Chapter five is here... hope you all like it!

Chapter 5

"A dinner?!"

"Yes, dear," Her mother answered her. "It's a dinner with your father's old classmate."

"A dinner?!"

This was starting to get a little repetitive. "Maika, stop repeating yourself and go get ready. We're going shopping."

"Shopping?! Whatever for?"

Her mother gave her an exasperated look.

"You can't go to the dinner dressed like that." She indicated Maika's rather too casual outfit. "We'll shop around for a nice dress for you and maybe some accessories to go with it."

"A dress?!" She could hardly believe her ears. "You expect me to wear a dress for some dinner with Tou-san's ex-classmate?"

"Stop arguing and just do as I say," Her mother told her. "You don't want to disgrace our family name, do you?"

That effectively silenced all arguments she could have made. Unbelievable…

"Yes, kaa-san."

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"You look so lovely!" Her mother cooed. "Turn around…"

She turned obediently, feeling much like an overdressed fashion plate. I mean, who in their right mind wears a cocktail dress to a dinner with an ex-classmate?!! And it wasn't even her classmate.

She looked in the mirror, still not quite able to get used to her reflection. After all, it wasn't everyday she saw herself in a strapless, back-baring, clingy black dress with a small "tote" to match. She snorted. Seriously! The bag was so miniscule, she'd be amazed if a nail clipper could fit inside it.

Not to mention the earrings which tinkled every time she moved her head. It was extremely irritating and unnatural to hear yourself jingle when you shook your head. At least she managed to beg off wearing a necklace, she reflected. Those were so itchy and uncomfortable, and she'd probably be fiddling with it the whole dinner.

Which, of course, brought her back to the question of why they were even dressing up for something as simple as a dinner. If she had a choice in this, she'd probably just go without all this fuss. But she was not about to be accused of letting down the family's name, and hence the superbly overdone get-up.

"Maika! Let's go!" She sighed, and resigned herself to an evening of utter boredom.

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As a servant opened the car door for her, she wondered just who her father's ex-classmate was. Even the architecture of his house made her feel severely underdressed – she hadn't thought that was possible. She ascended the steps behind her parents, feeling very out of place.

The inside of the house was no less grand than the exterior. The sparkling chandeliers that overhung the huge gallery were intimidating, to say the least. By the time the gracious host invited them oh-so-cordially to be seated, she was quite bedazzled by all the sights she had just taken in.

She tuned in to what he was saying, remembering that she had to be alert and polite always.

"…my son will be joining us in a few minutes. He and your daughter should get along quite well. They are of the same age, I believe."

She looked at her genial host. So she was supposed to spend the whole evening with a boy whom she didn't even know?

Great. Just great… She was still registering this information when the sound of footsteps made her look up at the grandiose stairs.

"Atobe?!"

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The grey-haired boy had been told that their guests had a very pretty daughter whom he could mix well with. So when he came down the stairs, his first impression was that his parents had indeed been correct.

But the hazel eyes which peeked out demurely from under long lashes were disturbingly familiar, and the voice even more so.

Recognition dropped on him like a bomb.

"You!!"

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This was very bad. Very, very bad.

They made it into the dining hall with some semblance of civility, thanks to the restraining presence of the grown-ups. The seating positions, however, placed them across from one another, and a fair game of kicking shins was soon going on.

Atobe kicked too hard.

"Ow!!!"

Her parents looked at her, and she realized that if she didn't come up with something soon, she was going to be lectured all the way home.

"Sorry… accidentally stubbed my toe…"

She got a stern glare, but that was about it. As soon as the conversation started again, she turned her attention back to Atobe. Kicking him doubly as hard would rather make up for it, she decided.

The expression on his face was a queer mix between agony and fury. She'd pay for this, he'd make sure of it…

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After dinner, the children were told, in no uncertain terms, to entertain themselves. Right on cue, they both bowed and excused themselves politely from the dinner table. Fortunately, they had the sense to wait until they got out of the dining room before announcing an all-out declaration of war.

"You didn't have to kick me that hard!"

Maika looked at him. "Me? Kick you? If I recall correctly, you were the one who started all this!"

Atobe smirked. "Ore-sama would never do such a thing."

She gave up trying to win the pointless argument, and instead plonked herself down onto the nearest armchair. It was then that Atobe realised that they had half the night left to spend in each other's company, and decided that it might be a good idea to just curl up and go to sleep. At least that way they could preserve some of the furniture.

Unfortunately, she happened to be sitting on his favourite armchair. The armchair he always lounged on. And being who he was, he would never settle for anything less than the best.

So, with all the decency he could muster, he asked her, "Could you get up?"

She did not reply.

He gritted his teeth. "I am not saying please."

As he half-expected, the only answer he got was point-blank silence.

He wanted that sofa, and he wanted it now.

"This is my house! MY house, do you hear? Now get out of that armchair once and for all!"

Maika stirred sleepily.

"Who are you shouting at?"

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After that little misunderstanding, which soon cleared up into a nice, vicious catfight, they finally agreed to a truce. Atobe was more than a little disgruntled at having being caught talking to himself, and Maika was just plain grumpy from being woken up, albeit rather rudely. To make matters worse, Atobe absolutely refused to apologise, and Maika saw no reason why she should either. They were indeed two extraordinarily stubborm people.

So it was only when a maid came to tell them that they could be heard all over the house and perhaps they might want to lower the volume a little that they managed to return to some semblance of civility. Of course, that particular maid's opinion of Atobe would probably never be the same again. Neither would yours if you had just walked in to find your gentlemanly master trying to claw a young lady's eyes out, both of them snarling and spitting like two very riled up cats.

Definitely not the same again.

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It was an eternity before Maika's parents finally made a move to go home. She had managed to fall asleep twice in that duration, embarrassed herself once and fought with Atobe more times than she could count on one hand.

I guess I'm just not meant to stay up till three in the morning… She thought ironically, stifling a yawn as she bid goodbye to her hosts.

"Do come again," Atobe's mother was smiling.

Please, no!

"Definitely," Her own mother replied. "Perhaps next time at our house instead?"

"Arigatou gozaimasu."

Shit.

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On the way back in the car, she eavesdropped on her parents' conversation (after all, she couldn't help but hear anyway – they were in such an enclosed space) and soon suspected that her mother, at least, had imbibed more sake than was good for her.

"That boy is so nice," Her mother said. "He'd make such a good playmate for Maika."

"What?!"

Her mother frowned slightly. "Maika, you really ought to learn how to tone it down a little. I was just saying that Atobe Keigo is such a well-mannered young gentleman. Don't you agree?"

There was a slight gagging from behind. "Are you serious?"

But her mother wasn't listening to her. "You really should mix around with him more. Who knows, he might even rub off on you…"

She could only hope that her mother would have too much of a hangover tomorrow to remember anything about this.

Dear God… please…

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Neither of her parents were up yet by the time she set off for school, so she simply left a note to say that she would be in school. To tell the truth, she wasn't all that eager to go either, but she had a particularly important subject that day, and so she forced herself out of bed.

Three hours of sleep did absolutely nothing to improve her appearance, as proven by the dark rings shadowing her eyes.

I'm so sleepy…

It was by sheer willpower that she managed to stay awake long enough to get to her desk in class.

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Tezuka looked up in time to see Maika stagger in. One look at her was enough to know that she had obviously spent the night late.

He frowned. Staying out until late at night was a bad habit, and if she was silly enough to do so, then she would have to bear the consequences, obviously. He shrugged, and turned back to his work.

When classes started, Maika was hard pressed to keep her eyes open.

"Tezuka, slap me." Thoroughly sleepy by now, she was resorting to the last means she had to keep awake.

He looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Please?"

"No." He would not slap a girl.

"Oh, fine!" She slapped herself, trying to hit as hard as she could and accidentally kicking the table in the process.

"Ow! That hurts!" It hurts even worse, thanks to that smartass who kicked me last night… She examined her leg, and was a little alarmed to see a big, purple bruise swelling there. "If I ever get my hands on him…"

Tezuka was interested, despite himself. Maika didn't seem like the jealous girlfriend type, after all. "Who?"

"That Atobe… kicking me till I'm black and blue…"

Tezuka was very rarely taken aback, and this was one of the few times he was.

"Atobe Keigo? Kicking you?" Somehow, these two words had a hard time connecting themselves together in his brain.

"Yeah… at two in the morning…" She rolled her eyes. "And my mum wants me to – "

But Tezuka's brain had stopped working at her last sentence. "Two… in the… morning?!"

She looked at him for a long minute, before suddenly realising how her sentence could have been misinterpreted, and coloured at just what Tezuka must be thinking.

"No, it's nothing like that… nothing like that at all…" She was speaking very rapidly, all hot and flustered. "His father invited us over for dinner, and it lasted till three in the morning… that's all…"

"Oh." Only the slightest twitch of his eyebrow betrayed what he had been thinking moments before.

"And can you believe it? My mum wants me to mix more with him! I mean, he's even worse than you!"

"…"

"…that didn't come out quite right, did it?"

With a perfectly straight face, Tezuka replied, "I would say not."

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Atobe, meanwhile, was having an absolutely peachy time thinking up the most gruesome ways to get revenge on Maika. After all, she was the one who had caused his new suit to have blackberry stains all over, thanks to the glass of juice she had been holding when yet another of their quarrels broke out.

"Atobe-sama, it's dinnertime."

He contented himself with the thought that when he next saw her, it would be her furniture that would be torn to shreds. Paying ten thousand yen to replace that sofa was definitely not his idea of spending money wisely.

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So how was it? Review, ne?

And to all Chinese out there - Gong Xi Fa Cai!