This is a filler chapter – apologies for this. I promise I'll get on with the plot – as soon as the story will call for it. This is focused mainly on Masako's relationship with Kise.

Thank you for those who followed this and saw the potential. I hope do not disappoint you.

Let's go to the story shall we?

My love for you is as deep
As the boundless seas and oceans,
As limitless
As the farthest reaches of our beautiful horizon.
Tonight I sing of my love for you,
And I will not tire doing so
In all the days I shall live.
Do not fear, nor doubt this feelings I offer you
Fair maiden,
For I fall only once,
And like the fire born of a Phoenix's rise from ashes,
These selfish feelings of mine will not abate,
Until you grace me with your beautiful smile
And look upon me favorably
To accept my love.

"Eep-!"

Masako was able to snap back in time as to avoid the sudden squirt of blood which sprouted from the patient's intestine area, but she still pretty much got sprayed a decent amount on one side of her face. "What the hell are you doing? What did you just touch!?" She scolded the operating doctor she was assisting in this surgery, glancing at the monitor showing the patient's current heart beat status – which was now beeping at an absurd rate. Said head surgeon didn't respond to her question, and she knew they would be all be dead if no one will take the lead from him.

"Give me the French 20."

One of the assisting nurses handed her the said instrument, but the other surgeon grasped her hand before she could do anything. "I will do it. I am the head surgeon here, in case you're forgetting."

"Then hurry up and move before you do more damage!" She snarled angrily, sweat coating her forehead as she wiped off the blood from earlier on the sleeve of her medical gown.

The surgeon glared at her but decided not to say anything in response.

It was only fifty minutes later when she finally got out of the operation room, exhausted, offended and unbelievably annoyed.

"That spineless man. Why does he keep biting on more than what he can chew? The idiot!" She removed the hospital gown she was wearing and tossed it to the trash, and all but ripped off her surgical mask as she also dumped it on top of the hospital gown she threw with more force than what was originally necessary. "Why does he keep on pretending as if he knows everything? He wanted to be the one to lead that surgery? He can do it? He doesn't even want to admit he needs our help! To hell with his big useless ego!" She ranted in anger, clutching and running a hand through her hair in exasperation which she had tied back in a messy bun.

"Now, now doc. You'll ruin your beauty just by thinking of that man." One of her good friends and excellent nurses in their hospital, Aihara Seira, followed her out, also tossing her things to the trash. "I was nervous earlier, to tell you the truth. But since you're there, I managed to relax and go with the flow. It all worked out because you're there." She held her shoulder soothingly, gracing her with a gentle smile.

Despite of her irritation, she lifted her head to her friend's direction and offered her a smile in response, albeit a weaker one due to annoyance. "That's comforting and everything, but don't you think that's something we should worry about? What if I wasn't there? Kami-sama, I shudder to think of what will happen to the patient." She attempted to joke, but her friend just laughed out loud.

"That's for the hospital to worry about. Oh, and the medical association – I mean, seriously, how did he even get his license?" They both laughed, feeling enough satisfaction from trash-talking their arrogant ass of a colleague. "So you shouldn't be worrying about it, like I'm saying, because Masako, honestly, I think you should be worrying about something else right now." Seira motioned with her lips to the direction they were both heading to, which Masako had yet to notice.

They had both arrived back into the lobby while walking earlier, and Masako immediately spotted a head of blonde hair amongst the sea of girls who had, by the looks of it, swarmed into the lobby. All of different ages.

"Unbelievable. It's as if a day hasn't passed from his modeling and basketball career. Ne, Masako, are you sure Kise-kun isn't courting you or something?" Seira joked, to which Masako flushed, but laughed it off.

"No, no. I'm not Ryo's type. We've been around each other long enough to know that it's not going to work out, even if we do go on a relationship."

"Says the one who hasn't ever allowed me to try courting her." A somewhat offended voice joined their conversation.

Masako turned around and jokingly socked the blonde man on the arm. "I see you've shaken your fans off. Done signing their panties?"

"Masakochii!" Ryota scolded in a manner of a mother horrified with her daughter's manners. "Aiharacchi, I apologize for her lack of delicacy. Really." He turned to the raven-haired woman who was laughing her head off.

"What are you, my mother?" Masako rolled her eyes jokingly at the blonde.

Ryota sighed. "But it's also true Aiharacchi, of what I've said earlier. She was the one who turned me down before I could even try to ask her out."

"I'll only tie you down, Ryota, and we both know that is something you hated." Masako retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "You've said that before, and I also know how important your modeling career and basketball is to you. Besides, how do you think will I want to be with you when you have insane fan girls? Jeez, do you remember what happened the first time we showed up at school together? I nearly shaved a couple of girls' heads back then because they didn't want to leave me alone and wouldn't rest about the 'Stay away from our Kise you bitch!' thing. I did want to live until sixties back then, thank you very much."

She was so busy ranting her point that she didn't notice the fond smile on Ryota's lips. Sometimes, when she talks like this, he finds it hard to believe that she was missing a few of her memories.

"Well, that's a shame then." Seira responded after a few more laughs. "But you did have it hard, didn't you? Being friends with someone like Kise-kun here must've been sort of a nightmare."

"Even you, Aiharacchi!?" Ryota jokingly wailed at a corner, as the two girls broke once more into laughs.

"Well I can see why you don't want to be his girlfriend. To think someone like Kise-kun has commitment issues." Seira pointed out once she had calmed down enough from laughing. "That's somewhat of a shame."

"Well I'm sorry for thinking that the girls back then didn't really see me as Kise Ryota." The blonde model-athlete-turned-pilot responded somewhat icily. "Fans are nice, but there's no denying the fact that they don't really know me."

"And only I do? Ooohh. That's somewhat of an honor even for me, Ryo." Masako, in an attempt to comfort the taller blonde, leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, making him flush, if somewhat, pleasantly. "Now, I think we've dragged out this conversation about our supposed almost-relationship for too long. I'm waiting for that movie and ice cream, or was that just an attempt to get me to work earlier?" She leaned back, once again pouting, her lower lip pushed out in a joke.

Ryota leaned over and bonked her on the head. "How about you start getting your things, Sherlock? I'll be ready when you are."

Grinning, Masako blew him a kiss and linked arms with Seira. "Well then, I'll see you later, love? Just a few more minutes, I promise."

He waved them away, grinning as the two women strutted away. "Sure, sure. Don't take too long, or no ice cream!" He called out laughingly, and Masako turned back to him, sticking her tongue out.

Ryota sighed. "Keep that tongue where it belongs, Masakochii, or I just might not be able to control myself." He muttered to himself, smiling almost sadly at her retreating back.

Masako threw her head back and laughed out loud, unable to control herself from doing so. Beside her, Ryota was grinning, broad shoulders shaking in silent laughter as well as they both sat in front of the forty-inch television mounted on the wall.

"He just made my day. Ahahaha. Ah, the things Gru can do." She slurped on her ice cream happily, her favorite vanilla flavor with lots of chocolate bits – just the way she liked it. For all the things that Kise Ryota cannot do, she was thankful that he was a genius when it came to making her favorite ice cream.

"I'm actually expecting something much more complicated than this, though." Ryota was slurping on his own ice cream – rocky road with lots of marshmallow, - responded, referring to the movie they were watching. He was a good sport, and does not really mind watching cartoon movies, knowing Masako's love for it, even though… "But we ended up just watching Despicable Me 2 for Chrissakes." He murmured, almost sounding peeved.

Masako straightened up, bumping his shoulder with hers – making her groan with just the simple action. Ryota's shoulder felt like a solid wall of rock, (which then meant that it was pure muscle,) and there was a high possibility she might end up having a bruise just from it. "Jeez, what the hell were you doing with that shoulder? Are you lifting weights every day or what? But back to my point – "

"- what point? You haven't made one yet ~ " He cut her off slyly in a sing-song voice, grinning teasingly.

She bonked him on the head. "What do you mean that we just ended up watching Despicable Me 2? You're here with me. You, who were always busy just with your pilot duties, who were always out of the country just to visit different exotic places because of your job, is here with me now, spending the night with his best friend, finally having some sort of break from all the stress your job has to offer and is pigging out with our favorite ice creams. How dare you write that off as 'just'?" Masako scolded him, half-jokingly and half-seriously, huffing out a breath in annoyance.

Ryota chuckled, but the sound came off as half-hearted. Luckily or perhaps unluckily, Masako didn't notice.

"Sometimes I wonder why I didn't see you first."

Masako frowned, obviously confused as to what he meant. "Huh?"

"Nothing kitten. I said you're right, I should appreciate finally being back home, for instance. Those tropical lands aren't really just for me." He fibbed, just to draw Masako's attention away from his side-comment.

"That's right you just came home from Hawaii right? Ooooh, I've always wanted to visit that place, I just lurv their beaches! Ne, ne, Ryo, how was Hawaii? I bet you wasted no time in shag – "

"Masakochii!" Ryota grimaced in protest, jumping to cover her mouth, ignoring her lips which were still full of cream from the treat they were having as he looked around in a manner of someone checking if there were kids who overheard them, more scandalized than amused at the direction their conversation was taking.

Masako ripped his hand away from her mouth, then looked at him as if he was an alien who had just dropped from outer space or something. "What the hell are you acting like a virgin for? It's not as if you were still one – "

" – Sheesh! Don't say it out loud, you idiot! What the hell's your problem? Even if I am not exactly pure and innocent, - stop grinning for crying out loud! – it's not as if that's the only thing I think of, you know! Why are you doing this to me? Hell, why do I evenend up acting like I'm the woman here?!" Ryota exclaimed, frustratedly, and unable to hold back any longer, Masako burst into laughter, the movie already quite forgotten in the background as she continued laughing, and despite of how he was itching to strangle her he couldn't help but cool down and crack a half-smirk, his best friend's laughter contagious.

"Oh, I've really missed you, Ryo." Masako wiped the tears that had formed in her eyes, clutching her stomach all the while. "With no one around to pester me to act more according to my gender I was really out of control. Just ask Seira." She laughed, and Ryota's eyes widened, his ears burning at the thought of a thousand things that could have come out of her mouth while he wasn't there to make a big deal out of it.

"Why what the hell have you been spouting? Nope, never mind, I changed my mind. I think it's better for my sanity not to know what kind of things you've been up to and spouting while I'm gone." He finished the last bit of his ice cream, face palming in surrender.

Masako has always been like that. From the moment he had known her, all his previous assumptions about her had been way off the mark.

She was… simply put, beautiful. Not beautiful beautiful,the kind that makes people want to worship her like a goddess or something, or like the kind which graces the magazines for people to ogle at, but beautiful in a way that you never get tired of looking at her, and that she just simply grows to be more beautiful as you look at her. She had almond-shaped peridot-green eyes, fair skin which almost seemed to glow, pert nose and a beautiful shade of pink, heart-shaped lips. Honestly, he wasn't wondering why that person has it hard for her, although that's not the only thing which was adorable about her.

He had simply thought she was just another beautiful girl who was an airhead – a lethal combination which was common in the kind of technology they had nowadays, - and he couldn't have been more wrong about her.

'Don't let her beauty fool you,' he remembered one of his teammates telling him, - Morimaya-senpai was it? 'She'll eat you alive'.

The reason for that statement, was, despite of being known in Kaijo as a beauty, she was also well-known for being possessed of a sharp tongue and quick temper that she was nicknamed 'The Madonna with a whip,' her being known for giving anyone, and he meant anyone a piece of her mind be they seniors or not, especially as she was a part of the school's disciplinary committee, which was the same committee Kasamatsu-senpai had been a part of.

He had honestly thought that she was just another wannabe who was fond of kicking people all over the place, (and no, he did not mean Kasamatsu-senpai,) due to the power she wielded as the elected chairwoman of the disciplinary committee, but he was proven wrong once more when they finally met.

Although that would probably be a story for an another time.

Realizing that he had fallen silent, Masako looked at him worriedly, her laughter finally subsiding, and waved a hand in front of his face. "Ryo? You okay?"

Ryota shook his head mentally and decided to frown at her. "No. I'm thinking of ways of how to get you to control that mouth of yours, no matter if it's pretty." He added cheekily in the end, which made Masako flush.

"Shut up, Golden Boy." She snapped, making him, in turn, laugh. "Don't change the subject though, I really am curious regarding this latest trip you've had. You owe me the story!"

Ryota sighed and gave in. "Fine. What do you want to know anyway? It's not like Hawaii's that interesting."

"You have to do better than that to discourage me." Masako said matter-of-factly. "C'mon, Ryota, tell me where you went. I know you're the pilot for that trip and everything, but I also know you were at least given enough time to go sightseeing. Pretty please?"

And so Ryota told her of the places that he had gone to in the short amount of time that they, the crew, had been allowed to go sightseeing, - luckily he had taken pictures of some of the beaches the crew did go to and Masako was squealing in delight, - and described to her as much as he can about the heat and the humidity of the area, and all the ladies who nearly killed him when they were asking for his pictures – they were almost no different from Japanese girls as he had described them – which nearly killed Masako in laughter.

He was in the middle of describing how one of his co-pilots ended up being stuck on the sand as he was buried halfway to his chest when he realized that Masako was no longer listening to him.

Her eyes were already closed, her breathing deep and evened out – which let him know that she really was totally knocked out already, - but there was a ghost of smile on her lips and she was hugging one of her couch pillows tightly. Ryota couldn't help but smile at the cute picture she made, and he couldn't resist tucking in a stray strand of chocolate brown hair behind her ear.

His gaze was drawn to her lips, which were unconsciously pushed out in a pout. He felt himself swallow.

No. You liar.

Just as the thought flashed in his mind, he was overcome by guilt. He had no right to feel this way over her, not when she was missing such an integral part of her life, - a part which Ryota himself refuses to confuse her with, half because he wanted to follow the doctor's advice of not pushing her to recall it, and half because he didn't want to be the one to remind her. He didn't know if he couldn't bear the thought of her disappearing completely in his life.

Ryota shook his head once more, as if doing that would help in clearing out his thoughts, and decided to get on with the cleanup. Before that though…

He carefully shut the television off first (which had been totally forgotten throughout their conversation,) and placed an arm around Masako's shoulder carefully so as not to jostle her to waking up, and wrapped his other arm around her knees, lifting her up bridal style. He was thankful that she was a heavy sleeper, especially that she had come home exhausted from work. He carried her effortlessly to his room upstairs, opening the door quickly with one hand, and laying her down on the queen-sized bed.

He stared at her. Sometimes, moments like these, (this is not the first time Masako had to spend the night in his apartment,) which he never fails to use to his advantage, makes it really hard for him to believe that she was sick, missing an integral part of her life, or a chip as she liked to call it. But if there was one thing that he was thankful for when this happened to her, was that he was given the chance to make up for his crude behavior towards her when they first met by being allowed to take care of her.

He leaned down and wrapped a blanket around her, laying a kiss on her forehead.

"I will protect you from everyone, Masakochii. Even from him." He vowed to her silently, turned, and stepped out of the room before he did something he would regret later in the morning.

He started cleaning up the mess from earlier, - when she cooked dinner and he made the dessert, - that he almost missed the sound of his phone ringing. He glanced confusedly on the wall clock he has above the door – it read 11:30 pm.

Who on earth will be calling in this hour?

He picked up his phone, staring at the blue screen – which had a picture of Masako as the wallpaper (not guilty, Masako was the one who changed it,) and wondering who on earth was indeed, calling.

Calling – unknown number, it was flashing up to him.

Shrugging and thinking nothing of it, he swiped the screen to receive the call. "Moshi moshi?"

"Hisashiburi desu ne, Kise. Or should I say Ryota once more?"

His eyes widened, then narrowed into slits, knowing and recognizing the authoritative voice on the other end of the line.

"Akashichii. To what do I owe this… pleasant surprise?"

Please do not kill me. I did not mean that to be a cliff-hanger. Updates will be irregular though, because yeah, work is killing me. As soon as I find the time and my muse is calling out to me, I will update.

See you in the next one beloved readers!