Programmed Lives – Fifth Stage

Chapter Twenty Eight

Kyosuke saw as his younger brother made his way to the garden, walking purposely towards the girl who seemed to be capable of making Seisuke lose control of himself in a way he had never seen Seisuke do in the lifetime Kyosuke had known his brother.

'Hey,' Seisuke said as he tapped Misa on her shoulder and getting some sort of electric shock from that brief contact.

'Oh, it's you,' Misa replied disdainfully.

'Yeah, listen…' Seisuke started, refusing to let her dry tone dent his resolution. However and seeing the curious looks Masato and Izawa were giving him, he added, 'can we go somewhere else so we can talk?'

'No,' Misa replied flatly then, ignoring him in the most absolute way, she smiled at the two other guys and said, 'shall we go for a swim?'

Without waiting for an answer, she left the drink she had in her hands on top of a nearby table and she walked towards the swimming pool allowing Seisuke to see that she looked every bit as good from that point of view as she did looking at her frontally.

'Misa…' he started but, just as he was going to lift his foot so he could go after her, she jumped into the swimming pool, 'fuck,' he muttered.

'Er…' he then heard Masato say as he and Izawa walked past him heading to the pool too, 'is that okay if we…you know?'

'Hell,' Seisuke barked, 'do whatever you want, it's not like if she listens to me anyway.'

With that, he made his way back into the house not remembering a time when he'd been anymore frustrated in his whole life.

'How did it…' Kyosuke started.

'Shut up,' Seisuke spat as he decided to ignore the whole party and go up to his room so he could lock himself in it. Women were definitely too much trouble, he thought as he threw himself onto his bed and, as he stared at the ceiling, he decided to fall asleep so he would stop thinking of Misa and that stupid strap of fabric she called bikini. Honestly, she could have been wearing a string of dental floss and she would have been more modestly dressed.

After spending an hour turning around on his bed and since his brain simply refused to shut down, he finally gave up trying to fall asleep and sat up on the bed as passed his right hand through his short locks of dark hair.

'Fuck this, I'm going to talk to her even if it's the last thing I do today,' he said talking to himself getting up from his bed then, he stepped out of his room and started walking down the corridor and towards the stairs when he saw her, no longer wearing the bikini but a strappy top and a denim miniskirt.

'What are you…'

He stopped seeing the frightened expression which she wasn't fast enough to hide from him.

'Look,' she said, still trying to pretend indifference, 'your cousin took me to a guest room so I could get changed and I got lost, this is why I hate big houses.'

'Misa…'

'Don't worry, I'll get out of your way as soon as I find the way to the stairs,' Misa said and in the split second she used to turn round, Seisuke's brain made a decision and before he even had time to register it he found himself walking the three steps which separated him from her and taking her by her arm, he slammed her against one of the corridor's walls pinning her against it with his own body.

'No,' Seisuke said looking down at her face which now was just a few centimetres away from his, 'you aren't getting away from me again.'

'What?' Misa breathed looking at him with a mix of fear and profound disbelief, 'if I'm not mistaken it was YOU who got away from ME,' she added and, for the first time, she allowed him to hear how very upset she was by it all.

'Misa,' he started but seeing the hurt in her beautiful eyes was too much for him, 'screw this, you're too good looking for my own good.'

With that he bent his head down and, before she could do anything to prevent it, he crushed her lips with his fuelling the kiss with all the frustration he'd been bottling up ever since they had had sex that New Years' eve, over four and a half long months ago.

'What…' she whispered when he let go of her lips to go and kiss her on her neck, 'Seisuke…' she added as she desperately tried to grasp to whatever they had left of their sanity.

'Shush,' he said as he continued to kiss her then, without letting go of her, he took her in his arms and started walking back to his room.

'Seisuke!' she exclaimed as she tried to make him stop, 'I thought you wanted to talk to me.'

'Yeah,' he said, 'later,' he added with a very husky voice.

'No!' she cried and then she tried to get back down on the floor, 'Seisuke we can't do this.'

'Why not?' Seisuke asked as he finally allowed her to stand up again, 'I want you Misa,' he finally admitted, 'I want you more than I've ever wanted any other girl in my whole life.'

'Seisuke, please,' she started, looking very much like she was fighting with herself for she obviously wanted him as badly as he wanted her, 'we do need to talk about this.'

Seisuke looked at her and after a few instants, he said, 'okay, you win,' he then pointed towards his bedroom's door and added, 'this way.'

'Promise to me that we'll talk first,' Misa said refusing to move from where she was.

'I promise I'll be a good boy, okay?' Seisuke replied lifting his right hand crossing his heart with his index finger, 'cross my heart and yadda, yadda, yadda…'

Misa's lips finally curved into a smile and, shaking her head, she said:

'You're amazing.'

'I know,' Seisuke said looking all smug and, for some reason, Misa suspected that he actually believed that but, again, his strong, self-confident personality was one of the aspects she liked the most about him. Not to mention that, from what she could remember, he was incredibly funny.

Following him into this room, she took a seat on the swivelling black leather chair Seisuke used for his lengthy studying sessions while he sat on his bed, leaving a considerable distance between the two for her own sake, Seisuke thought as he forced himself to keep his word.

'So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?' she asked him.

Clearing his throat, he looked hesitant for just a second before saying:

'Firstly, I wanted to apologise to you for, you know…everything…'

'Okay,' she said, 'apology accepted.'

'Then I wanted to ask you why didn't you tell me that you were a…you know…'

'A virgin?' Misa supplied and, when he nodded to that, she looked away from him and, with a small voice, she said, 'you didn't ask me.'

'What?' he asked incredulously, 'Misa, I don't go around asking girls if they're virgins, you know.'

'I know it's just that...I just thought that you…that you wouldn't consider me…you know…'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' Seisuke said getting all confused.

'Look, you are so incredibly smart and good looking and you probably have enough self esteem to supply an entire country with it,' Misa said, 'I just didn't think you'd spare me a second look if you knew I had never kissed a guy before.'

'What?' Seisuke asked and, with that question he was expressing his surprise at how stupid that reasoning of hers was and the fact that, in addition to her virginity, he had also stolen her very first kiss. Things just kept getting better and better, he thought miserably.

'And when you left the morning after I just…I thought you'd just had fun with me and that you didn't want to see me ever again.'

'Misa,' Seisuke started and he had to give to her that that was exactly what it had looked like, 'I freaked out,' he admitted, 'I didn't know what to do when I found out that that had been your first time.'

'Why?' Misa asked and, seeing that he didn't have any other option left, he decided to be honest:

'That night, at the party, I had just recently broken up with my girlfriend of three years.'

'I know that, Ryoko told me about what she did to you,' Misa said, 'that's why I was so surprised, and hurt when I saw you kissing her at that motor sports centre your family own.'

'No,' Seisuke said, 'I wasn't kissing her. She was kissing me,' he explained for it was very important she understood the difference.

'You didn't get back together after that?' Misa asked.

'No way!' Seisuke exclaimed, 'she cheated on me, I can't forgive her for what she did.'

'I see,' Misa said, 'so, what do you want from me?' she asked and realising that it was pretty obvious, she added, 'besides that.'

This time it was Seisuke who looked away as he considered his answer very carefully then, just as Misa was about to get up to leave the room, he glanced back at her and said:

'I'm not sure of what I want, I just know that when I see you I lose it and I…I just don't know what to do.'

Misa scratched what she had thought about his self confidence as she saw that he could be every bit as insecure as she was.

'I have a suggestion,' Misa said, deciding to throw caution out of the window.

'Let's hear it,' Seisuke said.

'Let's just take things slowly and see where this takes us.'

Seisuke stared at her and, seeing how serious she was about this, he nodded his approval.

'Okay, but you'll have to be very patient with me.'

'Seisuke,' she said, 'I've been waiting for over four months so we could have this conversation. I think I can be patient, don't you?' she asked and, seeing him nod, she got up from the chair and she walked back to the door.

'Where are you going?' Seisuke said feeling slightly panicky for he really wanted her to be in bed with him right that instant.

'I'm going downstairs, if I can find the stairs that is.'

'But…' Seisuke started.

'Seisuke, we're taking things slowly, remember?' she reminded him as she opened the door.

'What?' he asked springing up from his bed and rushing towards her before she could get out of the room.

'Seisuke…'

'Okay, a kiss, just a kiss, please?' Seisuke said putting his hands together as if he was praying he then saw her rolling her eyes before she looked at him for a short while making him feel even more anxious. She then sighed as she nodded, apparently giving him her consent.

Very slowly, not wanting to scare her, he put his hands on either side of her face and he kissed her, a whole lot more delicately than he'd done earlier on.

'Ehem,' they heard a girl clearing her throat making them interrupt their kiss and as they looked outside of the room, they saw Ryoko standing there staring at them with a very amused expression on her face, 'and here I was worried that you had got lost,' she said.

'I did get lost,' Misa said returning the smile.

'Yeah, into my cousin's arms,' Ryoko laughed, 'good luck with that!' she exclaimed and, as she walked away from them, Seisuke said:

'Hey, don't spread the word just yet, we're taking things slowly.'

Ryoko gazed at them and raising her eyebrows looking even more amused, she nodded at them.

'I can see that,' she said sarcastically then, getting serious, she added, 'don't worry, my lips are sealed, at least for now.'

They then decided to follow her and the newborn couple re-joined the party looking a whole lot happier than they had left it however, before anyone could comment on this, Kyosuke saved them by saying:

'Okay, guys, I've got an announcement to make.'

'You and Kizuna are getting married!' Izawa exclaimed.

'Stupid, be quiet and listen,' Kizuna admonished him.

'Sorry,' Izawa apologised and then, once he was sure that everyone was paying attention to him, Kyosuke started again:

'Misa, you can keep a secret, can't you?' Kyosuke asked.

'Oh, she can, believe me,' Ryoko said giving both she and Seisuke a very sweet smile.

'Good,' Kyosuke said looking oblivious to the whole thing, 'well, you'll all be happy to know that the Golden Arrows have been invited to the gathering in Hakone. You know that it only takes place once a year and is organised for the best street racing teams from the Kanto region.'

'Wow! That's fantastic, Aniki!' Seisuke exclaimed.

'Yeah,' Kyosuke said allowing himself a smile, 'the gathering is next month so we don't have all that much time to train ourselves.'

'Will Akito be okay by then?' Junya asked, surprising everyone in the process.

'I hope so, we're going to need our best elements for that race,' Kyosuke replied.

'I agree,' Junya said.

'Anyway, we'll be organising training sessions twice a week from now on but, if any of you can't make it to the one during the weekdays, at least try to make it to the one during the weekend,' Kyosuke said.

'That's right,' Misa said intervening in the meeting, 'you're going to need all the training you can get.'

'You sound like you know a lot about this gathering,' Seisuke commented.

'I do,' Misa said, 'my brother killed himself crashing his car in one of the races,' she explained with so much nonchalance that it left Seisuke both stunned and speechless.

'That happened two years ago, didn't it?' Ryoko asked her and watching Misa nod to that made Seisuke feel even more astounded seeing that his baby cousin obviously knew about this and making him realise that he knew very little about Misa. He then made himself a mental note so he would find out all there was to know about her.

Meanwhile and instead of resting as he was supposed to, Akito was busy sitting at his desk and staring at his computer's screen when Takumi knocked on his door to ask him to come down for dinner.

'Give me a minute,' he said and, before he could turn the computer off, he heard his father opening the door and stepping into the room.

'What are you doing?' Takumi asked, 'you've been locked up in your room all day.'

'I'm resting,' Akito lied.

'Sitting at your desk?' Takumi asked disbelievingly, 'if you could help it, you didn't sit anywhere near your desk when you were in high school,' he added, 'do you want me to believe that you're all of a sudden into computers?'

'No,' Akito said and, dropping his act, he confessed, 'I'm looking for a job.'

Takumi's sarcastic smile was instantly replaced by a concerned frown.

'Why?'

'Dad,' Akito started, 'with Mum suspended until goodness knows when and with me not getting any more money from racing, you're the only income we have right now and…'

'Wait a minute,' Takumi interrupted him now getting seriously worried, 'Akito, I thought you wanted to accept Keisuke's proposal.'

'Yeah about that,' Akito said, 'I don't want to have to rely on him either.'

'Why not?' Takumi asked and, seeing that this conversation was going to be rather long, he took a seat on top of his son's bed.

'Because I already owe him big for letting me date his daughter,' Akito replied sounding so honest and serious that Takumi didn't even have the heart to take the mickey out of him.

'Son, you'll be working for him, it's natural that he pays you,' Takumi pointed out.

'Yeah,' Akito said, 'there's something else that's bothering me,' he added.

'What is it son?' Takumi asked.

'Well, I've been working on some figures and I think that I could actually bring some money into the whole project,' Akito explained.

'Why would you do that?'

'Dad,' Akito started, 'I know it may sound silly because I'm only eighteen years old but, if I am to be part of this project, I don't want to take any charity from them and I'd like to contribute to it as much as I can.'

'Akito,' Takumi said, 'you're already contributing towards it in the most important way that there is,' then, seeing the confused expression on Akito's face, he added, 'you're the driver son, without that, there's no racing team.'

'Yeah, I know,' Akito said, 'I only wanted to make an economic contribution too. I've seen it in many occasions when the drivers bring part of the capital into their teams.'

'Yes son,' Takumi said, 'but you don't need to be like them.'

'Dad…'

'Akito, you are good enough to deserve the money you got from Tanaka-san and the money you'll receive from Keisuke,' Takumi insisted.

'I still want to help!' Akito exclaimed getting up from his chair, 'Dad, I'm serious,' he added, using a more moderate tone of voice.

Takumi looked at him for a while and then, frowning once more, he got up and said:

'Fine, wait for me here.'

He then left the room and, a few moments later, Akito saw his father re-enter it with a blue envelope in his hand.

'Here, this is yours,' Takumi said giving it to his son who, looking more puzzled than ever started opening it, realising that the thing looked like it had been sealed ages ago.

'What's…'

'Read it and you'll see,' Takumi said then waited for Akito to pull out the paper which was inside the envelope and for him to finish reading the contents of the document.

'What the…'

'That's yours son,' Takumi said.

'Dad, this is…'

'This is the money your mother left us when she died,' Takumi explained, 'I've been keeping it for when you'd be old enough to decide what to do with it but it seems like you've already found a good use for some of it, haven't you?'

Akito remained completely speechless at the huge amount of money that, according to the document he had in his hands, was at his disposal as per whenever he needed it.

To be continued…