Written o6.11.o7

This chapter should have been up earlier. What happened was…I wasn't content with what was in it…so it took me ages to come with a solution to fix it, and it finally came about a week ago. Sorry for the long wait.

THANKS TO… Yamora Love n Friendship, crest of music, Mrs. Radcliffe 13, Waltz Turner, jerseygrl90, SpiffyCookie, nickygirl, TheWitchLady, scorpion05 and Ka-Yu Camui for reviewing!

This story has finally got two digets. YAY! HAHA. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

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My Funny Valentine

Chapter Ten

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"Enough that he doesn't wish to tell us that he's married, now he's hiding his own wife from us!" she cried aloud her complaint to his grandfather, Michel. Letting his grandmother go on one of her tantrums, Yamato abruptly pushed his brother into the nearest room, dragging him roughly by the collar. He shut the door behind them, securing their privacy and let a hiss of desperation disperse in agitation.

"Why? Tell me why, TK, did you have to bring them to my apartment? Has your common sense gone completely out the window?" In response, TK pushed him away to attain his personal space back. He sauntered backwards and let himself fall back first onto Yamato's bed, lounging with his feet into the air. The older sibling tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for a proper acceptable explanation.

TK withdrew a sigh. "I picked them up from the airport after that fundraising basketball game. They claimed that the flight that they were meant to catch two days in advance was cancelled. So they took this opportunity and excuse to come to Japan super early." He rambled on, "I think it was more grandma's idea than grandpa's. She's the one that is clearly more intoxicated with our love lives than grandpa is. It's always been like this with her. This was bound to happen…"

"I was simply asking," Yamato huffed lividly, "why did you have to bring them to my apartment straight away? Couldn't you have at least brought them to your place before bombarding me so unexpectedly! You could have at least given me a heads up on their arrival!"

"Hey, don't fricken' raise your voice! They're not deaf, you know?" TK muttered not fazed, taking Yamato's attitude swings with normalcy. "It wasn't my fault. They literally insisted to see you and Sora. Especially Sora, since they haven't seen her before and…because they've met Kari already."

"You gotta get them out of here! Can't you see I'm unprepared?" he spoke rhetorically. "God…they're here…I haven't' even finished the song yet. Kanji's going to kill me!"

"Breathe in and out, Matt," his brother instructed with glimpses of humour intertwining within his tone at the strange situation. "Relax…and think about how we're going to tackle this problem."

"Sometimes you can be too relaxed in the most inappropriate times," Yamato shook his head as he stood over TK who was comfortably smiling wryly up at him. "On the other hand, I really need to get Sora's things moved here. Tell me…have they been in any other room besides the lounge and kitchen…and how long have they been here?"

"We only just got here a few minutes before you," he answered back. "They haven't been anywhere else besides the lounge and kitchen."

"That's fantastic," Yamato said. He was glad that he had done a bit of tidying up the day before. If it were as messy as it had been earlier they would be suspicious to why the assumingly two occupants of the house hadn't bothered to clean up. If his grandparents had seen his bedroom or bathroom, they would have immediately figured out that the only person dwelling at the apartment was himself. There was not a single sign of female dominance anywhere within his residence. "But right now…I can't deal with them. I need to get Sora moved in here."

"You need a proper excuse."

"And you've got enough space for them at your apartment or are they staying over at ma's house?" Yamato questioned.

"I thought they were staying over at your house," TK interjected.

"No way in hell do I want them living with me! Remember last time? Grandma was going through everything I owned – even my underwear draw! You said last time that you would take them in after their stay here," he growled. Pulling out the pack of cigarettes that Takahashi had given him, he stuffed one in his mouth and lit it. "Sorry, Teeks. I can't believe we're arguing over this…it's been a while since we've seen them and we're acting like terrible grandchildren-"

"It was your idea to drag me into your room," TK replied matter-of-factly. "By the way, Gramps won't be too happy seeing you smoking. I'd chuck that if I were you." Their grandfather had a strong grudge against smokers, even though he had hypocritically been one when he was younger. He had also disapproved of Yamato and TK's father when he found out that his daughter's boyfriend/husband-at-that-time was a smoker. Yamato exhaled and didn't bother to fight back when TK had snatched it out of his hands, stepped on it and threw it (as well as the packet) into the bin.

"But I'll be a good brother and let them stay at my house while you get everything prepared with Sora moving in," TK shrugged as if it wasn't anything.

"It was your fault that I'm in this situation on the first place!" Yamato exclaimed. TK sniggered, "So you want me to agree with grandma that you're gay? Not that I find anything wrong with that-" To silence him, Yamato had thrown a pillow at his face. TK recovered his composure and spoke up again, "Then let's get this started. They're probably wondering what we're doing, staying in your room like we're hiding something from them-"

"-which we are," Yamato continued. "Now…we really need to get them out of here. Think of an excuse. Right now they are in good terms with you because at least you've told them about your engagment, whereas I took the part of the evil-grandkid and hid my wife from them."

"You could just say that you got drunk one night and decided to get married. Or that you were a virgin and wanted to have sex, which was why you hastily got married and also avoided telling our parents."

Yamato quirked an eyebrow, watching his brother chuckle at his own joke. "Nice try. But from that explanation, I can picture both of them fuming. Anyway, let's-"

"-go," TK ended.

As a result from the talk with their grandparents, their grandma was (yet again) greatly offended. Their grandfather seemed to have a thorough understanding of the situation considering (he deemed proudly) that his grandson was a talented and famous musician of their time. Somehow TK had managed to do his work gallantly, pulling off his infamous typical sweet talk, charisma and suaveness that won over their grandmother to finally believe that Yamato's wife was at work and he wasn't hiding from them. On top of that he also mentioned that he had something due for his band. In other words TK just was his charming self that didn't need to argue with them to get his grandparents to leave.

TK always held that alluring personality that could make anyone fall of his or her feet, his special quality that Yamato always envied.

This always worked him favours, especially with his parents who could never tell him off during their teenage years. In other words TK wasn't as innocent as everybody made him out to be. His friendly persuasion was purely an act. Misjudge him too late, or you were under his charming curse. Of course, it hadn't worked with Hikari since they had been best friends since childhood – so TK had to take more than 'persuasion' to get her to actually believe his feelings. But that was entirely a whole different story altogether.

Yamato bid them goodbyes as they departed. With a 'Don't work too much, you'll turn out like your father,' they were gone from sight. That was when he panicked. He paced up and down his apartment, wondering where to start. He first checked his wedding finger, at least he had the ring on.

Next he grabbed his mobile phone and instantaneously dialed Sora and was greeted with a 'Hey there! This is Sora. Sorry, but I'm not able to make this call. Please leave your name after the tone and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.' He left a message, something close to: 'Pick up the darn phone or I'll kill you!'

After the numerous times he attempted to call her, he was always greeted with the endless answering machine.

He had resorted to calling her home phone as well, but even that wasn't any sign of progress. It was a fricken' emergency. And it had to be now that she was not able to answer her phone, he thought. Sora had warned him that she would be busy for the following days, but he never even knew what it really was that occupied her time so greatly. He never understood what had caused her to be this busy.

Knowing that she'd get back to him eventually, he decided to tidy up. He opened the curtains to every room, allowing the warming late afternoon light trickle into his apartment. It was funny how often he'd forgotten what a great view he had of his city, which had been the whole point to why he had chosen his apartment's location. He tended to vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, fixing, mopping, wiping and did practically everything that was the synonym related to any form of cleaning.

At last, he knew he would have to confront his own bedroom. He scratched the back of his head, wondering what to do with it. He definitely needed to look as if both people were living in the same room. He needed a way to make the room have a feminine touch to it. He scratched his head, wondering where in the world to begin such a transformation.

To his own demise, he ended taking off his beloved band posters off from the wall. He decided to bring a few of his CD racks to his music room for more space. He gazed at his room again. This time it looked too plain, with its dull white walls that once had the posters that livened it up. Perhaps he'd wait for Sora to give her advice on the matter. But he definitely needed to do something about his single bed. He needed something that would appear large enough to fit two bodies. Pondering what to do next, his mobile phone buzzed. Immediately he picked up, pleased that it was her on the other line.

"I'm so sorry, I was in this endless meeting and they wouldn't let me go," she said in a flustered voice. "I should be okay now. Everything at work's settled and they should let me have probably a week off since I reckon I've earned it. I can meet up with you tomorrow, since you sounded pretty urgent-"

"Now would be fine. It's urgent," he muttered. "Very urgent. You need to move in."

"Why?" she questioned without thinking. There was a few seconds silence and then he didn't need to see her to know from her facial expression that she clicked one and two together. In aghast she spluttered, "They're here already? Your grandparents are in Japan right now?"

"Yeah. I think I inherited my unpredictability from them. Have you got a pen? Jot down this…" Yamato recited his address. "We need my apartment to be redecorated. Bring whatever you think will influence its appearance. Also, I advice you bring some of your wardrobe and personal belongings over too. Looks like we're going to be here all night."

"Okay," she replied. Through the pause he could here her scribbling down notes. "I'll see you in about an hour."

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There was knock on the door. He peered through the peephole, making sure it was her. That night she appeared very professional with her long auburn hair plaited back into a French-braid, being clad in a white button up shirt, gray suit jacket and a matching skirt, her long slender legs were tightly covered in stockings as her feet clunked heavily on the varnished wooden floor from her heels. From the height of her heels, it was understandable that her gait limped on one side - clearly being an indication that she had been wearing them all day. She easily pulled off the professional image, but there was way for her to hide the disheveled exhaustion and her flustered movements.

He opened the door before she got the chance to knock again. "Hey," she smiled. "Hey to you too," he winked. "You look pretty business-like today." She laughed, "I didn't get to change since you were so persistent that I got here ASAP."

"Sorry," he apologized. He still speculated to why she still was agreeing to this obscene plan.

"Don't worry about it," she said. She then nodded her head in direction to the large suitcase on the ground next to her. "Help me take this in." As he pulled her heavy luggage into the foyer, she invited herself in. First she did was unbraid her auburn hair, causing her wavy tresses to fall down. She then unbuttoned her take blazer and put it on the coathanger by the door.

Sora strode into his apartment for the first time with curiosity, intrigued eyes dancing as she appreciated her new surrounding. Her arms were folded now, Yamato picking up that he had reached a conclusion to label his apartment from the first look.

"So…?" he couldn't help but ask.

She turned around to assess him, a wry smile taking over her lips. Shrugging, she sat on one of the stools besides the kitchen bench. "Well…it's not as big as I contended it to be."

"You expected it to be bigger?" he asked. Everyone that went to his apartment post his singing career always assumed so too. Somehow, he thought that Sora's reaction would be a little bit different. "I know it isn't really a mansion."

"No…I sort of expected your apartment to be something like this."

He stared at her in question to clarify herself. "What I meant is that…beyond all this glamour and the more I've gotten to know you - you're a simple guy. Regardless your high status and being with you, I've noticed that you're not a holistic snub as I presumed you to be."

"Gee, thanks," he said. She ignored him and continued. "I guess you're seizing normality. Therefore seeing you in this not-so-big apartment isn't really surprising to the system. Actually, I wouldn't find any other place that would suit you. This is you."

"Thanks," he said, this time with sincerity. He hadn't encountered such an explanation. Was it possible for someone to read him so accurately from just a small time they have been acquainted with each other? "What should I do to improve it then?"

"Definitely some feminism," she laughed. She hopped down from the stool and unzipped the suitcase that he had dutifully brought in. Inside the large briefcase was half with clothing with the other half being miscellaneous objects. She pulled out a transparent bottle of air freshener, "I think we need to start with getting rid of your manly stench." She caught the expression on his face. "Not that you smell bad or anything."

"So I smell good then?" he said slyly. She wasn't one to dish out compliments so freely.

"Your cologne is pleasant…can't say that about your home. It's not BO or anything…nothing close to Tai's old soccer-socks smell. Just doesn't have the same scent a lady would have," she smiled. Spraying a few whiffs in random areas. The aroma was of roses…her distinct smell. Even though she had said orchards were her favourite flowers, her fragrance was always of roses.

When she had run back and forth his home spraying the scent, she came back puffed. Yamato had watched her in entertainment. It was an interesting watch seeing her run about still wearing her 'business-like' outfit. Her eyes were wide as she huffed in irregularly. Her hands had fallen on her knees as she bended over to regain some air into her lungs. The next thing she did was pull out some flowers and vases. She hurriedly placed them in the dining room, kitchen and then she looked up at him, "You still haven't shown me our room."

It sounded strange how she was speaking as if his bedroom was hers already. Not that it was a bad thing…because it would be a worry if he had to correct her a lot especially with it being rather nerve-racking that his grandparents were only half an hour away from the apartment. He hand gestured her to follow him to the hallway. She was looking around at the photography pieces displayed on the wall. "You had quite a lot of fans even back-in-the-days, huh? It was a picture a bird's-eye angle of a hall cramped with people in Odaiba-high uniforms. There were a couple of girls in the front with signs such as "I LOVE YOU YAMATO!" to "MARRY ME!" He paused, staring at it as well. It had been a while since he had looked at it. Jun was there too, beaming like an idiot. It was perfect blackmail, actually. He chuckled.

"I only have it up as an inspiration – not a brag. It's good to see that our music influenced a lot of people back then as well. I guess it just gives me motivation whenever I see it."

"Did you take it?"

"No…actually, Kari did. That was my 18th birthday present from her," he said. "Sort of bet TK and Tai's combined present of a g-string."

She edged closer towards the corner of the photograph and nodded, "That's right. That would be Kari's...she even used the same signature that she uses today. She's taken so many amazing shots for me too." Her eye diverted to any other photos on his walls.

"Uh, there's another one that Kari took…over here," he pointed at the other photo on his left side. It was a blown-up picture of two lively-looking teenage boys – the boy with brown hair appeared as if he was laughing too hard by the way he was clutching his stomach, the other was of a boy with blond hair who had a arm around his friend for support. He was also laughing hysterically.

"Tai and you?" she simpered at the sight. "What were you laughing at?"

"The time all three of us, including Kari, pulled a prank on TK. It was April Fool's day and we all chipped in. He was always thinking he was all high and mighty because he had was team captain…so we put superglue on his basketball since he always brought that basketball wherever he went."

"No, you didn't…"


"Oh, yes we did," Yamato chuckled. He pointed at the blurred background at a specific person. "It's too bad that Kari didn't capture his furious expression as well. I swear, he was going to skin us alive."

"How did you have to get it off?"

"Surgically," Yamato laughed harder. "We had no hopes of getting it off because it was too hard. Even though all three of us got the biggest scolding of our lives, it was worth it in the end."

"How terrible."

"You're just saying that because you like his novels. If you meet him in person, he is quite cheeky and can do you in," Yamato said. "Anyway, you wanted to see our room…right?"

Once they had entered the room, she gazed around observantly. "Just needs splashes of colour. Perhaps we should go to a furniture store tomorrow…buy something to give some spice. It's too plain for my liking. Maybe we can purchase some mats, right Matt?"

"Ha ha," he responded sarcastically, accustomed to the lame joke. Rolling his eyes he spoke, "At least you're not calling me Matthew."

"We are not in public, that's why I'm calling you Matt. Unless you prefer Yamato?"

"Either's fine."

"How bout in front of your grandparents?" she said thoughtfully. "How about Matty, hubby, pops, matty-poo, my man…"

"Stop…you're making me barf," he said, shaking his head. "Just Matt. Matt's fine. Don't even think about calling me pops…that's just really wrong."

"Add a broader bed to our furniture list too," she muttered. He wasn't sure if she had been listening because she now was currently focusing on taking blank photo frames out and placing them onto his bed. He sat on the mattress and took one of the photo frames into his hands. "What are these for?"

"If we want to look like a couple…we need at least some photos together pre-wedding. We'll have pretend that our wedding pictures are still being developed if they ask for them," she said. Without warning, he felt the weight of her arm fall over his shoulder and snapped a photo. "There we go, one out of the way!"

"Hey, I wasn't even ready for that!" he exclaimed. For the next hour, they had to change into a mixture of attires to suit each photo. Even if it was still at varying places of his house, it was better off that way because it seemed as if the photos had been taken on different days.

By the time every photo frame was filled with a image of them, he knew it was time to retire. The tall hand was almost reaching twelve when she began to pack her suitcase. "You're leaving?" he asked.

"Well, everything's pretty much been done. I can meet you tomorrow morning-"

"It's night time, Sora," he said seriously. He tried to conceal his concern, "I can't let you go out in the streets this late."

"I'll call a cab."

"Really, it's no hassle. I have more than enough space in my house. You can sleepover," he said offhandedly.

She raised an eyebrow. He sighed, connecting the dots of her odd reaction. "Not that way. I wouldn't do that to you. I've got a spare guest room."

"Good," she said, laughing the awkwardness away. "You wouldn't have a spare set of pjs or anything? A large shirt would be fine…I've got a pair of short shorts in my suitcase-"

He rummaged through his wardrobe and tossed her a clean oversized shirt that would probably go to her knees. "Is that okay?"

"Perfect," she said tersely. "Bathroom?"

"Down the end of the hallway and then turn right. I've probably got a spare toothbrush on the second drawer besides the basin if you wanted to use it, go ahead," he informed her.

"Thank Matt."

"I should be thanking you. It's the least I could do…for you actually accepting this crazed plan," he said. She gave one of her contagious smiles and left his room with her suitcase dragging behind her.

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He yawned, stretching in his bed. He checked his mobile phone to be aware of the time but at the same time noticed there were at least 7 missed calls. It was ten o'clock in the morning.

"…still sleeping - what do you expect, it's Matt! – too bad Kari had work today...she works at that kindergarten near the park…"

That was when he sat up straight. Exasperation chocked his throat. The mixture of voices intertwined together and he knew that it wasn't a good sign. His grandparents were here…Sora! He immediately stumbled out of his bed and jerked into the dining room. There were his grandparents, TK and Sora looking at him. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that Sora had changed from the old shirt that he had lent her for the night. At least that was alright.

"You know," his grandmother's lips were pursed. "Besides not even greeting us a proper morning and rousing up late…it would do us some good if you at least put a descent pair of pants on."

He looked down, realizing he was still wearing his boxers from the previous night. He groaned. TK looked as if he was biting his tongue to hold in his guffawing. His grandpa equally had the same expression that his brother had. Whereas Sora simply gave him a wink. How embarrassing.

He despised being a heavy sleeper…

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Again, not satisfied with this chapter. But I'm hard to please anyway. I'm just glad to say that this chapter was better content wise in comparison with what I was about to put in it (which would have made this story drag and drag…though this story is already dragging. Haha). It was meant to be longer…but I decided to stop it here because I didn't think I could handle any more 'fixing this chapter' up. I was also meant to have the whole 'breakfast' with the grandparents in this chapter as well…but I thought it was better to save it for the next.

Reasons for not updating? All on my profile page. I'm surprised I actually updated since I've got my exams next week. (kill me).

Thanks for reading so far. It really means a lot to me. You're support is fantastic!