A/N: *author has returned, with rope burns on her wrists and ankles, her hair is a mess, and her lips are swollen, her skin is covered in suspicious looking red marks* Uuuhh... Tora and Usui did a number on me... oh... wow... ouch... what, how... how did they even reach THERE? o.O

...

OH MY GOD DID I TAINT YOUR EYES WITH STRANGE VISIONS? I SWEAR NOTHING NAUGHTY HAPPENED THEY JUST punished ME IN THE TORTURE CHAMBERS FOR BEING SUCH A TALKER! YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, PUNISHED...

... ... ... ...

DON'T THINK WEIRD THINGS! NOTHING HAPPENED!...

JUST READ THE DAMN STORY DAMMIT!

excuse me- there is more smut in this chapter. Wait, just to be sure, smut is like, sexual hints or tendencies, but not the actual 'having of sex', correct? Because that's my definition of what it is. Well, anyway, guys, beware of the smut to follow. (hope i'm using the term correctly. If I'm not, who gives a care? not I, said the writer)

Yeah, anyway, don't read if you are innocent and pure. If you are corrupted in any sort of way, be it in your mind, soul, or with your body itself, then read on! This is just a warning for those of the faint of heart- don't read if you are unprepared to have the sweetness of life slightly marred in it's image. ;)

Chapter Thirteen. That's What He Said

Akari lost her breath in that moment, as she suddenly she found herself sprawled out on the floor of her bedroom, with a shirtless Igarashi boy hanging over the top of her, his hands pinning her wrists to the floor and his legs spread on either side of hers.

"I'm not all that dangerous?" He said, his voice thick with disbelief. "I can assure you, I can be quite the danger to you."

She did her best not to look at him but wherever she settled her gaze, it was either on those fierce golden eyes or the light bronze of his bare skin. She huffed, needlessly blushing and deciding on shutting her eyes closed so that she didn't have to see anything.

"Humph. Not all that much. You're not so tough." She said as she tried to catch her breath.

Suddenly, she felt something lower on top of her, and his weight, instead of hovering over her, she realized was suddenly pressed to her, heavily. She still kept her eyes shut tight in an effort to squeeze the vision of him from her brain, but that only made the experience worse as he blew a soft breath in her ear and chuckled darkly.

"Prove it. If I'm not so tough... then push me off."

"Hah?" She said intelligently, opening her eyes as his nose grazed the shell of her ear and he dipped his head slightly, breathing hot breath onto her neck.

"You should easily be able to get out from under me if I'm not as tough as I say I am."

Hating the taunting tone of his voice and the way he sounded so sure of himself, for a moment, Akari thought she might be able to do it. Just to prove him wrong, maybe she could do it if she tried hard enough. Pushing off against the carpet, she shivered as he continued to breathe on her neck and she tried desperately to get him off of her. Her hands were pinned easily to the floor still, so she tried to move her legs, to kick him off of her or wiggle her hips out from underneath him, but he simply adjusted himself so that his knees pinned her down to the floor.

She made a sound of annoyance and stopped struggling in defeat. And when Tora pulled his head back to look at her, she shot him her best glare.

"Ah, so you can't. So I was right." He said, smirking down at her with that stuck up glance of his, and then suddenly he was pulling off of her and standing up straight.

Akari immediately shot up in a sitting position, but he was already walking across her room, and by the time she stood on her feet, he had waved his hand behind him, tossing her one last sharp glance over his shoulder, and then he was gone out the door.

"Son of a..." She started, and then held her tongue in all her rage.

That bastard... a hero? How had she ever thought of him as that! He wasn't a hero! He just wanted to save her so that he could harass her himself! That... he- Oh, he deserved her wrath now.

Stomping across the room, she threw open the door and noticed that he was already halfway down the hall.

She watched as he turns his head slightly over his shoulder at the sound of her approaching footsteps, and then his eyes widen for a split second as her hand makes contact with his face. Very harsh contact with his face.

*SMACK!*

"That's something I've wanted to do for a long time now." Akari said, huffing and withdrawing her hand slowly.

He'd been so blatantly lying to himself when he decided that a woman who fought back was pesky or annoying, as he had always thought before. Sure, it was aggravating for a woman to fight him off again and again and again and again, but that was with Ayuzawa. She was annoying, with her very constant aggression. Females also needed a soft side to them, after all, no matter how pleasant the chase could be.

But with Akari, it was different. As he absorbed the sting of the reddened mark resulting from the slap to his cheek, he felt strangely excited. Excited that she had finally fought back, made a physical approach against him. And when he looked at her, he felt an involuntary movement stirring in his pants. Her face was flushed, her eyes shining, the look she was giving him somehow erotic because of how dangerous and wild she appeared. Like a beautiful animal that was not allowed to be touched by human hands, not allowed to be seen, something not to be messed with. The thought of her being something forbidden only further aroused his interest, and the thought of her being a challenge for him spiked his attraction ten-fold.

Yes, it wasn't pesky of her to hit him. In fact, it was all the more fun with her all riled up, and just because of him, too... it made him feel good, a little too good, to have this effect on her. But how far could he push his influence on her, he wondered?

Her chest heaved slightly more than it already was as he took a step closer to her. She had certainly distanced herself from him after the slap- she was almost all the way to the other end of the hall now, still backing up.

He looked into her eyes, his sharp senses seeing every small detail even from a distance. She didn't look scared, like many others had. She looked a tad intimidated, but was holding her ground, despite, he noticed, her shaking legs. It was as if she couldn't hold herself up properly, the cause of her shakiness being her sudden outrage.

Or maybe... it was him. He smirked and stepped even closer, and she nearly collapsed as her knees shook a bit more. She was just as aware of him from this distance, as he was of her.

"Why did you hit me?" He asked, taking on a curious demeanor, though his eyebrows raised, hinting at a smirk. His face was hurting and red but he found himself enjoying it. Hmm, he'd never been any type of masochist before, always a sadist. But after that slap... well this was an interesting twist for him.

"Because... you need to learn your place, Igarashi."

His heavy gaze lightened and his lips quirked upwards in slight amusement. Then, he took another step forward, and another, slow steps forcing himself her way once again. Each of his steps were leisurely deliberate, he was walking like he had a secret purpose and the slowness of his pace only seemed to set her on edge even more- he was like a predator, gradually nearing his prey.

"Just wait a minute." She said, stepping back as he inched in progress towards her. Now she looked a bit worried.

"I hope you're not losing confidence in yourself?" His smirk was at large.

He had hoped to keep her from turning and running the other way with his words. It seemed to take the effect he wanted.

She stood up straighter, standing her ground. Her eyes still looked into his as evenly as ever, but he caught the barely-there tremor in her voice.

"I-I'll hit you again."

~step

.

.

~step

"I will."

~step

.

.

.

~step

"Don't underestimate me!"

~step

.

.

~step

"TORA IGARASHI, I can and will hit you, much harder than before."

~step

He's not too far from her now, and his eyes glow ferociously golden in the dimness of the hall.

~step

"Hmm. Will you?" He taunted, eyelids lowering.

"If you so much as take one more step towards me-"

~step

In response to this, she swiftly lifted her hand to smack at him again, (for he was now standing right before her, standing close as to where their feet could almost touch) but he, knowing full well that he had the upper hand with her, gripped her wrist before she could deliver the blow. His eyes seemed to spark as she looked to see him, and she yanked on her hand, trying to pull away. He didn't let her go.

"I already know my place, Akari." He said slowly, leaning forward and taking her other wrist in his other hand. He held both of her arms at a downward angle and pressed ever-closer, his warm breath hitting her face, and just below her chin. His eyes, like bright search beams glancing over her face, made her shiver.

She was uncomfortable but comfortable at the same instant. His eyes on her like that made her feel like she was under the influence of dancing yellow flames, dangerous but engulfing her in a strange, thorough warmth. Suddenly, she wanted him for a moment, and it was precisely at the moment she thought that, in which he leaned even closer, and his tongue flicked out to brush warmly against her lips.

Her body somehow didn't betray her, though, and instead of pushing up to kiss him, she only sucked in a deep, much-needed breath of air. The breath she inhaled felt, tasted, and smelled of him- a powerful sensation of mixed colognes and the natural smell of a young man. It was dizzying- dazzlingly overwhelming- and he didn't pull away.

"You're the one who needs to know your place."

Her eyes widened at his words right before his lips numbed hers with their touch, and as he bit and tugged imploringly at her lower lip, she opened her mouth automatically and without thinking.

He kissed her fervently, never letting up on the power he wanted to show her he had. She needed to know her place, and she needed to know that it wasn't on the same ground as him. He was enjoying her more than he'd like to admit, though. How could he do this to himself? It was like... he was starting to feel things he didn't want to feel, once again! More and more- he was realizing more, and more... that he was only to ever be sated by her.

Akari pulled her head back and he followed, lips still connected. She was trying to concentrate on something besides the feel of his lips, and yet he was somehow making her kiss him back. Like he could control her tongue as she entangled it with his- it felt like she wasn't doing it herself even though she was indeed kissing him back on her own accord. She felt shivers all around her as he mumbled, humming, in a satisfactory manner against her lips, making the kiss build up into a fierce attack dominated by himself as his mouth moved in effortless talent.

When he finally broke off from her, allowing her to breathe and him to lick his lips enjoyably, she spoke in a whispered tone.

"You are a cruel and hypocritical man." She could barely get the words out. A kiss from Tora Igarashi was extremely powerful, and dominant, and she had been taken off guard by its, somehow delicate, ferocity. Her breath stolen by him- his seductive lips the vacuum that sucked her air dry and useless from her sore mouth.

"That could be so. But we'll save that topic for another time, because we must now address the mistake you just made." His lips curved, teasingly ripe and slick from the open-mouthed kiss.

"H-huh, what could I have done? You're the one-"

"You acknowledged me, just now, as a man." He said, and she looked surprised that he wasn't talking about her mistake of kissing him back. "And if you've finally acknowledged that I am one, then I cannot withhold my natural tendencies anymore." He pulled her around and backed her into a closed door on the next wall, and no sooner could she make a defenseless, unsuspecting sound then he had moistened his lips with that skilled tongue of his and placed them just below her collarbone, directly above where her chest protruded outwards a tad from the rest of her body.

"A man's mind is controlled by his wants in the current situation. And right now..." He licked along her collarbone, making her shudder against her will. "Right now I want something from you."

When he broke off with his tongue abruptly and replaced that with his lips at her sensitive white neck, she cried out in shock, as he harshly suckled the skin there. It was still highly sensitive, the marks that were caused by Kai still not completely erased. Reaching his right hand up but keeping both her wrists locked firmly in his other, he covered her mouth to muffle her sudden yelps and demands of release and continued his attack on her defenseless neck. To both of their surprise, she ended up moaning at some point into his palm.

She blushed red-hot when he let her go, released both of his hands and his mouth, and stepped back to look at her. His usual arrogance, and then a slight-astonishment mingled in with his steady gaze.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself."

"Well, let the record show that I am definitely not." She mumbled, and it came out more breathy and heated then she had meant. Damn his touch, his hot, enticing touch... she could feel the warmth beneath her skirt, all too aware of her own arousal.

Tora saw the flicker in her gaze, that slight look of anticipation, and felt his pants get tighter. She was indeed making him feel like the man he was.

Roughly, he pulled her into his arms and wouldn't let her go, showering her face and neck with his wet, open, hot kisses. He had never held a young woman so severely in his arms like this before, he noted.

"It was a mistake to openly state that I am a man, Akari." His voice was dreamy, and huskily so. "Because you know how men are- you've had enough experiences already to know- they are demanding, lusting, carefree and oh so easily tempted."

She gulped and moved against him slightly, and he moaned lightly when she brushed against the inner part of his legs. It was getting out of hand...

"You lecherous tiger." She hissed, panting.

"You lavish temptress." He growled, pulling back to gaze at her with a harsh smirk.

His.

He would have her.

And he was, being himself, fully prepared to go to any extremes to get her to succumb to him.

Tora pulled her even tighter to his body, knowing full well that the situation for her was made all the more tempting with the close proximity of his toned, bare chest. Surely, he was an offer even a girl as stubborn as her couldn't so simply walk away from.

Akari couldn't help her quivering nerves, her body pressed into him greedily, and she really couldn't help the slight moan that escaped her lips. She felt she was now wanting this like he did. She couldn't handle the pressure of resisting anymore, she could feel the need setting in. Akari couldn't just ignore him when things were like this- he was shirtless, dammit! When some guy, that you've already before had a few risque moments with, is in front of you and dripping with pheromones with his shirt gone and his eyes looking at you in that way- you didn't just push him away! You couldn't pull back! Even if she really wanted to... she knew she couldn't, she could absolutely not.

She bit into his neck, hissing as she felt hot and uncomfortable between her legs, and he growled, aggressively, not wanting her to be the one in charge, and pushed her lips aside from his bare skin with a finger. When she looked up at him to see his slight grin, her eyes widened when he grabbed her hand, and pulled her after him as he started briskly walking through the halls.

"What are you d-"

He suddenly turned around as they rounded a corner and captured her lips again, pulling tentatively on her lip, like it was soft enough to break. Right when she started to groan and meld into him again, he pulled her around behind him and dragged her past a set of downward stairs, around another corner, past a flight of ascending stairs, around another corner, and his steps got quicker as the halls started to expand slightly- they were now in a different wing of the house.

"Tora-!"

He whipped her around again, capturing her lips as he pushed her roughly with a noisy 'thump' into a wall, seductively snaking one hand down her stomach.

"Quiet." He sneered when he broke off the kiss and removed his hand, and when she refused to move as he tugged at her again, giving him a stubborn look, he just rolled his eyes, becoming steadily aggravated, and picked her up completely effortlessly, stalking quickly with her in his arms down the halls again.

Suddenly, they were in front of a door. It was like it just appeared there- but then again she had been too distracted by the pheromones radiating from the closeness of his body to notice right away. He kept her in his arms, his bare, muscular arms... she felt hazy as he eased the door open, and then, they were in a room even more lavish than her own.

His room.

"Tor-" She was cut off when he flung her onto the closest thing- the couch- and then he turned back to shut and lock the door behind them.

"Don't talk." He stalked towards her, and she found herself staring at his bare chest again before he lowered himself down on the couch over the top of her and captured- no, crushed- her lips with his.

They made out until they could've passed out from the lack of oxygen, her mind going blank as his eager, expert lips moved over her own mouth, pushing and pressing in different ways, creating a kiss that she had never before been caught up in. To both of their lung's relief, she found a hand to push him back, her palm to his chest as she started to remember that air was vital to both of them. After they panted for quite some time, she shook her head and took a moment to glare at him in confusion.

"That was uncalled for- my room was literally right there next to us!"

"I don't have condoms tucked in the drawer of your room's dresser, and I didn't think you'd have any there either." He smirked.

Her eyes widened. Condoms? Then this... things were really getting out of hand here!

Then she pushed that thought away as she took note of his face. Always so damn cocky. And why did it look so good on him?

"I would." She lied, just wanting to see him taken off of his steady guard for once.

And it worked. He gave her his most surprised look, and then that look turned to suspicion and uneasiness.

"You wouldn't be secretly having sex with that multi-personality blonde, would you? Or that glasses boy?"

"I dunno, what would you say if I am, Igarashi?" She kept up her own arrogant facade as best she could manage.

His hands suddenly pushed her back harder into the cushions.

"It's not about what I would say, it's about what I would do." He said simply.

"What would you do?" She knew she probably shouldn't have said anything.

He gave her his sweetest smile, like 'oh you poor dear, how sweet of you to ask', though that effect was marred by the slight fang that barely made itself seen between his lips. And then, in one fluid, quick, flashing move, he brought his arm to the collar of his shirt that she was wearing and yanked down- each button ripping off and flying all around them as he tore the shirt open without a care that it was his and it was expensive (he always had more), exposing her bra and bare stomach. Her eyes widened as he pushed her back even more so against the sofa's soft dark cushions, the shirt still on her but just ripped open at the front so that he could have access to what he was now doing, rubbing his hands up and down her stomach, around her sides, and over her bra.

"Whoa." She breathed harshly, while she felt a strong hand slipping over her exposed stomach.

He smiled, and oh look, there was that smirk of his.

"'Whoa'?" One single, golden eyebrow shot upwards. "I can make you say more than that."

"That wasn't a challenge-"

He kissed her once just to cut off her voice, and was slow in pulling back, her bottom lip caught between his teeth until he finally released it and let a hot breath sweep over her face.

"Hmm. Everything is a challenge with you."

And with those words, her bra came unhooked and he was holding it over her face for her to see, straddling her with his long legs while he sat up triumphantly.

Her arms shot upward and covered her bare chest, and Akari made an accusatory face- no one had seen her this exposed since her first time...

His face changed to one of sudden interest, and he threw the bra aside, stretching out his legs down by hers, holding himself up on his forearms as one of his knees settled in between her legs, and his chest hovered inches above her own. The couch was barely wide enough and long enough for the two of them to fit comfortably.

She couldn't help but wonder if he designed it like that. The perfect size for sexual purposes. He would do that.

"Have you had sex before?" He gave her a thorough once-over with those golden spheres of his.

She couldn't stop the embarrassed look on her face. Which would he do, call her a dirty slut if she said yes or an inexperienced child if she said no?

"You have." He realized while gazing at her. He sounded-

He sounded disappointed.

A solid question mark was all her mind could muster.

"How many times?" He asked, the disappointment now replaced with a derision.

"Like I'll be telling you that! It's a personal topic! I bet you've had it- a lot... I don't want to know your amount and you can't know mine."

"I couldn't tell you even if you wanted to know."

She gave him a queer look, as he was non-too-subtly implying he'd done it too many times to keep track.

"And if you don't tell me," His eyes shone with a scary sort of twinkle as he leaned forward even more, his lips nipping her ear and his knee sliding up more in between her legs. "I won't be gentle like I planned..."

Her eyes widened and her breathing stopped for a moment, but she just scoffed and moved her head to the side, away from his mouth. She wriggled underneath him, trying to get away, but he just smirked as she was thoroughly trapped by the strong, stunning, golden cage that was Tora Igarashi. His leg inched up even more in between her legs, and she gasped as it was so close to...

"You don't seem to fear my warnings. Are you perhaps a masochist?"

Her face turned towards his again.

"No- I hate pain!"

"Then I assume you won't find any pleasure in this."

She had momentarily forgotten her bare chest displayed for him, and he suddenly pinched at one of her nipples, and very hard, at that. She gasped openly, squirming, but then his hand switched over to the other one, and he pinched that one hard too. And it felt... good... kinda...

Oh god, he was turning her into a masochist! That was his plan, she'd bet!

"St-op!" She gasped.

He stopped, after one last, good pinch.

"Oh? Did that cause you pain?"

She panted and quickly nodded. Though it was more pleasurable than painful...

He leaned forward, his lips above hers, his eyes glinting knowingly.

"Liar."

His knee had inched all the way up between her legs, and brushed against one of her most sensitive and private areas. She made the moan that was erupting stop and die in her throat as he laughed in evil joy.

"Oh," His tone was much too colloquial for this type of situation. "So you're a masochist."

"BAKA. The hell I am!"

He suddenly pulled away, sitting back on his heels but still straddling her, his knee still up far in between her legs, his thigh hugging her own. His face was strict, like he was closing a business deal, when he said;

"Now tell me how many times."

"I won't."

He suddenly laughed.

"I'd hardly think," He said, and his eyes caught hers, glinting malevolently. His voice was a sneer. "That someone in your position could deny me like that."

"Shut up. And let me go!"

"You don't really want that, and I don't really wanna do that."

She moved underneath him, trying to get her legs out from between his thighs. He was quick to lean forward and pin her arms down with his hands, his thighs gripping around her hips tighter than before.

"You aren't going anywhere, you know."

"Well you should know you aren't getting an answer."

She watched him as he scowled above her. He must really hate losing.

"Akari, I don't want to hurt you, but I'll make this rough if I have to."

She pulled her head up, craning her neck forwards so she could look him right in the eye, her lips pulled into a confident smile.

"Hah. Okay Igarashi. I know what you want. You've wanted it since day one, and you really can have it any time, isn't that right? By force, anyway. Don't you take most things by force? Well, don't worry, you won't have to this time. I'm not fighting. Go ahead and take me. I may not be a virgin, but still, sex is sex."

Tora blinked at her, surprised by her words. What was he supposed to do now?

What was one supposed to do when the prize just handed itself to you?

It was hours later. Tora wasn't with her. Akari was alone, back in her room. In the bathroom in the shower, to be exact.

Not that she wanted to be in the room where she had been assaulted hours before, but she felt dirty. For many various reasons. She closed her eyes and let the water run over her aching body relentlessly, remembering the feeling of Tora's hands on her skin. Warmth. Enticing, complete warmth.

He was seduction itself.

She could practically feel his hot breath on her neck right now, his thumbs over her cheek, his teeth at her neck...

She shivered as the water started to go cold.

"What am I doing?" Akari leaned forward out of the torrent of cooling water, and pressed her forehead to the glass of the surrounding shower walls.

How to forget him... how? How COULD she forget him now. Sure, he'd seen her half naked, but that wasn't it.

The thing was, she didn't think- no, she knew- that Tora had never walked away from a sexual approach before. And to be honest, it was bugging her that, even though she had gotten her way in the end, he had acted so differently. Because this was a confusing dilemma now.

The question was WHY was he acting so differently with her? She would have just been another one night stand. She was sure she wasn't special to him. No, no she wasn't, and likewise, he meant absolutely nothing to her.

Absolutely...

Nothing...

She looked up and caught a glimpse of her reflection.

"Dammit Tora!"

Her boobs had bruising finger-print marks here and there, and her neck had a large splotchy hickey, fresh and new. That tiger wouldn't understand the meaning of the words 'gentle' or 'fragile' if it kicked him in the groin!

"Damn that's good!"

The sounds of his grunts and a young woman's screams could be heard only inside of the sound-proof walls of Tora Igarashi's room (thank god) and they were sure loud. On the bed, two figures moved and jolted with each other, just about to reach each of their own climaxes.

"M-M-Mr. Igarashiiiii..." The maid beneath Tora mumbled, groaning and twisting at his touch, his push and pull in and out of her.

And right as he climaxed after she just had...

"Akari..."

Shit!

The maid looked perplexedly up at him, and he was quick to roll off of her as the moment slowed itself down.

SHIT!

"Wha... What sir?"

"Hurry and get out."

"Er... um..."

"Get out right now," Tora slid off the bed and turned his back to her, rubbing a hand over his sweaty face and pushing down his hair flat. "And if you dare say a word, a single word, about what just happened, or any of this, then I personally will make sure you're fired on the spot." He tossed a glare over his shoulder at her, his lips in a sneer. "And jobless for the rest of your life."

The maid brushed past him with a 'sorry' and a nod, grabbing up her clothes, slipping into her uniform quickly, and running from the room like a scared child.

Tora immediately started pacing. He was still naked and the moonlight spilling through the room showed his lean figure, the glow bouncing off of his skin as he paced this way and that beside the bed. Finally, he pulled on a pair of silken pants and unrolled the covers, slipping back into his bed, which smelled like sex, though he really didn't care since that was a smell he was all too used to. He would have the sheets changed in the morning.

What did I just say?! What the hell did I just say?!

He turned in the bed to stare up at the ceiling, spreading his arms out on either side of him and letting his chest rise and fall a little too slowly compared to the rapid beat of his heart.

Why did I say that? Why did I say that, in that sort of situation?

He quickly turned over to his stomach, pushing his face into the pillow. He almost felt like screaming, but only struggled for breath in the tight space of the plush whiteness.

Why would I say her name? In that way? While doing that?!

A/N: I've surpassed 1,000 viewers on this story! Let's celebrate with a stack of thanks sandwiched between a slab of my gratitude and a layer of my happiness! You guys all rock! I feel so accomplished! But I've been neglecting my other stories for this particular one... so I should probably start posting new chapters for my other fics as well. One of my reviewers for my other story already flipped a table...

Speaking of reviewers, I have received the most empowering and embellishing reviews throughout the entire span of this story from you guys. I cannot help the smile that comes to my face when I'm reading over the comments you've all made, be them long or short, I love taking the time to read them and actually, I've read all of them more than once just because I love to see such lovely and explicit critique over and over again!

Btw, this chapter was originally going to be the lemon chapter. But it just didn't feel like the right time, you know? As a writer, I could feel that I could build it up so much more... so much more... nope, the lemon chapter was canceled here, and put at a later time in the story, over there. Oh, you can't tell where there is? Well, I guess you'll just have to wait n' see. wa. haha. wahaha.

Catchya nextime!

CK :*

P.S- thumbs up for socially awkward turtles! ;) just thought I would randomly add that in