Chapter 11

After bidding goodnight to her boyfriend (which took several minutes of hugging and kissing outside the front door), Kazume stepped into their apartment.

"Megumi, I'm home!"

Her best friend stuck her head out from the kitchen and grinned when she spotted the redhead. "Kazume! Good, you're finally here. Let's get this party started!"

Kazume looked at her quizzically. "Is everyone here already?"

Megumi rolled her eyes. "Of course they are. We were all waiting for you to finish your smoochy time with Mr. Tall, dark and handsome."

Kazume giggled. "Sorry about that. And speaking of which, I need to talk to you about something important..."

Megumi stared concernedly at her. "Is everything okay?"

Kazume smiled. "It's fine, nothing that can't wait until later. We'll talk when we go to bed, yeah?"

Megumi grinned and nodded. "Fair enough, let's go party!"

Kazume laughed and followed her best friend into the living room where the other girls were waiting. Urd and Skuld were sitting at a small table in the corner arguing over a card game while Belldandy sat next to them wearing a bemused smile. Kazume grinned at seeing all her friends.

"What's up peeps?"

Skuld, who had grown a strong liking to the redhead, flung her head around and grinned. "Kazume! Bout time you showed up!"

Urd smirked slyly. "Hey there, lover girl."

Kazume blushed and glared at her. "Shut up Urd." She turned and smiled at Belldandy. "Hey Bell, how's it goin?"

Belldandy smiled. "I'm very good! And yourself?"

Kazume winked. "Aw you know the answer to that one."

Belldandy giggled. "It's good to hear you're doing well."

Kazume grinned and turned back to Megumi. "Alright, so what's on the agenda for us gals tonight?"

All girls grew nervous as a Megumi's mouth stretched into an evil smirk. 'It's gonna be a looooong night.' Kazume thought.

(Several crazy hours later)

The two roommates sat cross legged on Megumi's bed chatting over the nights activities. The three sisters remained in the living room since Kazume knew sleep wasn't a huge necessity for them. Now she sat in front of her best friend as they giggled quietly to themselves.

"Tonight has been so fun!" Kazume squealed.

Megumi grinned. "I especially loved truth or dare…I guess even someone like Belldandy can be pulled into doing embarrassing stunts

Kazume laughed. "That's because she doesn't get embarrassed with anything."

Megumi sighed. "We put ears and a tail and everything on her…what's the deal?"

Kazume shrugged. "Bell's always been on the naïve side."

Megumi yawned. "Say…didn't you want to talk to me about something?"

Kazume's eyes widened. "Oh. Thanks for reminding me!" She tentatively leaned forward. "I was talking to Arimon earlier."

Megumi rolled her eyes. "Of course you were."

Kazume glared. "As I was saying…. I figured that since I see him all the time we'd…uh…change some things."

Megumi raised an eyebrow. "Are you going somewhere with this?"

Kazume fidgeted. "Well…would it be alright if…if…Arimon moved in here?"

…

"WHAT?"

Kazume flinched. 'Should've guessed she wouldn't take it well.'

Megumi stared are her with wide eyes. "You want him to move IN? You two are attached at the hip enough as it is!"

Kazume blushed and look at the floor. "Well…I don't really have much of a reason except that I love him too much to be apart from him."

Megumi sighed. "Oh boy…can't argue with that. Alright I guess I can go along with it."

Kazume's head snapped up and her eyes sparkled. "Really?"

Megumi nodded. "If it makes you happy, Kaz."

Kazume lunged forward, tackling her best friend onto the bed. "THANK YOU! You're the best Megumi!"

The brunette laughed. "Okay, settle down. Come on we should crash for the night."

Kazume let her go and sat back with a bright smile. "Sounds good to me!"

The two girls made themselves comfortable under the blankets and lay on their backs. Kazume gazed at the ceiling with a sleepy smile, her eyes slowly drooping shut. Next to her, Megumi had her arms comfortably behind her head.

"Hey Kazume, how tired are you?"

…

"Kazume?"

Megumi looked over to see her best friend sleeping peacefully curled up on her side. She smiled at her. 'Guess she's not used to staying up so late.' Deciding to follow the sleeping girls' example, she snuggled down and within minutes was fast asleep herself.

(Next morning)

Kazume's eyes fluttered open slowly but she immediately shut them again when they were hit by a bright stream of sunlight pouring through the window.

'Urgh…too bright.' She groaned.

She sat up groggily and looked around. Next to her, Megumi lay fast asleep with her mouth slightly open. Kazume grinned mischievously. Reaching next to her, she grabbed her pillow and swiftly whacked it down onto her best friends face.

"HEY, MEGUMI!"

"ARRGGHH! Kazume! WHAT THE HELL?"

Megumi sat up in bed glaring daggers at her best friend who was now rolling around in stitches on the bed. She grinned suddenly and returned the favour by hitting Kazume across her head. The redhead gawked at her and then grabbed her own pillow to retaliate with her own attack.

(In the kitchen)

Belldandy paused with what she doing at the stove when she heard squeals and laughter sounding from the other end of the apartment. Sitting at the table, Urd smiled in amusement.

"Sounds like the girls are awake."

Belldandy smiled and continued with her cooking. "And they seem to be having lots of fun!"

Their short conversation was interrupted by a firm knock at the front door. Seeing how her sister was busy with breakfast, Urd took the initiative and stood up to answer it. She swung it open and smirked when she saw her redheaded cousin.

"Well good morning Arimon, you're here early."

The tall man grinned sheepishly. "I was told to stay away last night; Megumi never said I had to stay away this morning."

Urd laughed. "You poor, whipped, son of the devil."

Arimon grinned. "Technically I'm her nephew."

Urd rolled her eyes, stepping aside to let him in. He smirked before walking past her into the kitchen. He smiled when he saw Belldandy standing at the stove.

"Hey there, Bell."

The younger goddess turned and beamed at her cousin. "Good morning Arimon! Are you here to see Kazume?"

He grinned. "Well…yeah if she's here."

His question was answered when they heard a very high pitch squeal from the girls' bedroom. Arimon stared wide-eyed in that direction while Belldandy giggled.

"We've been hearing that for several minutes now."

He looked quizzically at her. "What are they doing?"

She shrugged. "I'm not too sure, you are free to go and see for yourself."

Arimon gulped. "Uh…sure I guess I'll check it out."

Belldandy smiled. "Have fun."

Arimon nodded and turned to make his way down the corridor. The closer he was to the door, the louder the squeals became. Swallowing hard, he lifted his hand and shakily knocked on the door. He heard a loud, "Come in!" and slid the door open. He walked in and froze at the sight before him; there sat Kazume and Megumi, both holding a pillow and staring in bewilderment at him. He looked around the room which had feathers spread everywhere and a select few still floating in the air. The two friends' pyjamas were wrinkled and their hair was messy from the pillow fight. Arimon suddenly felt very awkward.

"Uh…hello girls."

Despite her messy appearance, Kazume's face lit up when she saw her boyfriend. "Arimon!"

He grinned at her. "Hey, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" He motioned to all the feathers flying around the room.

Megumi sighed. "No you're not."

Kazume giggled. "We were just having some fun!"

Arimon raised an eyebrow. "No kidding… say, Megumi." When the brunette looked at him he asked. "Has Kazume spoken to you yet?"

Megumi groaned. "Yeah, yeah it's okay for you to move in."

Arimon grinned broadly. "Great! We'll I'll be in the kitchen with the others…catch you later Kaz." He winked at his girlfriend.

Kazume blew him a kiss. "See you in a bit!"

After he left the room, Megumi sighed and tossed her pillow away. "This party has officially ended."

Kazume smiled. "You never told him he had to stay away in the morning."

Megumi slapped her forehead. "Damn it! I should've set a time with him."

Kazume giggled. "Come on Megumi, it won't be that bad with him living here. It'll give all three of us more chances to hang out!"

Megumi smiled at how excited her best friend was. "Yeah I guess you're right. Hey let's get dressed, we have a new roommate to show around."

Kazume squealed and clapped her hands together. "Okay!"

The girls did their best to clean up the mess they had made before getting dressed into fresh clothes. After the room was tidy, they finished straightening their bed and finally walked out of the room. Kazume rushed ahead to the kitchen to greet her boyfriend who was patiently sitting at the table and conversing with Urd and Skuld, the latter inhaling a large bucket of ice cream. She hopped over to Arimon and made herself comfortable on his lap, greeting him with a long, passionate kiss that made even Urd blush and turn away.

Arimon eventually pulled away and grinned. "Wow…good morning to you too."

Kazume giggled and pecked the tip of his nose. "Morning."

Urd rolled her eyes before standing up. "And that's our cue, hey Belldandy let's go home."

Belldandy turned around, holding a frying pan filled with sizzling food. She pouted at her older sister. "But I just finished making breakfast for everyone."

Urd sighed. "Alright, dish it out and then we'll go home."

The goddess's blue eyes lit up and she happily moved around and scooped the food onto various plates that were sitting on the bench. Once everything was done, she looked over it all one last time. She clapped her hands in delight and turned to Urd.

"Okay sis, we can go now."

Urd reached out and grabbed the scuff of Skulds' shirt and pulled the wailing goddess out the front door, Belldandy following from behind. She lifted her free hand and waved to the two lovebirds sitting at the table before closing the door behind them.

Once they had gone, Kazume turned to Arimon with a wide grin. "Come on roomie!" She jumped off his lap and held out her hand. "It's time for the grand tour of your new home."

Arimon grabbed her hand and let her pull him through the house. Although there wasn't much to show, he enjoyed her company and smiled tenderly while she blabbered non-stop about what there was to the apartment and where everything was. Less than half an hour later, the tour was over and the couple suddenly found themselves with nothing to do. But Megumi soon brought up an issue that had been nagging at the back of Arimon's mind since his girlfriend first asked him to move in.

"So where's Arimon gonna be sleeping?"

Before he could even attempt to think of a response, Kazume had come up with a solution of her own.

"In my room with me! Where else?"

Arimon and Megumi both stared wide-eyed at her. Kazume looked between them confusingly.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

Arimon awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh…are you sure that's okay Kazume? I mean…we haven't been dating that long."

Kazume raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't see what the problem is, we love each other don't we?"

Arimon grinned nervously while the brunette next to him glared daggers through his skull.

"I swear if you do anything weird in there I'll make your life a living hell."

Kazume giggled. "Relax Megumi, we're just gonna be sleeping."

Megumi didn't seem convinced and continued to leer at the man. "Just behave yourself you hear?"

Arimon gulped and nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"Oh no!"

Arimon and Megumi turned startled to Kazume who was wearing a horrified face. The latter stared in concern at her.

"Are you alright Kaz?"

The smaller girl pouted. "Belldandy made us breakfast…it's probably stone cold by now."

Megumi sighed. "It just needs heating up, no big deal."

Kazume gave her a look. "Hello! I'm not exactly friends with the kitchen, remember?"

Arimon chuckled. "Why don't you girls wait here? I'll go heat up the food. It's the least I can do as your new roommate."

Before either of the girls could protest, he had walked down the hall and disappeared into the kitchen. Kazume's eyes sparkled as she watched him go and then turned to look at her best friend with a smug grin.

"Didn't I say it'd be great with him here? He's such a gentleman!"

Megumi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Kazume giggled but stopped when she smelt the fresh aroma of their now warm breakfast. "Mmmm that smells really good."

Megumi sniggered as the redhead dreamily followed the scent with her nose in the air. She followed her friend into the kitchen where two plates of eggs, toast and bacon were waiting for them. Kazume was already inhaling her share with her boyfriend sitting next to her and watching her with an amused smile.

Megumi raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you going to eat anything Arimon?"

Arimon smiled. "Nah I'm fine, I ate this morning."

He saw Kazume smile knowingly into her food and grinned to himself. 'Yeah you know.'

After all the food had been consumed, Kazume dragged her new roommate into, what was now, their bedroom. She closed the door behind them and then stared thoughtfully at the single futon in the middle of the room.

"Hmm….you know… as much as I love you Arimon, it may be a little snug with just one bed."

Arimon smiled. "Couldn't agree more, so what's the plan?"

Kazume tapped her chin. "I'll have to ask Megumi if we have a spare futon anywhere. If not then I suppose we can ask Keii and Bell. If they don't have any then we'll just have to go out and buy one."

Arimon nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Are we going to look for one now?"

Kazume smiled and shrugged. "We may as well get it over and done with."

She walked past him, opened her door and stuck her head out. "MEGUMI!"

"WHAT?"

"IS THERE A SPARE FUTON THAT ARIMON CAN USE?"

There was silence for a moment.

"I DON'T THINK SO! BUT I'M PRETTY SURE KEII AND BELL HAVE ONE!"

"OKAY THANKS!"

She ducked her head back in and closed the door. She turned around to see Arimon staring at her with a rather dumbfounded expression.

She tilted her head at him. "You okay?"

He shook his head. "That was…entertaining."

Kazume giggled. "It's normal."

Arimon raised an eyebrow. "You guys usually talk like that?"

Kazume grinned cheekily. "Only when we're at other ends of the apartment."

Arimon chuckled. "Of course, that's logical."

Kazume shrugged. "Well I'm gonna go call the temple."

She leaned up and gave him a quick peck on his lips before swiftly leaving the room, her boyfriend smiling tenderly at her retreating figure.

(A few hours later)

As they had hoped, Keiichi and Belldandy did indeed have plenty of spare futons for them to choose from. They picked out a suitable one to which Arimon flew back to the apartment, while Kazume followed him on her motorbike. The couple arrived back at the same time and met each other at the front door.

Kazume smiled at him. "All in a days' work?"

Arimon grinned, holding the futon over his shoulder. "Let's go then."

Kazume opened the door for them both and lead the way into their bedroom. Once he was inside, Arimon flopped the bed directly next to his girlfriends'. Fortunately however, the girls were able to dig up a spare pillow and blanket for him to use.

It wasn't until Kazume was straightening his blanket that something occurred to her and she turned curiously to her boyfriend.

"Arimon?"

The redhead male turned to her. "What's the matter?"

She grinned at him. "I was wondering…why are we setting up a bed for you anyway?

Arimon raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Kazume giggled. "I thought you didn't need sleep."

Arimon stared at his bed. "Well…I…gosh you have a point."

Kazume stared thoughtfully at their beds until her face lit up. "Actually this is a good thing."

Arimon raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

Kazume smiled. "Because, it will lessen the chances of Megumi finding out the truth. She doesn't know you don't sleep."

Arimon smirked. "Oh yeah, didn't think of that."

Kazume giggled. "And you're supposed to be the immortal one."

Arimon playfully glared at her and grabbed her waist, making her squeal. "Hey!"

He smirked. "That's what you get for teasing me."

He continued his torture by digging his fingers into her ribs which caused her to shriek and squirm. She giggled uncontrollably while trying to escape his hold.

"Arimon, come on let go of me!"

Arimon halted his torture to wrap his arms tightly around her and pull her against him. He leaned his face into her hair and whispered into her ear.

"I'm never letting you go."

Kazume relaxed at his words and turned around in his arms to look at him properly to see him gazing at her with the most loving expression she had ever seen him give her. She smiled softly at him and leaned forward to tuck herself into him and snuggle deeper into his embrace. Arimon tightened his hold and leaned his head against hers. The couple remained that way in blissful silence for several minutes, simply basking in each-others' warmth. Kazume then pulled away slightly to once again look up at him and lock eyes with him. Arimon found himself unable to resist any longer and swiftly closed the gap between them. Kazume knew this was coming so the moment their lips met she wrapped her arms around him and angled her head to deepen the kiss.

Silently watching through the door, Megumi smiled at the couple. She was happy for her best friend, she really was even though she couldn't help feeling a little envious. One day she hoped to have what Kazume had, a kind and caring boyfriend that would love her as she is. But for now, she would do her friendly duty and look out for her friend. So with that thought in mind, she gently slid the door shut, leaving her two roommates alone.

Next Day

Early the next morning, even before Kazume woke up, Arimon stood at the stove with a sizzling frypan. He figured he would make the girls some breakfast as thanks for letting him move in. 'It's the least I can do' He thought. 'But I better hurry because I know Kazume is an early bird.' No sooner had he thought that, his girlfriends' alarm sounded from their bedroom. Arimon hastily scooped the now finished food onto a plate then placed the meal onto the table. Now all that was left was to surprise Kazume.

Said girl stepped out and sleepily trudged down the corridor. She halted in her tracks and sniffed the fresh, delicious aroma that was coming from the kitchen. She wandered in to the pleasant sight of her grinning boyfriend bowing to her and gesturing to a plate of a freshly cooked breakfast waiting for her at the table.

Kazume stared in bewilderment at him. "Did you make this for me?"

Arimon grinned. "Don't get too ahead of yourself; I'm going to make some for Megumi as well."

Kazume eagerly sat down in front of her meal. "Wow, you didn't have to go through so much trouble."

Arimon waved her off, smiling. "No big deal, besides I wanted to do a little something as a thank you for letting me live here."

Kazume smiled at him and stood up again to give him a thank you kiss. She then sat back down and clapped her hands together. "Thank you for the food!"

Arimon smiled bemusedly as she enthusiastically dug into her food. With nothing else to do for the moment, he sat down next to her and happily watched his girlfriend shovel down her meal.

"Say Kazume?"

The redhead looked up at him curiously with her mouth full. "Mm?"

He smiled. "When does Megumi usually wake up?"

Kazume swallowed and chuckled. "She won't be up for several hours, she sleeps in a lot. So there's no rush to make her anything."

Arimon nodded. "Ok just needed to make sure."

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud knock on the front door. Kazume paused in her eating and went to stand up but was halted when Arimon held his hand up.

"Don't worry, I've got it."

Kazume smiled at him and sat back down to continue her meal. Meanwhile Arimon made his way through towards the front room and once reaching the door, grabbed the handle and yanked it open. There stood a middle aged man with light brown hair and brown eyes that seemed strangely familiar to him.

Arimon raised an eyebrow. "May I help you?"

The man smiled politely. "Yes I'm looking for Kazume Miyazaki, is she here?"

Arimon felt his guard shoot up. "Maybe, who's asking?"

The man folded his arms. "Someone important, I have been searching for her for many years."

Arimon crossed his arms as well. "Really, and what makes you so important?"

The man smiled knowingly.

"I'm her father."

End of Chapter