One thing about this chapter: There is no scene with TK or Kari. There actually was something going on, but in the middle of writing it, I forgot where it was going. Sorry Takari fans.

Hating You 14: What Slavery Leads To

Ryo walked up to a plain clock and examined it before giving it several hard taps. He could see her glaring at him hatefully, but he couldn't care less. This was to be the best day of his life.

"I'm surprised you let me in your room," Ryo said, finally. "Nice clock."

Rika watched him suspiciously from her bed, watching him as he observed every centimetre of her room. "You let yourself in, remember?"

He continued to tap the clock. "The clock in my room breaks whenever I tap it."

"Why are you here?" she asked wryly.

"I missed you," he said matter-of-factly, losing interest of her clock and walking to a stuffed animal. "Ha-ha, you have stuffed animals? My six-year-old cousin has stuffed animals."

"Why are you here?" she repeated.

"I missed you," he repeated, giving her a smile. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "I'm wearing these for you. Did you notice?"

"Hard not to miss them. They're like magnifying glasses."

Feeling somewhat sensitive, he touched them. "They are not."

She rolled her eyes and looked back at the schoolwork spread across her bed. "Look, I have homework to do. If you're here to harass me, please leave."

"Can't I visit my best friend?" Ryo asked, picking up an empty picture frame. "I thought of you all yesterday and today. Enjoy a little bit of affection, Rika."

"I'd enjoy it so much more if I actually looked at you positively." She frowned. "Shame that I don't. Please leave."

"I talked to Kari yesterday," he said immediately.

"Oh, you weren't scared it would hurt your reputation?" she asked sourly.

He smiled. "You think so little of me, Rika."

"Do I? I've never noticed." She gave him a fake smile. "Hard to imagine not thinking highly of a guy as saintly as you though."

"I called you asexual," he continued, ignoring her sarcasm.

"So?" she asked with utter disinterest.

"She defended you."

"So?" Her voice, still impartial.

"She told me some interesting stuff about you."

She looked at him, now pretending not to be interested. "Like what?"

"I thought you wanted me to leave," he teased, looking quite pleased with himself.

She raised her eyebrow, annoyed and suddenly not concerned again. "I do. Go."

She turned back to her textbook.

"Okay." He headed toward the door, taking long, slow steps. "I'll just ask you about Jenrya later. School maybe?"

She didn't look up. He opened the door slowly. She still didn't look up.

"Bye Rika," he said, closing the door.

She sat there for a second; and then, furiously, she stood up and followed him.

Ryo did a 180 turn to see Rika walk out of her gate, a sour look plastered upon her face. "O-ho-ho, does Miss Makino fancy me?"

Rika raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "Shut up, will you?"

Ryo put his hands behind his neck, watching Rika shut her home gate and waiting for her. "I love how as soon as I mention this Jenrya fellow, you're suddenly so eager to be with me."

"I don't know what Kari said—"

"Oh, she said plenty," he interrupted, eyes twinkling with glee.

"—but Jen's a friend."

Ryo smirked. "Ooh, a friend? Really?"

"No, I'm covering up because I'm embarrassed," Rika said sarcastically. "Yes, really."

"Then why so panicked?" He turned around once again and began walking.

"I'm not panicked." Rika angrily walked faster to catch up with him. "I just know you're friends with Hina and that you have the biggest mouth on this face of the pl—what the bloody fuck are you doing, Akiyama!"

Ryo took her left hand with both of his and pressed two fingers to her wrist.

"Checking your pulse to see if you're lying," he said nonchalantly. "Thought it would be safer than your neck and chest."

He smiled at her, and she stared at him blankly.

"Eh?" He shook her hand before letting go of it. "According to your pulse, you're dead."

She snapped out of her phase and gave him an annoyed look. "Are you that stupid to the point you can't find a person's pulse?"

She shook her head, realising she had gone off topic. "Anyway, as I was saying, Hina will—"

"Nobody's that interested in your life. I have never heard of you until two weeks ago." Ryo gave her an I'm-so-better-than-you kind of look. "Besides, I don't gossip."

"I'm sure," she muttered. She put a lock of hair behind her ear. "Anyway, if you spread a rumour, I'll kill you."

"Yeah, yeah, I'd like to see you try." He crossed his arms superiorly, smirking down at her.

Rika, defeated, just glared. "What did Kari say?"

"Plenty."

"That isn't what I meant."

"I'm not sure I understand your question."

"Fine then, I'll call Kari and ask her myself."

"Fine, I'll call Hina and tell her."

Rika glared at him. "Why on Earth do you even care?"

"I don't." He took out his mobile and slid it open. "It's just fun, isn't it? Perfect blackmail. Revenge for all the times you've fucked me over."

"Are you honestly that childish?"

"Suppose so." He tossed his mobile and caught it again. "So, are you calling Kari?"

"No, I haven't got a phone on me."

Ryo gave his phone to her. "Go ahead. You gain a little bit of trivial knowledge from Kari, Hina gains a little bit of trivial knowledge from me. It all works out, huh Rika?"

Rika chucked his phone at his face, but he caught it.

"So, now that that's been cleared up," he smiled, "what are we to do about this situation?"

"What the hell do you want?"

Her fists were clenched tightly near her hips, glaring at him more fiercely than she ever had.

"It's simple, very simple." He pocketed his mobile and lowered his face to hers. "Sex."

"What?"

"Have sex with me."

She looked blankly at him.

He smiled.

She hit his cheek without consideration.

"Are you mad!" she shrieked.

He touched his cheek. Her slap had been a light one, so there was no pain—nothing like what he had expected.

"You can't do that, you dumb shit!" She smacked him across the head. "What sort of grotty blackmail is this, you—"

"Slave."

Her rising rant stopped abruptly by Ryo's interruption. "What?"

"You are my slave from now on." He ran his fingers through his now-mussed up hair. "I was kidding about the sex thing." He gave her a superior smirk. "Obviously, you'd be getting the better deal, so why would I do something like that, Rika?" He leaned closer to her. "What? Did you think that I actually wanted to do anything physical with you? Were you getting excited? You didn't actually say no."

She gave him a dark look. "No."

He smirked and backed off from her space. "Of course if you really wanted to, we could arrange that too."

"What are you? Some sort of dodgy prostitute?"

"Gigolo's the correct word." He ignored her death glare. "Now, on to serious matters. You're going to be my slave until the end of our holiday."

She gave him a look. "I think you have forgotten that you're my slave from Australia."

"Well, now it's been switched, hasn't it?"

"You're joking if you think I will be your stupid slave."

"Oh, Rika, my Rika, how quickly you forget." Ryo rested a hand on her head. "And how quickly a small rumour call can absolutely destroy you." He sighed happily. "Don't you just love life sometimes?"

She shoved his hand away. "I swear to God I'll kill you."

"So, slave, I expect you at my house tomorrow. Say… 8?"

"Welcome to my humble abode, Rika," Ryo said friendlily. "Take a good look at it. You'll be cleaning it for the next several hours."

"Are you joking?"

Ryo's house was easily the largest home she had ever seen in her life, and she was sure cleaning it would be close to impossible.

"Nope. I gave all the maids the rest of the week off, so you could take their spot." He smiled. "Why? Problem? I mean, if you want to back out of this…"

"No problem, Ryo," she said through clenched teeth.

"That's what I thought. Don't worry though. I have something else for you to do first. Come on, it's in the best room of the house."

"What is this?" Rika asked as Ryo set down several books and notebooks in front of her.

"Holiday homework," he responded. "We've got school soon, so I'll need you to do this for me."

She gave him a dirty look. "You want me to do your… homework."

"That's what I said."

"Fine." She picked up a pen and opened a notebook.

He shut it again. "Don't think about jacking it up either."

"I wasn't going to, Ryo," she said threateningly.

"Ahem, you mean Master."

"Shut up."

"Didn't I say you're not allowed to insult me?" Ryo smirked. "You have three warnings before I blab it all to Hina. For refusing to call me Master and using vulgar language, there goes one. You're lucky I'm nice and didn't give you two."

Rika glared at him.

"Remember to write a bit messily. I bet you have that girly sort of handwriting."

"I'm done," Rika said, closing a textbook and looking up at Ryo who was watching telly from his bed.

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm done, Master," Rika said darkly.

He chuckled and threw a paper airplane at her. "Chores. Go."

She opened the paper.

Clean room, Clean house, Dishes, Laundry, Dad's laundry, Mum's laundry, Organise closet, Organise CD collection, Organise DVD collection, Take out trash from all rooms in the house.

"Do you even do chores?" she asked suspiciously. Ryo hardly seemed like a helper-around-the-house sort of fellow.

"No, but I heard this is what normal people do," he answered prissily.

"Prick," she muttered to herself.

"I heard that."

"Good." She looked up and saw his eyes were still glued to the screen. She flicked him off.

"And I saw that."

"Good."

"Keep doing it, Rika. See what happens?"

She snatched her paper and left the room, wishing to start with what was farthest away from Ryo Akiyama.

"RIKA! RIKA! RIKA! RIKA! RIKA! RIKA!"

Barely hearing Ryo's voice in his oversized mansion, she dropped what she was doing, ran out of the laundry room, dashed across the hallway past the lounge, ran up a flight of winded stairs, sprinted across longer hallway, took a right and hurried across a shorter hallway, and rushed into Ryo's room, completely out of breath.

"Yes?"

He didn't respond.

"Yes, Master?"

"I'm hungry. Be a good girl and cook me something."

She clenched her fists. "Anything in particular? Master?"

"Anything will do. I want it within fifteen minutes."

"I hate macaroni and cheese," Ryo said matter-of-factly. "Couldn't you make me something a bit more appealing?"

Why she cared so much, she did not know. Jenrya was always only a friend, and to be completely honest, he was hardly considered that great of a friend. Kari probably exaggerated, considering she thought there really had been something.

The last thing she needed now, however, was for Hina to taunt her about him. She could already hear the sound of her annoying voice now.

"Rika has aboyfriend. Rika, I can't imagineanyguy wantingyouas his girlfriend. I bet he's really ugly, huh? Is he ugly? Why are you ignoring me, Rika? That's it; you think he's ugly too. A-ha-ha-ha!"

Who was the more appalling human being: Ryo or Hina, Rika could not say. Hina would never make Rika be her personal slave, but she currently would rather his torture than hers. She still considered, after all, Hina her first and biggest rival.

"Just go to China Garden and get me a bit of everything," Ryo said, looking bored though both knew he was thrilled at her discomfort. "You've got money, haven't you?"

"No."

This was false; she had plenty. She just didn't feel like spending it on Ryo's food was all.

Ryo gave a loud, exaggerated sigh. "Tomorrow, bring some." He flipped a credit card her direction. "Pay me back later."

"I thought I was your slave. Slaves don't get paid or buy masters—"

"So then, that's another warning," he interrupted, a smile of utter laughter plastered upon his face. "The first day and you're already out two strikes. I suggest you hurry along and get me food."

She looked at the bowl of macaroni and cheese on her lap. She could just dismiss her future consequences and throw it directly at his face.

Instead, she turned her heel and walked out of his room.

Walking up Ryo's driveway was a workout in itself; it seemed nearly a kilometre long. Walking up Ryo's driveway carrying a million Chinese takeout boxes nearly caused her to faint.

Finding Ryo's room in his enormous mansion was mind-boggling. Finding Ryo's room out of breath while carrying a million Chinese takeout boxes was suicidal.

Wondering if she should knock but realising Ryo would find that offensive as it would indeed require him to get off his lazy arse, Rika balanced all boxes in one hand as she opened the knob with the other.

"Oh, you're back," Ryo acknowledged, still watching telly on his large plasma screen. "You took too long, so I already ate. I don't want it anymore."

A smug smirk spread across his face as he turned back to his programme.

Rika, speechless, stood there.

There were a million things in her head telling her what to do next, but what could she do?

He turned his head back to her. "Well, are you going to stand there all day and stare at me or are you going to go back to work like you're supposed to?"

Every box of takeout food went flying, landing on Ryo, his bed, and his floor.

"Go fuck yourself," she said darkly. She turned her heel and headed out the door.

She heard Ryo leaping out of his bed, but she ignored it. If he was going to yell at her, she wouldn't listen. If he was going to apologise—and fat chance that would happen—she still wouldn't listen. From this day forward, she would pretend he didn't exist. If he agitated her, she would take it out on the closest person.

"Rika! Hey, Rika!"

She stormed down his corridor, quickening her pace for she knew Ryo would quicken his. She thought of running, but that would look stupid.

"Hey, Rika Makino! I'm talking to you!"

Forgetting exactly how to exit his home, she continued walking.

"You take a left there," came Ryo's voice.

She took a right instead, continuing to ignore his existence.

She came across a dead end.

Sounds of Ryo chuckling.

She turned around. "You—"

Silence overcame her as something smashed against her face and invaded her mouth.

"You, Rika, are the biggest bitch alive," Ryo said, a now-empty carton in his hand.

She spit whatever food was in her mouth at his face. "I'm a bitch? How on Earth can you tell me thatI'm the bitch when you're forcing me to be your fucking slave? Not only that, you're making me do mindless chores when you have hired help, and you're making me go halfway across the damn country to buy you food only so—"

"So what? You made me vomit, and you locked me in the bathroom for hours. It wasn't like I was going to keep up with this slave thing forever—"

"You made yourself vomit, first of all, and it wasn't my fault you were stupid enough to lock yourself in the bathroom. You're retarded, so what? You're going to blame me for your stupidity?"

"I made myself vomit, but it wasn't my fault. You falsely accused me of abusing you and—" Ryo stopped. "Why the hell would you tell my parents I hit you! Do you know how much trouble I got into—"

"Good. I hope they grounded you for the rest of your pathetic life." Rika took globs of food off her face, throwing them at Ryo in anger. Slightly less drenched in food, Ryo did the same, instead throwing food at her. "Stop it!"

"You started it," he said, childishly.

"You started it when you told me—"

"And where do you get off throwing food all over the place? How immature can you get, Rika?"

"You are completely and utterly ridiculous to be calling me immature." She shoved him, only succeeding in making him stumble. "And where do you get off throwing food at me? Isn't that just lowering yourself to my level, pretending that I am lower than you—which I'm not."

He shoved her lightly. "Where do you get off pushing me?"

She shoved him harder. "What kind of a guy are you? Hitting a girl?"

"You think this," he shoved her, "is considered hitting?"

"Yes, I do." She shoved him back.

"What, you want me to actually hit you?" He raised his hands and cracked his knuckles, attempting to look intimidating.

She was unaffected. "Go right on fucking ahead, Ryo."

He lowered them. "Why? You'll just cry to my parents again. I might as well just—"

She punched him.

Ryo stood there in awe, using his strength to ignore the pain now apparent in his eye.

"You're weak," he said quickly.

She punched him harder in the same spot, and he could have sworn she punctured a tear duct. Luckily, no tears fell. Instead, he stood there emotionless again.

"Do you want to try that again?" she asked.

"You can punch me all you want. You're still weak."

She kicked his shin, and he toppled to the floor before she threw herself at him.

She smiled to herself, admiring her work.

After a successful beating, she had managed to give Ryo a large gash on his lip, a bruised eye, a nosebleed, and two painful kicks southward.

"You… cheated…" Ryo groaned, twitching in pain as he protectively shielded his groin area.

"Say cheese."

"Wha—"

Sounds of a camera shutter.

"Rika, what the hell!" He suddenly found his second wind as he walked up to her, only to lose it when she hit his shin painfully.

She looked gleefully at her mobile screen. "Don't you love technology?" She tapped the screen. "I guess £200 on a high-tech mobile phone wasn't such a waste after all. I'll have to thank my mum later."

"I'll… kill… you…"

"Oh, look how repulsive you look, touching yourself with such a mutilated face," she taunted, holding the mobile close to his face. "You've even got those hideous magnifying glasses on."

He made a grab for it, missing and resulting in her kicking him arm.

She squatted beside him. "Tell anybody about Jen, I'll print a copy of this for every centimetre of wall our school has."

She gave him a smug look and stood up.

"Rika."

She looked down at him.

"You're cute when you get all bitchy like that."

She kicked his stomach and walked out of the hallway. He waited for the sound of the front door closing before he rolled over on his side and let out a loud, harsh cough, wondering if he was internally bleeding.

Random fact about Chapter 14: In the original version, it was Rika who blackmailed Ryo into being her slave.

Random fact about myself: I'm in Germany for the World Cup! Absolutely gutted over England's loss.