"You clean my apartment and do anything I say"

"HEY! That's unfair!! I'm the guest here!!"

"Or should I surrender this to the tabloid people?"

I sighed and turned my head. "Fine" I muttered and left the building.

"Natsume, I'm surprised" Ruka said.

"Why?"

"You blackmail a girl just to spend time with her"

XXX

Chapter Five

Maid for the Day

XXX

Natsume's Penthouse Apartment

(Normal POV)

"What the heck are you doing?" Ruka asked, as he walked into the two-storey penthouse apartment of Natsume. Dirty laundry was scattered all over the floor as well as soda bottles and empty potato chip bags.

"Dirtying my apartment" Natsume responded from the second floor, a waterfall of clothes fell out of the loft upstairs. "These clothes are still clean" Ruka commented, picking up a t-shirt.

"I know"

"I KNEW IT!!" Ruka yelled out from the bottom floor, he went up the staircase and grinned.

"What?"

"You're just dirtying the apartment so that…that girl Mikan will have to clean this up AND you'll be spending time with her, of course – you'll be pissing her off"

"Oh shut up. I just want to make her two-week vacation here a living hell. I hate these fans!" Natsume said calmly and threw his blanket to the first floor.

"You're such a dork, Natsume" Ruka laughed.

"Shut up!!!" Natsume yelled, and grabbed his cell phone and dialed Tokyo Palace.

"Hello, Tokyo Palace? May I be connected to Room 704 – thanks"

"It's six thirty only! Give the girl some time to sleep!"

"I don't care if she's still sleepy"

"Hello?" said a drowsy and nasal voice. Yep, definitely Mikan.

"Oy. Baka. Get up now"

"And why do you want me to get up?!??!" Mikan asked.

"You're so forgetful. Don't you remember our agreement?"

There was a long pause. "Give me five minutes" Mikan finally said and closed the phone.

Natsume smirked devilishly at the phone.

XXX

Mikan's POV

XXX

I came to Natsume's apartment. It was a two-storey apartment with a loft upstairs. But to my horror, what lay before me didn't look like a celebrity's penthouse AT ALL. Clothes were scattered all over the blue carpet, juice boxes, plastic containers, candy wrappers, bottles, empty bento boxes, grains of rice, shoes…it was like some poor slob's trailer!!!!

"What are you looking at? Get cleaning" Natsume ordered, and thrust a broom at me.

"Now way am I going to clean up your mess!!" I yelled, throwing the broom back at him.

"Just a minute," Natsume said and picked up his cell phone. "I'm going to call Now magazine and say that I've got this scrapbook with YOU written all over it"

I clenched my fists and picked up the broom, my left eye twitching with stress…and hate of course.

"You're unbelievable" I murmured. I wanted to pick up a gun and shoot him but he smirked and entered the bathroom.

I picked up the food stuff first. It was quite strange since the juice boxes were still full and still had their straws stuck to them, the candy wrappers still had the sweets inside, the chocolate bars still had their yummy goodness carefully wrapped in heaven… it was like he just emptied his stocked refrigerator and threw it out in the floor on purpose…but…oh well… must get back to work.

I placed the food back inside the refrigerator since they were still good as new and their expiry date was far from now. I started picking up his clothes (and how kind of him that he didn't put any underwear…if he did…I don't now what I'd do). I picked up jackets, pants, shorts, ties, polo, casual t-shirts. Oh my god, I feel like a wife… wait…erase that thought.

Then I found, wedged between two armchairs…was a…my face fell crimson as I picked it up. It was a… thong!!! O.O

"NATSUME!! YOU PERVERT!!" I screeched, he exited the bathroom which released a tantalizing scent of…men's perfume?!? Wait…never mind… he's a pervert!!!

"YOU PERVERT!COLLECTING WOMEN'S UNDERWEAR!!!" I shrieked, throwing the thong at him. He dodged and looked at it as if it were contaminated.

"He was here" Natsume muttered.

"Huh? What?" I said, the two of us were staring at that piece of underwear now.

"My gay neighbor" Natsume said, he kicked the thong out the door. "PERSONA!!!!"

"Hey, isn't Persona – Tokyo's number one pop idol. I love his hit single Oops I Did It Again!!" I said, my eyes sparkling. Yes, Persona was one of my favorite pop idols. My classmates have a crush on him but I didn't know he was gay…or collected women's underwear. He has a fan club back at home, and I have his first album: Come A Little Closer. He didn't have a concert in my hometown though.

Persona came running out of the third to the last door. He was wearing black pajamas and he had black blinders and put it on top of his head, revealing dark purple eyes. He was so handsome, i thought. But the idea that he collects women's underwear totally turned me off.

"You left your damn underwear in my apartment again! If you're trying to collect ANYTHING from me, then don't! Because the next time you set your perverted feet here… I swear I'm going to kill you!!"

"NATSUME!" Persona gasped. "How could you say such a thing? No wonder I couldn't find my favorite thong…wait…who's this girl?" Persona asked, turning to me. His purple eyes glued onto my innocent brown ones.

"Is she your…" Persona said, cupping my chin and studying my face. "Girlfriend?"

I blushed and turned away. "NATSUME! You sly fox!! And to think I was your one-and-only!" Persona said, his voice cracking with heart break.

"Oh shut up you fag! Get away from me!" Natsume hissed and slammed the door. I could hear Persona dance across the hallway singing track three from his first album Baby One More Time. I giggled to myself.

"Why would Persona collect women's underwear?" I asked Natsume.

"He doesn't COLLECT them, dummy. He wears them – and if you think thongs are the only thing he wears, think again!"

"How do you know all these stuff?" I asked.

"It's not easy having somebody stalk you and leave their belongings behind"

I laughed.

Hey, maybe Natsume isn't that bad after all.

Meanwhile

"What's this?" Ruka asked, taking a photograph of himself from the table. He was in the hotel room of Hotaru and Mikan since he had no other place to go.

"Candid shot!" Hotaru responded softly, and grabbed the photo from him and put it in a brown manila envelope.

"What are you going to do with those?"

"Sell them. Remember what I told you yesterday, 5 yen for pocket size photo…"

"Yes, I know… GAWD!!! I need respect here!!" Ruka whined.

"Tell you what, I'll let you take pictures of me – only if you pay me 10 yen per photo" he continued.

"I'm not going to waste my money" Hotaru said calmly.

Ruka was definitely pissed-off. He took Hotaru's camera from the table. "You're baby will get hurt" he said playfully.

"Oh shut up. I do not consider inanimate objects…babies" Hotaru said, taking the camera away from him. The strap was still in Ruka's hands and her tugged it back, making Hotaru fall and she landed on his lap – the camera on his hands.

"Got it" she muttered and gave a sly grin. She saw Ruka rub his head and she turned away, standing up – her heart was beating fast.

No.

Ruka is Mikan's.

XXX

Natsume's Apartment

XXX

I cleaned up the loft and the first floor of Natsume's apartment. I fell on the couch, exhausted. My joints were painful from all that cleaning. I haven't cleaned that much since last spring. I stretched my arms and made myself comfortable on his couch. It was a very soft couch…so soft…zzzz….

"Oi, baka – you missed a spot" Natsume said, walking downstairs. He had noticed Mikan snoring peacefully on the sofa and he grunted.

NORMAL POV

He came a little closer, her eyelashes were so long and captivating, her immature pigtails cascaded upon her sleeping face and she breathed with a soft tune to it… Natsume smirked and watched from the other sofa.

He was getting kinda bored. He inched closer, and after a few minutes – she screamed out "RUKA!" and sat up. "I had a scary dream… I dreamt that Ruka turned into you" she said, pointing at him as if he was a guilty man.

"What time is it?" she asked. It was seven pm. She had worked the whole day that she didn't even think about lunch time. The apartment was spotless and she praised herself for her great work. She had forgotten about her scrapbook and said her goodbyes. "I'll eat dinner at the hotel, I'll see you tomorrow" she said to Natsume – who was now getting ready for a party.

She took the glass elevator downstairs, her mind was so tired and lethargic and she trudged across the street sleepily. Her mind thought of goose-down pillows and the warm velvet blankets that awaited her back in room 704.

"See that girl?"

"Who?"

"The one with pigtails"

"Yep"

"She just came from the apartment building where most of the celebrities in Tokyo reside"

"WHAT?! She looks like a province kid"

"Yeah but she must know one of the celebrities. How much do you think her celebrity friend would pay her if we hold her ransom back in the warehouse?"

"Hmm… a lot probably. And plus, she looks like a girlfriend of somebody"

"It would be fun seeing that celebrity begging down on his knees to protect his precious girl"

The two beholders of those raspy voices walked behind the innocent girl who was staring sleepily at the stop light.

"Hey little girl" the whispered. She turned around and the grabbed her by the wrists, the covered her mouth with their grimy and greasy palms as she kicked and screamed. Nobody was paying attention, the bright Tokyo neon lights were blinding them, the loud music was deafening them. Nobody could hear her cries for help.

"You're a tough one"

She resisted, she kicked and pushed. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she began to get more tired as she was now. She then, stopped – her energy drained and she had no energy at all – she didn't have time for lunch and she just had yoghurt for breakfast.

"Help me…"

XXX

Author's Note: Oh my goodness!! What will happen to dear old Mikan? Dun dun dun dun!!!!