Disclaimer: Back...FINALLY with the contest winner! Congrats to ayumuinblue. :Sigh: I was re-reading this and at around chapter 3 I found errors:Cries: (Yes, I get really annoyed if I make stupid mistakes...even if I do check it!) And sadly—to become more pathetic—I found the word 'excape' instead of 'escape'...I CHECKED IT I TELL YOU, I DID! I DID:Feels you are not completely convinced and goes to hide away in a corner: ...:sniffs: "A quiet, but audible 'I did...' can be heard if you are really quiet..."

Anyway, ayumu in blue's opening ends at, "...Hurry up it'll be so romantic!"

Chapter 7: How to Deal

So everything that had happened had been the curse's fault? The thought made Kazahaya feel so relieved to know the cause of Rikou's change in personality. Still, a part of him admitted to himself, that he would miss the kinder gentler side of him …

No!

Rikou was Rikou!

Even if he was a damn jerk, that nastiness was part of who he was! This side of him wasn't him at all. That stupid, stupid curse! There had to be something they could do about it. There just had to be a way to get him back to the way that he used to be. These stupid jobs always had to be so difficult!

Well at least now he had a place to start from. He had to figure out a way to free Rikou from the curse, and get the sword back to the store.

Kazahaya closed the closet with a firm thud. He knew what he had to do… well sort of, and he had to be ready for the absolute worst!

For now he had to remember that Rikou wasn't Rikou anymore, there was no way he was going to let that stupid curse prevail!

He stomped down the hallway and the stairwell, nodding and mumbling to himself. He was going to win!

Still a part of him worried. The first time he had seen the curse it had been a one-time deal. It had just went away… was Rikou like that too? He'd been acting strange all day; perhaps since he fell asleep he wasn't cursed anymore?

Kazahaya gnawed at the corner of his mouth wondering is things were all right? If Rikou wasn't possessed anymore then everything was fine right?

He stared at the door and wondered what he was going to do… was he just going to walk through the door and ask? What if Rikou was still asleep in there? Should he wait until morning? What if this time it was permanent?

The questions that kept going over and over in his mind were slowly driving him crazy. He shook his head violently determined to find an answer. He had to know.

Rikou was fine right?

Taking a deep breath he reached up and laid his hand on the door handle. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to open it or not.

Kazahaya, get a grip!

"Kaza-chan, you shouldn't be out here you should be in bed! You naughty boy you!"

Kazahaya could feel shivers going down his back.

Kaza…-chan?

Slowly his eyes followed the carpet over to the bare feet besides him. He forced himself to look up at the person standing there right next to him holding a bottle of wine in an ice bucket.

"Well since you're awake, we have a absolutely beautiful view of the night stars from our balcony, Kaza-chan! Hurry up it'll be so romantic!"

Rikuo grabbed his hand and proceeded to take Kazahaya out into the star-filled sky.

Kazahaya, who was extremely tired and needed to sleep on the ever piling thoughts and assumptions that seemed to have been steadily building up all night. Now that it was apparent that Rikuo was still cursed, he needed some sleep to try and relax and deal with this as a well as he possibly could.

"But, I don't want--"

Rikuo turned back to him, a grin on his face as he pulled back the sliding door and ushered his co-worker outside, "Nonsense," He said closing the door behind him and Kazahaya felt trapped. "It's absolutely beautiful out here...just like...just like, you..."

Kazahaya froze. Right there. He was standing in the middle of their balcony just frozen. He had no idea what to do, what to say, or how to react. How the hell was he supposed to respond to...that? It wasn't very often that Rikuo praised someone's looks at all.

So Kazahaya chose this time to end the startling silence between them to say," Umm, Rikuo?" He knew he sounded stupid, but what else was there to say?

Kazahaya didn't turn around, but soon he found big, strong arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Rikuo pressed the cold ice bucket to Kazahaya's chest as he intensified his embrace.

And again, Kazahaya just stood there feeling like an idiot.

But now was not the time. If he didn't ask now, then he probably would never. He would just have to ask flat out, and maybe a shocked Rikuo would get off of him. Kazahaya's knees were starting to buckle down under Rikuo's considerable weight.

"Umm, Rikuo?"

"Yes?" Came a deep voice inside his left shoulder blade.

"Um..UM! ...are you cursed?" The words just tumbled out of his mouth.

There was a pause in which Rikuo lifted his head and let it sit on top of Kazahaya's shoulder. A little weight was released which made Kazahaya's knees very happy.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean," Kazahaya looked at Rikuo, "Are you? Because, because I'll--"

"What curse? I never went near that sword, speaking of which, do you know where it is now? Because when I went to go look for it before we went to sleep, it wasn't there..."

Damn, he doesn't remember anything? This makes my life soo much easier...

"Um, no, I haven't seen it," Kazahaya said trying to play along with it.

Rikuo finally released his grip from Kazahaya and smiled at him playfully. He asked, "What? Just because I'm displaying my affection for you means that I'm cursed? Not acting normal at all?"

Actually...THAT'S EXACTLY IT YOU ASSHOLE! Kazahaya was longing to reply some of his normal rage was building up inside of him. If that asshole knew, oh, if only he knew... It just wasn't fair. Why did everything get stuck on him? And since when has he ever had affections for me?

Well, Rikuo had saved him a lot in the past before. He guessed he kind of did owe something to Rikuo, but dealing with him like this? When he was so out of character that Kazahaya just wanted to run and hide under their bed. Romantic and nice Rikuo was scary. Which was weird now that he thought about it, but he had been too used to Rikuo's evil ways to really care about his abnormal preferences.

"Right, so about this wine!" Rikuo said suddenly. He put the bottle and ice on the table and sat two crystal glass flutes onto the table. "It's red you know," He said as he began to pour it, "So it'll make us...hmm, get in the mood, if you know what I mean anyway," He was smiling mischievously at Kazahaya as he finished pouring it, like he was planning something. Kazahaya didn't like that look at all. Just what was Rikuo planning on doing to him?

"Umm, right," They were both under aged, but maybe the part on dealing with it, was to go along with whatever Rikuo wanted. Kazahaya wondered if that was what the curse was all about. Maybe if he just did whatever Rikuo ever wanted, he would get the old Rikuo back by morning.

But wait...

Was this curse...

WAS RIKUO'S CURSE TO LIKE HIM?

The Osakan guy had told him that the curse could be anything, suicide, anger, happiness, even feelings of...love. No, Rikuo didn't have any feelings for him...but wine was supposed to be really romantic for couples. And wine was also supposed to be special for... but no! Rikuo would never do that to him! But he really didn't know right now...Rikuo could probably do anything with that curse on him. But he might as we go along with it so that Rikuo didn't get too suspicious.

"So Kaza-chan! Let's toast!" Rikuo said grabbing his glass and holding it in the air.

Kazahaya grabbed his glass and said, "Um, too what?" Just go along with it, just go along with it...

"To us!" They clinked their glasses and took a sip, Rikuo went on, "Ah, and of course we have to make sure we toast to Kakei-san too!"

"For what?"

"Because if he hadn't given us this job and I didn't go on it with you, I would have never realized my feelings for you!" Rikuo laughed whole-heartedly and look a long gulp.

He's being...really forward... Kazahaya thought to himself.

"Why aren't you drinking anything? You don't like me?" Kazahaya could see...and he wish he didn't, a pout...a literal pout placed on Rikuo's lips. Kazahaya was dying to scream, "WHAT THE HELL!" But downed his drink in one gulp to stop himself.

And he wished he hadn't. All at once, everything seemed to be spinning. He felt so dizzy, the thought of it made him so sick. He closed his eyes, but even his thoughts seemed to be spinning all around.

He was about to pass out, he knew it, but somehow, he had to stay awake just to keep an eye on Rikuo.

"Yay! I feel so loved!" Rikuo said happily.

Kazahaya took several deep breaths as he tried to make the spinning stop. When it finally did, he realized that Rikuo was pouring them both some more.

Kazahaya began to protest, "Oh, no, I don't think I can--" He watched in horror at the amount of wine Rikuo was pouring him.

"Go on! Drink up!" Rikuo was planning something, Kazahaya knew it now...he prayed that nothing extremely bad was going to happen to him.

By about 12:30 pm, Kazahaya was completely wasted. Wasted on that wine. Once he downed the second flute because of that damned pout, Kazahaya couldn't stop. So it was no surprise that he had drank most of the bottle, and Rikuo had barely any. Maybe that was Rikuo's plan, but Kazahaya wasn't thinking about that. He knew of his surroundings, but he didn't care. Everything was so blissful...and happy, kind of floaty.

"Kaza-chan," Someone was calling his name...oh, that was Rikuo.

Kazahaya turned around and smiled stupidly through his drunkenness. "Hwiiiii, WiiiikuOH!" He slurred. He collapsed into Rikuo's arms. It felt so comfortable. The warmth was of the purest bliss. Kazahaya vowed to get drunk more often.

He felt arms carrying him and then placing him down on something soft and feathery...warm...oh, that was the bed. So this was what one looked like. He started laughing and banging his arms on the bed.

The bedsheets were as white as snow. He waved his arms and legs up and down on the bed. "Luuk WiiiikuOH! I'm mekkin' ah schnow angel!" He began to cheer, "Ish it purty?"

"Rikuo laid down right next to him, when he had finally stopped and said, "Yes, it's very pretty...Kazahaya..."

"Why yoo callin' mee by my firsht naaame?" He asked.

"Because you call the people you care about most by their first name,"

"Oh!" Kazahaya said finally understanding. "Show, yoo like meh?"

Even though it was dark Kazahaya could see Rikuo blushing.

"No way!" Kazahaya said suddenly, looking very shocked. He placed a hand to Rikuo's hot cheek and said, "Ah nefer knew yoo cuuld look dis cuote! Yoo should do it mer ofen, iss nice! Yoo always look sooooooo mean... ann, you ach it tooo!"

When Rikuo didn't say anything, Kazahaya proceeded to stroke Rikuo's cheek gently. He never knew Rikuo's face was so...soft. It was pretty too. But a rough and boy-ish pretty, more like sexy, because Rikuo was so sexy. The sexiest thing...

But anyway, Kazahaya was very tired and cheek stroking was very hard work. So he fell back onto the covers and uttered a 'goose-night' and then everything was dark.

He felt something slump down next to him and it was warm, but he didn't really care. Just as long as he got his sleep...

When Kazahaya woke up the next morning he had the biggest headache of his life. Whatever the hell had caused this headache, and he assumed it was his mounting problems, would have to be dealt with immediately.

But wait...the problems weren't it...No one had THIS much of a headache with just a few problems. Sure they were pretty major, but this headache...it was as if someone had come in a bashed a very large rock on his head about ten times. He was lucky he hadn't died.

Wine...

That was right...he evidently had a hang-over. No matter, as long as nothing bothered him and he went down to the hotel store as soon as he was feeling a little better, he would buy some Eki-kyabe. He had to sell it sometimes in the store for people with hang-overs. So he hoped it would help him.

He rolled over and was greeted by Rikuo's slow and heavy breathing. If he didn't have this pounding headache, he might have screamed and crawled away, desperate to get away from his co-worker. Was he still cursed?

Rikuo's eyes snapped open and he smiled, "Morning, Kaza-chan!" He sad cheerfully.

Kazahaya nearly cried, Yeah, he's still cursed...

What was it going to take to get Rikuo back to normal? This just wasn't fair at ALL.

"Got a headache Kaza-chan?" He asked, after Kazahaya rubbed his temples after thinking his last thought.

"Um, yeah,"

"Well," Rikuo's voice suddenly sounded a lot deeper and husky as he said, "You did drink a lot last night...it was fun,"

OH. MY. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! What did we do last night? I only remember drinking too much, but we didn't do anything dirty? Did we? OH GOD!

"We didn't do anything did we?" Kazahaya asked too quickly for his headache.

"Hmm, well, I'll go downstairs and get you some Eki-Kyabe!" Rikuo suggested, not really answering Kazahaya's question, which freaked him out even more.

Kazahaya shot out of bed ignoring the excruciating pain, which was hard and required more head movement, "I'll...I-I'll come with you!" He said putting his head in his hands. He pulled on some clothes and moved towards the door with Rikuo who had also gotten dressed.

Rikuo didn't tell him anything the whole way down the elevator, Kazahaya was getting annoyed and extremely antsy with his headache. He pursued Rikuo into the main lobby. He got really annoyed for no reason when Rikuo suddenly stopped and he bumped into him.

"Ow! What the hell--" Kazahaya said, but then, he realized that Rikuo was glaring at someone. "Hey, why're you--"

"Receptionist," Rikuo said, moving away.

Kazahaya just stood there dumbstruck. He did see that receptionist from all the duration of this trip, and sure she did come off as annoying, but he couldn't think of why Rikuo was so annoyed and glaring at her like that.

"Hey!" She said, suddenly realizing that she was being stared at. She and another receptionist came over to greet Kazahaya.

"Hi!" Said the other one.

"Umm, hi..." Why did they look so cheerful?

"Enjoy your wine?" They asked in unison.

"Oh, um, yeah..." Kazahaya said. So that was it, they were the deliverers of the wine that had brought him so much pain. Maybe they had annoyed Rikuo when they brought it up last night asking weird fangirl questions, no wonder Rikuo was trying to avoid her.

"Can we take you out to breakfast?"

"Umm," Kazahaya said, not really knowing if it was against resort policy to go dining with the hotel-goers, but they were already dragging him off to the nearest eating place in the hotel, and there were many, it was such a wast expanse.

The host sat them down immediately, and of course the host had to be female and of course the girls just had to have great, giggly, whispered conversations with each other.

Kazahaya couldn't do anything about it with his hangover. And they were treating him to a free breakfast, so he might as well enjoy it, but if they were going to ask questions...

"So, what did you guys do last night!" Asked the main receptionist. Kazahaya took note of her name tag, it said 'Jill Rocca' on it. What a weird name...

"Umm, that's really..."

"Oh come on! You guys are so cute together!" Said the new one, he saw her tag read 'Ayumu Blue'...She took notice of his condition. He was in such pain..."Hey, are you okay?" She asked.

"Is it a hangover?" The one named Jill asked.

"Yeah," Kazahaya just figured he'd be polite and respond. Who knew, maybe they could help him learn to deal with Rikuo.

"Oh, don't worry, we already asked them for a mix that's sure to cure it!"

"That's very nice of you," He said lamely.

Ayumu spoke next, "So what's up, having love trouble?"

"WHAT! NOO!" Kazahaya said too loudly for his headache. He groaned, slumped down onto the table, and was very aware of everybody in the restaurant staring at them. They all quickly returned back to their banter quickly, which he was grateful for.

"Geez, sorry we were just asking!"

"I'm sorry..."

"So it is love trouble, that's so cute, you DO like him!" Ayumu pressed on.

"It's really none of your business..." Kazahaya knew he was being rude, they were also being quite rude.

"OKAY! So we help your friend out last night and now we're helping your hangover and there's no thanks in it at all?" Jill asked sounding mad.

"Fine, you want to know the truth, fine! He's not acting like he should be, it's so weird..." Kazahaya began. He told them everything...except about the sword, which was hard to get around, but the crucial thing was that they understand that Rikuo wasn't Rikuo anymore.

"Hmm, he's probably just bottled up his feelings for too long..." Ayumu said.

"What?" Kazahaya asked. This random encounter with the receptionists really got him thinking. He wondered if Rikuo really had liked him all along and this was his curse. To finally open up, which was what he really didn't want to do.

"Listen," She went on, but there was something about the new seriousness that had taken over them...it was as if they knew something he didn't. "You should probably just talk to him if you care about him so much..."

"But I don't! Well, I sort of do, I just want him...back to normal, all right? No romantic feelings involved." He had no idea why he had just poured out his soul these women, but he needed some ventilation for his mounting problems.

She took a sip of some coffee she had ordered before and said, softly, "That curse isn't going to go away, unless you make it go away, you're his only hope..."

Wow...I'm sorry! I just HAD to end it there...but anyway, ayumu in blue, you didn't get much here, but next chapter shall be yours and mine. I'm so glad I updated though...that took me so long...longer then I thought, that's why I had to cut it short. Sorry 'bout that, but I'll probably end up writing the next chapter tomorrow or Tuesday.

WELL! THAT'S IT, YOU FINALLY GOT YOUR NEXT CHAPTER! Isn't everyone excited?