Now what should I ask her…? Well, I'm not very sure she would respond, I suppose, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, what are the chances she would wake up and catch me in the act right?

Hardly.

Ruuka pouts, contemplating, listening to her incoherent mumbles that had gone from butterfly wars to giving her puppy a sponge bath.

He didn't even think Hotaru owned a puppy. Seeing her with something cute, cuddly and alive was just... bizarre, if not unsettling.

He was stalling.

"I don't see what the big deal is anyway." Ruuka mutters to himself with an unnoticeable grimace. "I'm acting like this is a turning point in my life… or… something." He trails off, watched her chest rise and fall with each steady breathing and he blushes.

"Darn it… get a hold of yourself Nogi!"

"I like teddy…"

"What?"

Ruuka stops himself in time before his voice gets too loud. He forgot. Hotaru was sleeping. It would do him no good to wake her up and let her find out that he had been watching her for quite a while.

…maybe this is a good time for retribution.

But then… again… his chivalry won and he decided to step back and lean on the wall beside her, freezing on his feet when he heard her shuffle, relaxing when her breathing evened and she went back to mumbling things his mind couldn't fathom.

Hah. If only she wasn't born a girl… he would've gotten his revenge long ago. The only thing that was stopping him from unleashing his army of hornets at her was the fact that she has a chest and no… thing… down… there.

He growled. What the hell was he thinking about now? Really, being with her doesn't do him any good. At least with Natsume his mind was occupied with the treachery of the Alice Academy… but with her…

"Oh just stop it." He glares at her one last time, then asks the question that had been bugging him since she sold the very first picture. "What the hell incites you to make fun of me anyway?"

She groans, and he tenses, legs getting ready to bolt it outta there, but she merely rolled on her side and continued her slumber.

"Well…?" he asks expectantly. When she doesn't reply, he slumps on the wall and frowns.

"I don't get it." he mutters, a little spitefully. "It always works in movies."

"What works?"

"This."

"This what?"

Okay… that definitely wasn't Hotaru.


So sorry for the short updates... we have another batch of exams coming... TT