Tsukushi felt the sunlight glimmer into her eyes and immediately darted awake in fear. The skin under her own body shifted and she leaned back down quickly to level herself on Domyouji Tsukasa.

This, it turned out, was a horrible decision because it prompted the lion to wake from his slumber and grin up at her in a predatory fashion that was causing her mind to run back through the barely coherent memories she had of last night post sleep.

He didn't bother saying anything, which she could appreciate because really what could he say to her?

So she said something. It sounded practiced, but safe. Like something that anyone with a shred of self-respect would say after their weird arrangement last night. "I'm sorry for waking you…I should go." She started to bring herself off him when she froze mid-push up, feeling his thumbs running slowly past the small of her waist.

Then almost too predictably, she felt his lips reach for hers. This kiss, compared to the others they'd shared in the last few hours, held something more in their movements than the simple desire to pleasure. This time, with his slow languid movements, and his soft pulls she felt like they held the promise of something more which was equally, if not more, frightening than the way she'd seen Domyouji Tsukasa all but breakdown in front of her last night.

She had to let go, she had to let go of his stupid lips. Come on Tsukushi, one last bite-

It was pathetic that Tsukasa was the one who let her lips go first as he peered into her eyes making her feel all the more uncomfortable considering their current clothing situation. "Good morning." His drawl was thick, deep, lazy like he wanted nothing more than to not bother moving from this position they were in.

Tsukushi could relate, it was comfortable physically - emotionally though it was complete torture. "Good morning. I really need to go…it's a work day."

"It's a Saturday." He retorted.

"Right...so...I still have work to do. I'm leaving my firm right? So lots to clean up." She huffed being caught flat out in her lie.

She watched Tsukasa's eyes change in understanding as he snickered. This upset her even more than the whole experience of this morning, she could do without him laughing at her. As it was, she felt like she was a laughing stock in his presence anyways. "It's okay Tsukushi, I get it. Just be honest. I've been here before. You're not the first girl. Admit you don't want to spend time with me."

"It's not th-" She grumbled rubbing her eyes. "God, I'm exhausted."

"And why wouldn't you be? I tried to stop you after round three but no- so you only got five hours of sleep." She flashed her eyes dangerously at him. "Oh come on, just relax. It's done, now's the fun part."

She wouldn't necessarily call this the fun part. This was the, that was then and this is now part. He shouldn't confuse the two. "It was fine."

"I'd say it was better than fine. I swear at one point your voice was so high the window almost cracked-"

"Shut up." She grumbled no longer feeling any need to dance around his feelings. Of course, Tsukasa laughed at her again and she scrambled around the office putting pieces of her clothing back together picking up frames in her mind.

First, it was her dress and the memory of Tsukasa's deft fingers leaving a trail straight down her center as his hands played on her skin. Then it was her slip, and she remembered a thick trail of wet kisses right down to her core and she'd struggled to keep her voice quiet.

Then she picked up her underwear and she couldn't remember anything anymore because the live Tsukasa in the room with her had snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his frame.

He mischeviously yanked the silk in her hands out from under her fingertips smirking proudly back at her. His gesture, almost painfully obvious, hinting what he was thinking as he held onto it tightly.

Tsukushi on the other hand resisted the urge to stomp the ground childishly and ask for it back.

Obviously her lacklustre response to his silent request prompted him to talk. "So you're just going to leave?"

Like this was new news? "We said this was a one time thing." She tried to keep her voice level, like she didn't care. Despite her best efforts, a harsh sort of tone underlay the words she spoke.

He seemed to have caught her tone and quickly corrected her. "I don't remember saying that."

That, surprisingly, pissed her off. She knew because she'd asked and well he hadn't been entirely clear about it she was certain of that but if it wasn't one way it certainly wasn't the other either. "Well, you did. And it's the right thing to do considering our very complicated situation and it was a moment of weakness - I mean a good moment of weakness but it doesn't have to mean anything either -"

"I think the right thing to do is stay." He interrupted her...probably best, she could have continued talking forever. Being completely honest with herself she recognized she wasn't thinking straight right now.

How could she when she had a naked Domyouji Tsukasa standing in front of her? Come on, you'd be thrown off too. "Underwear." Dear god, the fact they were having this conversation completely naked in his office on a Saturday morning was just absurd.

"What?"

"Underwear please?" She opened and closed her palm quickly. When he wasn't willing to give it up she grumbled, annoyed, reaching over his tall head where the underwear was. Trying to reach it regularly proved particularly difficult so she tried jumping up and down to no avail. "Tsukasa-san please quit playing games-"

"Ah!" He was looking at her far too happily. "You called me Tsukasa-san, you know you can drop the san…now if you said sama...but we can leave that for another night-"

Oh shit, she had said his name hadn't she? She had added the honorific. "That doesn't mean anything." She played it off shaking her hair out of her face or rather on to her face so she could hide the growing red flush on her cheeks.

"Doesn't it?" He leaned forward and she sighed moving backwards in a futile manner. All of this was too deja-vu, him being all sultry and sexy and pushing her against the wall- god, they were going to end up right where they started weren't they? Even worse was they didn't have the distraction of clothing - it would be too easy to go from 0 to 100.

She really didn't want that. She really really didn't want that. Not right now. Last night she iterated to herself was a moment of weakness in a flurry of emotion, she had to be stronger this morning. She was stronger. She was the fucking best. She wasn't going to let some little spoiled kid like Domyouji Tsukasa boss her around no matter how much she'd enjoyed spending time with him. "Why is that? You call me Tsukushi all the time and that-"

"And that means something. I don't bother remembering most girls names."

Like this was supposed to make her feel better? The fact he remembered her name obviously meant she had to lose all her morals, values and sell her mind, body and soul to this man? "Most girls aren't trying to wring 5 billion yen out of you either."

He responded rather calmly, despite her more frantic voice. "Yes, and most other women don't rile me up like you do. Most other women aren't this hard to convince. Most other women don't become the sole subject of my thoughts morning, day and night."

His words managed to melt the hard resolve on her mind the slightest, and really her mind was really the only obstacle…her heart…well she wouldn't think about that…and her body please. She had a hard enough time controlling it with him before and now- "Please, you just want me because the sex was good."

"Like that's a bad thing?" He scoffed. "That's definitely part of it for me of course, and you don't? God don't be such a martyr, admit it Tsukushi…"

"Admit what?" She stuttered despite all of her confidence and cursed how she was starting to observe how soft his features looked today. Today, he looked like what she'd wanted to see last night. Today, he looked like he cared.

"You want me." She gulped back the knot in her throat. "You want me bad...and around as a bit more than your rival in law."

She managed a giggle at that, girlishly covering her mouth surprised to see a small flush rise on Tsukasa's face as he smiled back at her kindly. Like he was happy that she'd laughed at something he'd said…he needed to stop doing the right things. If he was just an asshole trying to shove his hands into her underwear today morning she could totally slap him and walk away but he was being surprisingly gentlemanly considering how they'd ended up in bed last night. Maybe that was why the Domyouji prince was being gentlemanly..."That sounds like you're related to me."

"In your dreams…" He teased and saw her flush grow deeper as she managed to jump again to try to grab her underwear. "Say please…and bounce again…harder this time…and right on top of me."

"Tsukasa!" She yelled and he snickered handing off the silk back to her.

"Fine, fine…" He saw her stomp into her underwear and glare at him as she slipped on her dress over her head. He could only raise an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting a step?"

"You ripped the hooks off my bra, it's basically useless now anyways."

"Maybe you should buy better quality bras."

"Yeah, well maybe you should- not be so-"

What did she want him not to be?

Everything about Domyouji Tsukasa was scary because the longer she stayed here the more she didn't want to leave. "I'll see you later." She cut herself off, better safe than sorry.

Tsukasa proved a little harder to cut off. He grabbed her by the hand pulled her back and shook his head. "If you're doing things like this…at least let me drop you home." He pulled her resistant body back to the couch and she was getting all too aware of the fact that he was just openly naked in front of her now like he didn't care. She was wearing clothes now, she was decent, and she'd really prefer it if he did the same. Then again, why should he?

So she sat down and found herself unable to tear her eyes away from him as he put his clothes on languidly. Like an anti-stripper...and she was absurdly freaked out by how much she was enjoying watching him put his clothes on. "So, here's what I propose. I'll give you your severance concession and-"

"Are we- is that part of you on now?" She mumbled as she saw him slip his boxers on and smirk at her.

"Anytime you want to turn the other part of me on-"

The worst, that was the absolute worst pick up line. Despite that - she laughed and then grumbled rubbing her head feeling a small throbbing starting. "I need coffee."

"Disgusting habit…that I completely whole heartedly endorse." He rolled his eyes and breathed out of his mouth. "We also both need toothpaste."

"Don't you keep some in your desk for other morning afters?" Now that his chest was safely under the image of his dark red shirt it was easier to talk to him normally. He was no longer – just so openly lascivious.

"You'd be shocked at how many girls are so vanilla that they don't like the desk as much as you did. I normally have a bit more control and can get myself to some sort of room with a bed and a washroom nearby." She flushed bright red as he winked at her. She was starting to feel warm around her neck. Was- was he flirting with her? Was he flirting with her…badly? Was this some sort of prank? Was he making fun of her? Worst of all, was she enjoying it? "Anyways, you'll get the severance concession, the strong payments to the entire shareholder base, a handsome lumpsum paid out to your father in staggered payments and- sorry is there anything else?"

What did she want from Domyouji Tsukasa? She wanted some sort of wake-up call. She wanted to know where he stood. She, god even she was a little disturbed by this, she wanted to understand him. She wanted to know if it was entirely okay that she Tsukushi, who had a perfectly controlled life, was okay to play around with the rich playboy?

She couldn't say any of that though. So she settled for something that was a little easier to deliver. "Eggs and coffee."

She'd never seen him look happier. "There's a place down the street. No one goes there, absolutely filthy- been shut down twice-I never go there but I have a feeling you'll like it."

"Sounds perfect." She snickered despite herself at his description. Tsukasa held his hand out to her and, despite her better judgment, she took it. "Lead the way."

30 minutes later, she could say this was the closest she'd get to a date with Domyouji Tsukasa. She could also say Tsukasa was horribly indecisive with breakfast. "They're all so good. I mean I want the egg plate, but I also want the French toast, and then what about the pancakes? And don't even get me started on the strawberry waffles and the toppings-"

"Sir, with all due respect you've been in the booth for 20 minutes." The stressed out waitress huffed. "We've told you we can combine all the offerings."

"Yes, but that's just excessive. Do I look like that type of guy to you?"

"You could stand to put on a few pounds." She offered helpfully but the glare she received from the Domyouji prince made Makino suppress loud snickers. Poor girl.

She decided to help her out a bit. "I don't know Tsukasa…I would have said you worked up an appetite." Tsukasa snorted almost unattractively. How did a man look almost unattractive? Tsukushi could tell you, it was the look in his eyes that bugged out but still managed to stay relevantly warm and inviting. Similar to a cup of hot cocoa that spilled on the sides of the cup from Starbucks but you still wanted to sip through it regardless of what a mess it was going to make your hands.

She'd just compared Tsukasa to a cup of cocoa. What was coming of her mushy mind? "We'll take the French toast and the egg plate and just share it all." She replied on his behalf when he couldn't quite speak after her words. The waitress bowed gratefully towards her and ushered off to the kitchen.

Tsukasa continued looking at her a little foolishly. "In a way, I'm a little grateful."

"Have you always been this bad with menus?"

"Not normally…it's just breakfast." He snickered. "I used to drive my sister mad. She'd have to order three things just for the two of us."

"So I expected you to be a little prissy…take us to a fancy smancy banquet hall breakfast buffet…not a diner."

"Oh I'm sorry I was under the impression you didn't want to be wined and dined? We can do this the hard way."

"I thought we already did."

"Touche." He grinned looking towards the bar. There was something eerily easy about this conversation, this place, this girl for him. "So Tsukushi Makino, tell me about yourself. Not your family. Not your hotel. You."

"Why?" Tsukushi scoffed as she thanked the waitress by bowing her head when she delivered the two of them coffee and Tsukushi immediately busied herself with pouring creamer in. When she took a gulp of the cheap coffee, her rather frantic soul felt instantly comforted. "You know too much about me as it is."

"That is true…I know you studied as a scholarship student at Todai. Can you imagine if we were at Eitoku together?"

She was visibly perturbed again and quickly gulped coffee hoping the feeling would disappear. "I never told you that."

"I also know that you put your ex-boyfriend in jail…he was creepy though. Selling underage porn is really bad. How did you find out about that?"

This just got weirder and weirder. Now he knew about Junpei too. Great. "I also don't remember sharing this information. And like hell I'd tell you."

"Here's something you don't have to tell me. For your age, you're really bad at dirty talk."

She raised her hands up. "I'm just here for the free food."

"Okay fine, you're right. It's unfair." He agreed. "Sakurako did her research well… you can ask me anything you want to know." This surprised Tsukushi because she'd never imagined Domyouji Tsukasa as a very open person.

Then again, what did she know, the guy had been walking around her openly naked with no shame…maybe he was completely different than what she thought. "How do you know Rui?" She settled for and saw the glimmer of spark exit from his gaze.

Still he answered. "We went to Eitoku elementary together, I bullied him, he fell asleep – it's a long boring story. It mostly ends in him being the only one of my friends whose not a complete idiot…though that's not fair to Akira, who is an idiot by association with his family. My turn, why do you care so much about Rui?"

"I don't." She corrected a little too quickly. She didn't want him to misunderstand. What she felt for Rui was like a flighty dream that lifted her to the clouds. The way she felt for Tsukasa kept her shackled to the ground in a way that was entirely too 'real'. That was the only way she could describe it. "He's just a safe topic of conversation." The next few minutes passed in silence as the waitress brought them their plates and Tsukushi smiled as she saw Tsukasa dive like a child for the French toast. "Hungry?"

He could have said something incredibly cheesy, brought up last night again but thankfully he seemed to have learned his lesson. "Starving."

Tsukushi felt her own hunger dissipate in a peculiarly odd fashion as she started taking heaps of eggs from her plate and putting it on his. "Here, eat more."

Tsukasa looked up to see Tsukushi splitting up her sausages and putting it in perfectly bite-sized portions on his plate and suddenly found it very hard to keep chewing his toast. "Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm good, I'll just eat a bit. I mainly needed the coffee anyways." He cut up the French toast and put it on his fork hovering it over her mouth. "I'm really okay Tsukasa you don't need to-"

"It's not fair you give me almost all your food and don't take anything back-"

"No really I'm- Tsukasa-" As her mouth opened to say his name he took the opportunity to push the fork into her mouth marvelling at how surprised she looked as he slipped the metal out of her mouth again.

"Tasty?"

Tsukushi marvelled at the sight before her. Tsukasa with one elbow on the table, the sunlight from the window glimmering off his fork, his gaze kind and generous and she wondered how long this was going to last? This was like a scene out of a dream, or a highly rated drama.

She couldn't ask him that without ruining the moment though…and she decided for now, just for this meal, she'd stop doing it. She'd stop asking questions that he couldn't answer and she couldn't be bothered to dig for. She'd just live it. It wasn't like anything was going to happen after breakfast anyways. "It's perfect."

Tsukasa couldn't help but agree and find yet another reason to hate her mother. "And the deal?"

She shook her head grinning. "That's perfect too. We can set something up with my father, and maybe your mother...and sign it off. And then that's it. So consider this our last time together alone." Part of her was testing him, she wanted to see his response. She could still walk away fairly unscathed. She could tuck last night into the memories of wild, crazy things that turned out to be amazingly stupid.

But if Tsukushi was being honest with herself, that wasn't what she wanted. "You must be delusional." He laughed putting eggs into his mouth as she sipped her coffee slowly. She felt her heart quicken when he looked at her again, this time he looked a little more like the man she'd seen last night. Direct, pushy, unbelievably attractive with his hair falling into his eyes. "This is it."

"What's it?"

"This." He pointed between the two of them. "This is a thing."

She decided to make fun of him as she mimicked his motions jokingly. "A 'thing'?"

"I'm not going to call it anything else." He sighed. "Tsukushi, just stop being so difficult."

"Why?"

"Because you know this is going to happen. Just give in, for once in your sake. Give up."

"And why do I have to keep losing to you?"

"Because you're always the real winner anyways." He conceded. "And I've made my peace with it because I-" He couldn't finish his sentence because at that exact moment another waitress came to fill up their coffee but like a fool she spilled the coffee all over the table. "Hey- watch it! Who the fuck do you-" He yelped ready to bite her head off when he saw the look on the waitress' face and felt his stomach fall to his toes.

It was Okawahara Shigeru.

A/N:So I was super scared I made this OOC but I think its okay because Tsukasa was the one who chased Makino and I've tried to keep that sentiment alive throughout the whole story- just his manner of doing it is a bit different. At some point I'll introduce Yuki, Soujiro and Akira's plot again but this is just so much fun to writeee!