let me know what you think anyway !

( I didn't reload 25 times the last chapter un my browser, so I know some people read this... ;o) )