Hanamichi yawned widely as he stepped out of the house with his school books in hand. Yesterday was most odd and he couldn't stop thinking about why he was asked to be another guy's boyfriend when he didn't even know the guy at all.
Those Kanagawas must have sort of secret thing going on, thought Hanamichi, or maybe he saw me and wanted me to be his companion. Hanamichi suddenly panicked. What if he wanted me to be his real boyfriend?! And he won't let me go after the two years?! Although he is kinda cute...
After that thought passed away (which took about, oh, ten minutes) he laughed at himself out loud that the early birds flew out of their trees in fright.

Baka. Baka. I've been hanging around Haruko too much that I'm starting to think like a girl. Haruko would see this as a Cinderella dream come true...

"Sakuragi."

The redhead turned around and to his surprise a black Mercedes Benz pulled over beside him and out stepped Kanagawa Hisashi who looked as dashing and smart as Hanamichi saw him last, this time with a pin stripped suit and his trademark smirk.

"What do you want?" the redhead asked rudely, but not too rudely in case he could get Hisashi to give him a lift to school.

"We need to get you ready for the party," the scarred-face man said opening the passenger door for Hanamichi who was standing there in puzzlement.

"What party?"

"A sort of a PR party to introduce you as Kaede's boyfriend."

"What?" Hanamichi blinked.

"Are you coming in or not?" groused the young man still holding the door open for the redhead, "Coz if you're not I should remind you of the 100 million yen-"

"Ok, ok!" snapped Hanamichi climbing into the car annoyed at being reminded of his unfortunate life, "I plan on skipping school today anyway."


~~~~

Hanamichi tugged at his collar for the upteenth time, uncomfortable at having to wear the suit which was more restricting than his school uniform. Even if it did make him look good, he wished he was wearing a shirt and a pair of jeans instead.
His suit was all white and the only thing breaking up the starkness was a gold and brown silk handkerchief loosely tucked in his left breast pocket which went with the dark gold shirt he wore under the suit. The white new shoes completed the ensamble and the designers who worked on him thought him as one of their proudest achievement especially with the challange of his bright shocking red hair.

"When are we going? This thing is killing me!" whined Hanamichi to Hisashi who was sitting in a chair in front of him. The scarred-face man rolled his eyes as he adjusted his bowtie, answering patiently, "We'll go as soon as Kaede arrives."

As soon as he said those words the door to the room they were in opened and in stepped Kangawa Kaede, looking more handsome than the first time he saw him that Hanamichi couldn't help but wonder if he was starting to become attracted to men for the first time in 15 years.

"Are we ready?" the fox-eyed brunette asked, looking at Hisashi first before turning his attention towards Hanamichi.

"Yosh! Let's do it!" the redhead replied enthusiastically.

Kaede nodded, "Stand beside me then. Hisashi will lead the way."

The redhead nodded and stood beside the brunette, their height just about the same that he was able to look into the brunette's deep pools of blue closely, amazed at seeing slivers of black and silver in them. And those eyes were focused onto him and him alone.

"Come, Hanamichi."


~~~

A prince taking me away, out into the world of dreams. ~~~

As soon as they stepped inside the party hall, Hanamichi was nearly blinded by the luxurious setting and everyone there all dressed in their best seemed to be like a part of the bright and richly decorated world that he has just stepped into.

Shaking out of his stupour by the nudging of Hisashi behind him, Hanamichi did his best to remain beside Kaede while still looking as if he was just a left-hand man rather than a simpering princess.

A man needs to have his dignity, y'know, Hanamichi told himself, giving the people they passed by a bright smile when they looked upon him who were curious at the appearance of an odd but attractive looking young man beside Kanagawa Kaede.

"Kaede-kun," a young woman greeted him together with her designer dressed friends around her, "We thought you'd never come out."

"I'm here," Kaede replied simply before he took two wine filled glassed from a waiter, handing one to the redhead beside him and taking the other for himself.
The redhead, oblivious to the looks sent his way, seemed hesitant to try the liquor and upon tasting it he scrunched up his face in distaste.

A young man from the group spoke up, "You don't like wine... err..."

"Sakuragi Hanamichi. Hi," the redhead said offering his hand to the person.
Giving the young man a hearty hand shake, Hanamichi shrugged, "Eh, I prefer Pocari Sweat."

"Ah," the young woman smiled, "And what do you do, Sakuragi-san?"

"Me? I'm just a highschool student from Shohoku," the redhead smiled back. The woman did look cute.

"Oh. I thought you worked for Kaede-kun here," another middle-aged woman spoke up. It seemed as if the crowd would not stop probing until they found out exactly who Hanamichi was and so with deft Hisashi stepped forward to make the introduction.

"This is Kaede-kun's close friend," Hisashi said to the people around them.

"How close?" giggled one of the young woman but Hisashi could hear the slyness in her voice.

"He is my boyfriend."

Except Hisashi they all turned to stare at Kaede in shock as if not believing it was him who had spoken.

"What?" a man finally spoke up.

"He is my boyfriend," repeated Kaede, twining his finger together with the redhead's to give it a squeeze, "Since two months ago."

The stunned crowd finally snapped out of their stupour and all at once there were hearty congratulations and also uneasy but polite smiles thrown upon them. The redhead fought hard not to blush but he couldn't stop himself especially when the young woman who he thought looked cute joked at him, "I thought that if you were single I would've tackled you for my own."

"Ehehehehe!" laughed Hanamichi in embarassment, "Thanks!"

The night passed by so quickly in a whirlwind of new faces and new names. As soon as everyone knew who Hanamichi was, they all fought to get to know the imposing person with the bright red hair and the brash but cheerful manner. Before the party was over clearly people were either enchanted with his uniqueness or wary of his blunt behaviour. Hisashi found his hands full trying to keep the redhead in line while Kaede merely watched with eyes that belied nothing.


~~~~

"AHH!!" the redhead groaned, flopping onto the couch as soon as they got into the room at the opposite side of the mansion from the party, "It's finally over!"

"Thank you for staying here until so late at night," Kaede said, closing the door behind them, "Even if you were a bit rough around the edges, you played your role perfectly."

"Anyone can do what I did," Hanamichi said, waving his hand carelessly at the brunette, "But it's hard to remember all the names... there're your uncles, your aunts, your cousins..."

"You don't need to know about the Kanagawa family. Just continue pretending to be my boyfriend and Hisashi and I will do the rest."

The redhead frowned but when his late selective memory kicked in, he bristled, "What do you mean 'rough around the edges'??"

"What I said, doaho," the brunette replied monotonously.

"Temme!! That's the tensai to you, y-you... KITSUNE!" yelled Hanamichi in anger.

Kaede arched an eyebrow but instead of insulting the redhead back, he turned away and said over his shoulder, "You can go."

"What?! Not even a thank y-"

The slam of the door cut off his voice and in a second the redhead was throwing tantrums, stomping at the floor and yelling at the now absent brunette all sorts of bad names. He dearly wanted to smash any kind of breakable objects to the wall but upon seeing the high quality things they got here, he guessed he would be paying the Kanagawa bank two more years if he did.

Finally, after venting his frustrations to an empty room with minimal satisfaction, Hanamichi walked out of the mansion with his newly acquired clothes on his back and his school uniform tucked under his arm.

He didn't say I couldn't keep the clothes, the redhead thought smugly as he walked away, not noticing a pair of dark blue eyes looking at him from a second storey window.

"Good night, Hanamichi."


~~~~

The redhead rubbed his eyes sleepily as he walked into the school compound but before he could reach the steps that led to the building where his classes were held, a sudden tight grip on his arm made him jerk in surprise.

"I thought we were best friends, Sakuragi-kun!" Haruko cried with accusation in her eyes.

"Huh?" was the only answer Hanamichi could get out of himself.

"You didn't tell me you were dating Kanagawa Kaede for two months! How could you?!"

"H-How-" the redhead stammered.

"Here," the brown-haired girl said, thrusting a newspaper under the redhead's nose. As soon as the young boy read the headline in the gossip section, his eyes grew wide and his mouth formed an O of surprise.

"The story is all about you- the boyfriend of Kanagawa Kaede who is the second son of the leader of the Kanagawa Group. They said there that you met him during an opening of one of their banking branches and you two got together straight after that," Haruko recited back while Hanamichi's face disappeared slowly behind the paper he was holding. When the redhead made no response other than a choking sound, Haruko pulled back the paper and saw that her bestfriend's face has gotten red from fury and embarassment. Already, students around them were pointing and whispering at him. Either they were saying bad things behind his back or that they like seeing two gorgeous young men together in loving harmony. And he must admit that he and Kaede looked mighty fine side by side in that particular shot-

"ARGHH!!" yelled the redhead suddenly, startling Haruko beside him, "What am I thinking?! I'm gonna kill that bastard!"


~~~~

"Sakuragi-san! Please, wait-"

"Call him, Hasegawa-san, or I'll go looking for him," the redhead growled already stepping onto the staircase that led to the first floor, "I wanna to speak to him."

Not hearing the reply of Kaede's helper, Hanamichi started to climb the stairs until he reached the first floor, intent on finding out where Kaede might be hiding. Cursing at his own carelessness of not asking Hasegawa of the location of Kaede's room, he picked a door at random and threw it open. It was a bedroom and in the king-sized bed he saw a person under the crimson coloured covers deeply asleep. He was obviously not Kaede but somehow Hanamichi thought that the person looked familiar. The young man's hair was mussed with spikes standing up but mostly out in all directions and the slight upwards tilt of the wide mouth set upon the angular face gave a hint to the redhead that the person seemed the type to like to smile as a hobby. The redhead would've recognised him at once if he was not distracted by the nakedness of the young man, half covered by the soft sheets and the rest exposed to the early sunlight filtering through the light muslin curtains to light upon the the curves of lean muscles and curves of his body.

The young man on the bed suddenly shifted and startled Hanamichi when he spoke up in a hoarse voice, "Kaede... I feel sick. Get me some water. Onegai."

The redhead blinked but moved towards the bedside table nevertheless to pour the person a glass of water.

"Here," Hanamichi told him and when the person opened his eyes, the redhead suddenly realised who it was that was before him.

"Thanks," the young man said before he turned surprised blue eyes upon the redhead, ".... who are you?"

"Sakuragi Hanamichi," the redhead replied looking at the person closely to make sure that he was right.

"I've never met you before," the young man said before he gulped down his water, sighing in relief when he finished it all.

"Ano... I'm.. I'm Kaede's...uh..."

"Friend? I see," the person nodded, lying on his stomach to regard the redhead easily than lying on his back.

"Hey, you're Sendoh Akira aren't ya," the redhead stated rather than asked.

"Yup," the brunette replied, his blue eyes twinkling in merriment.

Suddenly, the redhead was on the bed, shoving his face into Akira's space that they were nearly touching nose to nose.
"Tell me," began the redhead, "Haruko said that you do all your own stunts. It's not true, is it."

The brunette sweatdropped but he gathered his composure to enjoy the rare forwardness of a person that not only looked odd with his red hair but also seemed fun to be with.

As Akira was regalling the redhead of his daredevil stunts in some of the movies he has acted, the door to the bedroom opened and in stepped Kaede.

"Akira," Kaede said, "You've met my boyfriend I see."

"What?!" exclaimed the other brunette in surprise, "You have a boyfriend?!"

"Yes."

Not seeing the troubled look on Akira's face, Hanamichi tugged at Kaede's sleeve who was at that moment standing beside him, to get his attention, "Hey, fox."

"Hai, Itoshii?" Kaede replied.

Ignoring the term the fox-eyed young man used for him, the redhead asked, "I forgot to ask why he's here."

"He's my cousin, Hanamichi-kun."

"Honto ni?!" laughed the redhead, "Haruko-chan will forgive me if I get her his autograph! She's one of Akira's biggest fans!"

Suddenly fingers grasped his chin and his head was turned to face a lazy smile from Akira.
"So, you're Kaede-kun's boyfriend, eh?" the young man drawled, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather be with me?"

"Huh?" the redhead blinked when the face came closer to his, "I'm sure I can make a better boyfriend than Kaede-kun here. And I can do more than you give you an autograph..."

And he kissed him. Not on the lips but on the cheek, but it felt so intimate in its slow caress that Hanamichi nearly shivered.

Kaede stared at both of them while Hanamichi stared at the smiling face of the actor hovering above him. After a while, the redhead snapped out of his surprise to begin one of his trademark tantrums, "You jerk! How dare you kiss the tensai without his persmission! You are so gonna get it!"

Before Hanamichi could lunge onto Akira, Kaede quickly managed to grab onto the redhead to hold him at bay.

Akira sweatdropped at the reaction from the redhead who in his mind looked kind of cute in his anger.
"Kaede-kun. Don't tell me you've gotten together with a person who seems to have never been kissed before."

"Uh... yeah," gasped Kaede, trying hard to maintain a hold onto the struggling redhead, "We have a... uh... very... chaste sort of relationship."

"Don't give me this crap, Kaede," Akira said knowingly, "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kaede groused, finally dragging the redhead away, "Let's go Hanamichi-kun."

The fox-eyed man thought that the redhead was about to follow him willingly but when Akira sent Hanamichi a flying kiss the redhead renewed his struggles that Kaede figured he would be having bruises by the time he was done getting the young man away from his cousin.


~~~~

"Are you done?"

"Yeah, yeah," the redhead grumbled wrenching himself away from Kaede's hand hold, "You should've let me clobber the guy."

"You are not to go near him again," warned Kaede.

"Why not?! He kissed me in there," shot Hanamichi, "If you wanted to pretend to be my boyfriend you should've let me defend my honour or something!"

"Fine," the fox-eyed man shrugged carelessly, "If you want so much to meet him again, pay me the 100 million yen first then."

"Yaro," the redhead growled.

"Now leave," the brunette said coldly before turning away in dismissal.

When the fox was gone from the room he was dragged into, Hanamichi slammed his head against the strong wooden door repeatedly in frustration until he slumped onto the floor, dizzy.

"Just you wait, Kanagawa Kaede. I'll get that 100 million yen and shove it in your face before the two years is over!"


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