Begun: November 4, 2001
Ended: February 17, 2002

Disclaimers – This story does not contain Usagi. She is not here. If you are looking for Tsukino Usagi, Sailormoon, or any other form of her go away. Any characters, places, events, etc. owned by me will be noted.

Notes – Here it is; the first lemon I’ve written to date. Be gentle, ne? the story is probably going to be in two or three parts, and this is the first. I don’t know if the others will be as long as this or not… Oh yes, and if you have a problem with pre-marital sex or people having sex without being “in love,” I suggest that you don’t read this. A good friend pointed this out to me, and I feel I must make a note of it. Also, watch out for a heaping dose of the F word. ^_^;;

Inspiration – This story is a gift for a person that shall remain unnamed. I hope you are reading this!

Other - The title was provided by Ken (who is not receiving the story), who is an ass hole most of the time, but can be helpful when he wants to be. Thanks Ken.

Open Truths

There was not a cloud on the move. A color of rich azure filled the sky. Cool autumn days were things to be enjoyed, savored, and not ignored. However, when Date Seiji appeared to be doing just this, gazing far off into the blue depths with his own piercing blue eyes, he was interrupted by a swift hand batting his chest.
He cast his eye down again to the offending hand, only to quickly take it in his own. The owner let out a playful giggle as he brought the hand to his lips and kissed it gently before he looked the face of the owner.
She looked very much the same as he did, with blond hair and bright blue eyes. Almost always, though, her ivory-colored face held an impish smile that he had yet to unlock the mystery to. Why did she always seem so happy, so alive? He would have to ask her one day.
Today, though, questions were hers to ask.
“Where were you, Seiji-kun?” she asked gently, making no motion to pull her hand away from him while using her free hand to pull her jacket about her tighter. A gentle breeze was blowing and with it, the cool was often masked as chill.
“Just thinking, love,” he replied. She smiled at him for a moment, impishness fading to curiosity before she nodded and turning to stand beside him. He intertwined their arms so that they were joined at the hand and the two began to walk, moving to the cover of a few oak trees that dotted the ground every now and then while they remained steadily on the white concrete sidewalk. His other hand held her textbooks as well as his, but he did not seem troubled by the seemingly heavy weight.
“What about?” she asked innocently and he could not help but smile to himself. Her inquisitiveness was never bashful, but never spiteful either, and for that he did not mind answering her questions, frequent as they were.
“I was actually wondering if you had any single female friends,” he admitted, casting his glance down to her and feeling the slight tenseness in her hand as he posed the statement. He could not resist the smirk that appeared on his lips as her face melted into a cool demeanor. “I wonder if she picked that up from me…” he thought silently, waiting for her certain response.
“Maybe,” she thought aloud and then cast away the cool air, perking one eyebrow slightly higher than the other in unabashed suspiciousness. “Why?” Seiji could not help but laugh as he gently looked skyward.
Speaking gently through his laugh, he said, “Minako-chan, don’t worry. She’s not for me.” As he spoke he squeezed Minako’s hand and then held tighter to it. With his laugh Minako relaxed slightly, but did not stop staring at him curiously. “I happen to be very in love with the woman holding my hand, Minako, and no other woman is going to be right for me… No, it’s just that… My friend, Ryo, has been single for way too long.” Casting a slightly worrisome glance in Minako’s direction, he spoke, “I think he’s on the verge of becoming a prude.”
“Oh,” Minako spoke, lengthening the ‘oh’ to emphasize her surprise and relief. She knew Ryo; a kind and rather sweet young man on first impression. Upon getting to know him better, though, he had opened up and had proved fun loving and very protective of his friends. He also had a temper that sometimes got the best of him.
Minako gave a small sound of thought as a grin begin to spread on her face and Seiji steered them toward the café of the university. Hunger was taking its toll on her and she couldn’t think that well without food anyway. “God, Seiji is wonderful,” she thought as she squeezed his hand. Her eyes, though, remained trained on the ground as she tried to think.
After a few more moments, she lifted her head and stared toward the café with a serious expression on her face. “I have someone for him, I think,” Minako spoke after a few more moments of deliberation.
“Really?” Seiji asked in surprise. Minako smirked and pinched his side gently with her free hand.
In retort she spoke, gently, “Honestly, Seiji-kun, I thought you had more faith in me than that…”
Seiji grinned at the jest and nodded. As they neared the café, he released her hand and stepped forward to open the door for her, allowing her to pass in first. His thoughts were elsewhere as they saved a seat and then made for the cafeteria line.
“I trust Minako’s judgment enough to think that she has someone good picked out for Ryo, as long as the girl is nothing like her. Those two would never be compatible… Honestly, I don’t really know how we are…” Seiji then shook his head to clear it of the direction his thoughts were taking. “The thing is, is that we have to find someone to keep them together. We can’t just have them going off on one date and then never wanting to see each other again…”
As they met up again at the cashier’s line, Seiji voiced his thoughts to Minako. He could tell it perplexed her from the way her mouth quirked upward into slight pout.
They sat down together and situated their books for space before Seiji began to dole out their orders. After making Minako promise never to go near the food again he had taken to handling it for both of them.
“Okay, here it is,” she thought as she unwrapped a sandwich, neither looking at him or it, but staring off more into space. “Ryo and Makoto-“
“Makoto?” Seiji interrupted quickly, his brow quirked and his face in such a frown of distaste that his lip almost furled. “Why her?”
“Makoto is not any friend. She happens to be my best friend, and she happens to be just like Ryo. They both are nice, kind, protective, and hot-tempered. Besides, just because you lost to her in a martial arts match doesn’t mean you have to be rude. I remember thinking that your grandfather admired her for her skill and grace… She’s perfect for him!” Minako stated quickly, noting as Seiji sighed at each fact and realizing when she had reached her boundaries.
“Okay, Makoto it is…” Seiji consented and Minako nodded, taking a bite from her sandwich. There was silence from both of them for a while as Minako chewed in thought then reached for her soda. She sipped it quietly then looked up again, this time facing her boyfriend.
“Ryo and Makoto both agree to a contract that we draw up. The contract says that they have to spend three nights together, not necessarily in succession, but when the three nights are over they either go their separate ways or they hook up.” Minako shrugged and glanced away from Seiji, trying not to notice how wide his eyes had gotten during the explanation. After a moment when he continued to stare, she turned back quickly and demanded, “What?! It’s not like you suggested anything!”
It had the desired effect, because Seiji quickly snapped out of his stupor. He shook his head and tried to appear nonchalant as he took a sip from his drink.
“It’s actually a good idea,” he said, and he sincerely thought it was, “but how are we ever going to get them to agree to it? If they go at it like wild rabbits they won’t really bond, and they will be missing the whole point of all of this work. Makoto might agree to it, but I don’t think Ryo ever will.”
“I know what you mean,” Minako said and took another bite from the sandwich, once more chewing slowly and thoughtfully. After swallowing she spoke with a casual shrug, “Well, you’ll just have to work on him, just like I’ll have to work on Mako-chan.”
Seiji sighed and took a sip of his own latte before rolling his eyes when Minako wasn’t looking.
“Ryo’s virtuous enough as it is… And trust is more of Shin’s department. I wonder if I could get Shin to get him to agree with this instead of me… It’s definitely worth pondering…” He frowned mentally as he took a drink from his tea and thought, “But wouldn’t having Shin set up with Makoto defeat the whole purpose?” When he looked back to his girlfriend, she had pulled out a notebook and was furiously scribbling something across the yellow pages.
“What’s that?” Seiji asked as he leaned forward to try and get a better look.
Without looking up, Minako continued to write and spoke, “Taking some notes… What is our goal for the first date?”
Seiji nearly choked on his drink and pulled the straw from his mouth furiously quickly. Minako blinked at him owlishly before looking back to her notes and a grin on her face as she continued her scribing. Seiji eyed her warily, nearly afraid to interrupt her. He didn’t have to, though, because she quickly answered herself, “Of course, the first goal would be getting them to sleep together…”
“Don’t they need to like each other first?”
“I’m sure they’ll like each other enough as it is! I’m never wrong about these things!” Minako spoke quickly and flashed Seiji an impish grin. Seiji sighed, but gave no other allusion to his sentiments. However, he was sure that somewhere along the lines of this plan he had made a mistake.
“Is it really worth Ryo’s virtuous nature to get that stick out of his ass and get him laid?” he wondered aloud, causing Minako to stop in her writing as they regarded each other. Her eyebrows raised momentarily before she reached for her drink and averted her glance totally.
“Right, dumb question…”

___(Sometime Later…)___

The night that the two blondes chose for their friends to meet it was raining, and the club they had chosen to meet at had a line that ended at the end of the block with the club’s door at the other end. Minako and Makoto reached the end of the line with an umbrella and their jackets covering them, but Ryo and Seiji were not so lucky. The two young men came from the opposite direction and splashed all the way down the end of the block, eliciting a few cries of rage and surprise from people that were in the line of fire and therefore splashed.
Makoto watched as Seiji approached, wondering how exactly he would greet her. She was wary to say the least, considering that the last time they had met he had been coolly polite. The young man next to him threw her slightly off guard, though. Why was he here? She cast a glance to Minako and saw that her attention was focused solely on Seiji and his companion. It would not have surprised the brunette to know that she had invited Seiji to what should have been a girl’s night only, however, for him to invite a friend. She was quickly seeing the route this was taking, and she didn’t like it.
She didn’t intend for the smirk to be the expression she wore while greeting Seiji, but it was there and he noted it quickly as he held out a hand to her. She accepted it and felt her tension rise momentarily. Seiji had to be in on this, or he wouldn’t have the raven-haired young man tagging along at his side. It was not as if the blonde’s companion was not handsome. He was drop dead gorgeous; pale blue eyes and black hair that fell in curly tufts over his forehead. A few strands of hair grazed the nape of his neck, but Makoto averted her eyes quickly, looking back to Seiji and then to Minako. Seiji had released her hand in favor of sharing a rather passionate and intense kiss. She found herself left to hold her hands before her as she was under scrutiny like a small child.

____(Quick POV Change)____

‘I can’t believe Seiji talked me into this,’ Ryo thought as he and Seiji stepped out of the parking lot where Seiji’s Mercedes was parked. It was raining, not hard, but certainly enough to get him soaked if he stayed out long enough in it. ‘But he was so damned persistent, I thought that was the only thing that was going to get him off of my back.’
The two men silently, but mutually agreed that they needed to run if they were going to stay remotely dry. Ryo sighed as Seiji ran ahead of him and he began to run as well. The shoes that Mia had convinced him to buy and wear for this “date” were not comfortable, but they didn’t slide off of his feet as he ran. The same with the blue turtleneck and the black leather pants. At first the cloth around his neck had felt as if it was choking him, but it was semi-comfortable now; warm at least.
As he approached he saw Minako waving to them, probably Seiji more than him, and he saw his would-be “date” eyeing them warily. The closer he got to her, the less he liked the expression on her face. ‘She hasn’t even met me, and she’s already discarding me?’ He saw quickly that the expression was meant for Seiji. She saw him quickly enough though, and with the light at her back and shadow on her face her eyes seemed black in the darkness. Confusion registered on her face as she realized that he had accompanied Seiji and he was not just some passerby.
The curious expression fazed out quickly as she and Seiji moved to shake hands. He realized as she spoke that this was the girl that had beaten Seiji in a formal martial arts tournament. Her voice was rich and deeper than Minako’s, but it was distinctly feminine and he found that he liked it, regardless of the glare that she had fixed on his friend. The brunette and the friend in question exchanged small pleasantries before she looked down to her feet, clasping her hands in front of her, her face deceptively passive as she studied her shoes.
It was the perfect moment to study her for a few moments before she became aware that he was doing so. Leather pants hugged her legs comfortably before flaring just beneath her calf muscles. Whatever she did, she worked out enough to be toned but not overly muscular. Working his eyes up slowly – after all virtue didn’t change the fact that he was male and he could still enjoy the visage of a beautiful woman – he allowed them to trace over her bare belly. As his eyes glanced upward quickly, grazing over her breasts, which were covered by matching blue leather, he inhaled sharply. Even through the blue leather duster she wore, those were certainly very nice.
When his eyes made it to her face he saw her glaring hard at him. She was incensed and- confused? His eyebrows rose as he realization dawned on him.
Without taking his eyes off of her, he turned to the other and spoke calmly, “Something tells me that she doesn’t know what’s going on.”

____(‘Nother POV Change)____

She could feel the stranger’s gaze on her and she looked to him quickly to catch him in a piercing gaze. Usually her height was enough to intimidate someone, but coupled with a killer stare, not even her friends could stand a chance. This guy, however, was at least as tall as she was, if not having a few centimeters and though she tried to stare him down, he did not flinch. He didn’t even frown at the fact that she was watching him so intensely. He simply regarded her with a calm expression and then turned back to Seiji and Minako.
“Something tells me that she doesn’t know what’s going on,” he spoke evenly. His voice was not the most heavenly thing that Makoto had ever heard, but it was certainly not unpleasant to be coupled with the face and lips that gave it life. It was the voice of a young man and removed all traces of doubt from her mind about what he was, even if there was still some mystery about his identity.
Despite her anger at the fact that Makoto and Seiji were trying to set her up, she felt some of the tension drain out of her as she digested his statement. He obviously had thought she knew what was going on, despite the fact that it was now plain she did not.
“Oh no,” she replied in such a tone that in other circumstances it would not have been sarcastic. It worked in gaining his attention as well as that of Minako and Seiji. She turned her green gaze onto Minako and smirked down at her friend, placing one hand on the hip of the dark blue pants she wore. “I know perfectly well what’s going on now.” She dropped her hands out to her sides, and then cried, “Aino Minako! How could you do this to me?! Do you remember the last time that you tried to set me up with someone I didn’t even know?!”
“Mina-chan?” Seiji spoke, surprised with his girlfriend and more surprised that he didn’t see it coming. The petite blond in question grinned through the new flush on her face, wincing so that only one eye was open as she took their criticism.
“Well, you see, I knew that Makoto wouldn’t really agree, being that the last guy I put her on a date with, turned out to be an ex-convict…”
At the statement and the new attention it brought to Makoto, the brunette flushed, but continued to glower as she stared at Minako. Her blond friend continued quickly before the brunette could interrupt, “But, Mako-chan! We’re not setting you up!” Minako grinned as she looped her arm through Seiji’s, hoping to take some of the heat off of her, by drawing attention to the fact that this plan was partially his doing. “We’re setting Ryo up!”
For a moment Makoto’s anger was gone completely. Her free hand dropped to her side as she stared at the wide grin on Minako’s face. Then she looked over to Ryo where he was beginning to frown as well. At least that much was reassuring. That reminded her of her own anger and for a moment she was even angrier. She was being used to set someone else up? With a staunch and silent breath, though, she made herself calm down, at least somewhat.
She turned her incensed gaze back to Seiji and Minako. Minako was still smiling, but not nearly as confidently as before, and Seiji was frowning as though he regretted the whole situation.
Makoto began to smile as well, though for entirely different reasons as she looked her blonde best friend, “Minako you drug me out of work for a girl’s night out only to set me up with a guy I don’t even know and a guy that doesn’t know me? What’s wrong with this picture?”
“I honestly thought you knew this was going to happen,” Ryo added a bit too calmly. It seemed as if he was trying as hard as Makoto was. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
‘Why doesn’t he just shut up?’ Makoto wondered as her fingernails began to dig into her palms. His words were not calming her, no matter how hot he looked with that black sweater pulled just right over his chest. ‘Nothing he says is going to make it better now! Minako, why do you act this way?!’ She swiveled on her heel, catching her balance before her heels could send her tumbling to the ground and stomped away, the rain hitting her in the face so that she had to tip her umbrella forward slightly against it.
“Mako-chan, don’t go!” Minako cried, taking a few steps away from Seiji as she watched her best friend walk away without missing a bit. She did not stop. “You might have a good time, if you give it a chance!” she continued yelling, cupping her hands so that her message would be heard clearly. From the line into the club someone yelled for her to shut up and she returned the same yelling with a few expletives.
“I’m tired of your scheming, Minako. Have fun by yourself,” Makoto’s voice came back, carried easily over the wind. The rain began to pelt more heavily around them so that Seiji turned her around to face Ryo before they made the move inside. Minako wondered for a moment if it was Makoto’s wrath that was turning the weather against them.
Ryo sighed before Minako could say anything and spoke with a smirk, “If this contract’s going to work then I’m going to go ahead and go after her. If things work out you won’t hear from me again tonight. If things don’t work out, I’m heading home. I’ll call you from there…” Then he glanced over their shoulders to Makoto’s quickly disappearing figure. He nodded to them, mock saluting before he took off after her at a comfortable jog, faster than she had been walking, but not fast enough to make himself seem desperate. Despite the fact that he could easily understand her anger, she had brushed him off without giving him a chance, and that was something that he didn’t like.
Behind him, Minako and Seiji watched as he ran off, Minako murmuring, “How’d you get him to finally agree?” while her teased the skin beneath the silk shirt on his chest.
He smirked, very pleased with himself – as well as Minako’s current playful state – and answered, “The same way modern men decide everything…” He steered her toward the club entrance as she looked up to him, one eyebrow perked slightly higher than the other in curiosity. “Poker, my good woman, poker.”
Minako’s laughter rang out as loud as her pleas with Makoto had, “Well at least we can still enjoy ourselves! It’s up to Ryo now.”
Ryo caught up to Makoto and began to walk beside her, hoping that she would say something to the effect of, ‘Hey, I didn’t mean that and, well, I’m sorry. Want to hop in the sack?’ After all, the sooner this was over, the sooner he could live down this upset.
Of course, he could always lie to Seiji about the entire affair, but the Yoroiden of Korin had already extracted the promise from Minako to poke and prod Makoto until she spilled. He was stuck…
Makoto was silent, and from the speed and set of her walk, it didn’t seem like she was going to stop and say anything.
“You know, I really didn’t know that Minako was going to do that,” he spoke, keeping pace with her evenly. He glanced over to her, hanging under the umbrella she held, grateful that she made no move to pull it away. It seemed that her anger was taking up her concentration. ‘In that case, all I need to do is break it…’ In response to his statement, she took a deep breath, causing the leather fabric of her shirt to pull tightly across her breasts and Ryo pointedly looked away. “If we got off to the wrong foot, how about we start over?”
He jumped in front of her, causing her to jerk to a stop that nearly sent her toppling into him, but he placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her quickly. “You’re Kino Makoto, right? I’m Sanada Ryo. It’s nice to meet you.” Instead of thanking him, she wrenched her body away and glared at him. The hand on her shoulder moved down in front of her for a handshake, but she only regarded it and then began walking around him, leaving him to stand in the rain as she scowled deeper and stomped away.
Ryo watched her stomp away, his eyes unconsciously trailing down to curve of her bottom as her jacket pulled over it and then flitted away with every step, teasing and taunting him.
“Fine,” he spoke. “Didn’t want to date someone so frosty anyway.”
The statement could have been taken in several ways, but in this case he could imagine one. He only waited long enough for her to stop in her march before he turned around and began to casually walk away.
He was nearly surprised when she yelled out, “Take that back!” Ryo stopped and turned back to her, shoving his pockets into his jacket and regarded her with an annoyed smirk.
“No, I don’t think so. I apologized to you. I offered to start over like two regular people would, and all you can think about is how angry you are and how you’re right and Minako is wrong. Did it ever occur to you that you’re not the only person that was surprised like this tonight?” She did not bow her head in sheepish admittance, as any other woman would, but instead continued to stare at him in incredulity.
“Forgive me for being humiliated!” she cried and then walked toward him again. “You try and get it across to your best friend that you don’t want to be set up with anymore guys; no more convicts, no more unemployed drunks, and no more sloppy college students, and then you realize that she’s lied to you! We’ll see how calm you stay, Mister-I-Talk-When-I-Don’t-Know-The-Facts!”
He grimaced, but replied, “Funny, because it seems like you’re doing all the talking now…”
Ryo didn’t see the slap coming until it was too late, but he felt it. Hard. The force behind it was enough to cause him to search for new balance and he reached up a hand to grasp the freshly stinging area before he stood, looking to Makoto with wide blue eyes. Her eyes were equally wide and her hand was still suspended in the air where she had struck him. As he raised himself back into standing position, she lowered her hand to her side, closing it gently while bowing her head a grimace of regret on her face.
“I’m sorry,” Makoto spoke immediately, quiet but still emotional from her anger. “I didn’t mean to do that. My temper got away from me.”
Ryo didn’t know whether to scowl or to grin. The hit wasn’t anything that would do permanent damage, especially to him, but it had gotten her message across well enough. Using the hand that had held his stinging cheek, he cupped her chin gently not really meaning anything other than he wanted her attention, and lifted her face.
She regarded him with a crimson blush of embarrassment and shame so that he released her and spoke; “If you want to go out we can just go to kareoke or bowling, or a wrestling match… ” At the last innuendo, she flushed more so and cast her eyes to the red mark slowly appearing on his face, even in this light. She pulled her umbrella over the two of them, a sign of accepting his offer.
“That would be nice, at least since you went through the trouble of coming and getting me,” Makoto spoke calmly and her voice now seemed not only husky, but warm and not cold as he had alluded just minutes earlier.
“And because you slapped me,” he added as she stepped next to him, taking the arm he offered to her. She flushed again, but framed it with a small sheepish smile.
“Can’t say you didn’t have it coming to you…”

___(Now the Environment Changes)___

“Well, it’s not kareoke, and it’s not wrestling, but it’s just as good,” Makoto spoke gently and through a smile as the double glass doors of the Crown Arcade slide opened silently, allowing a breeze of warm air to slide over the slightly dampened pair. It had looked to be a long walk from the club, so they had decided on taking a cab the majority of the way, which Ryo paid for graciously. Even with the ride, they could not escape all of the rain, which was now a steady downpour.
The arcade was packed, to say the least. It seemed that some of the local students had taken chosen the arcade as their nightly hangout spot. Whether the weather or something else was the cause, Makoto was not sure.
“Now you’re definitely not what I expected,” Ryo said and grinned down to her as they stepped inside. Makoto made a show of wiping her shoes on the carpet, hoping that Ryo would take the hint and save some work for Motoki. All the while she regarded him with a wry grin.
“Is that a compliment or what?” she asked, taking his hand in hers unabashedly and leading him forward.
“Any girl that’ll take a guy to an arcade as a first date is OK in my book,” he admitted as they walked past the arcade to a small boxy machine in the corner. Makoto took a few bills from between the crevice in her bosom and tried not to notice Ryo’s suddenly very curious expression.
When it did not dissipate, she explained, “When you’re going to a club, it’s easier to keep money there, so people can’t swipe it without you noticing… Besides, I don’t really have good pockets on this outfit… “ Ryo took a small inventory of exactly how many pockets she did have. She wasn’t lying. Even if she had had pockets the small wad of bills would have still created a bulge, against her second-skin pants, alerting someone to their contents.
As the exchange from money to tokens was being made, he broke away from his glance, rethinking his earlier opinions about Makoto and the fact that Seiji and Minako were setting him up with a complete stranger. Makoto was not unattractive. True, she did not have Minako’s more exotic beauty – at least compared to the other Japanese people around – with blond hair or pale blue eyes (no wonder she and Seiji got along so well). However, she had a more plain beauty of her own, which he could clearly see now that she wasn’t scowling at him with a look that read, ‘Go to hell, or I will send you there!’ She turned as he continued to watch her and smiled to him, taking his hand once more in her own. Makoto dropped a large number of the tokens in his hand and then manually curled his fingers over them before smiling again sweetly to him.
“So what do you want to try first?” she asked, stepping out of the way of the machine, rather the other people in line to exchange their money. His quiet, unobtrusive glance had not gone unnoticed, and had silently woven a spell around her that she was not yet willing to break.
‘Boy this has been a big change from the way we were arguing, not a full thirty minutes ago…’ she thought as she waited for his response.
“I don’t know,” he spoke and then intertwined his free hand with hers, giving her a killer smile. “Seems like you’ve been here before. What’s good?” he asked and looked around the large arcade to where a few of the games were definitely more crowded than others.
“Well, the UFO crane game is out and so is double Sailor V… Want to try the Formula 1? It’s a bit older but should still be in working order…”
They found an empty two-seater game and quickly inserted the necessary tokens before preparing themselves, each giving the other a grin before starting the first lap.
“You know, I’m not totally sure what Minako and Seiji told you about me, but I still know next to nothing about you. Come to think of it, you might want to tell me what they told you so I can correct any misinformation. I don’t know about Seiji-“ and she was cut off as she came into a tight a curve that maintained her concentration to get through well, “but Minako-chan has a tendency to exaggerate…”
Ryo chuckled as he pulled past Makoto, sparing a glance to see a small competitive smile growing on her face at the open challenge. “Oh I don’t know that. They both assured me that they’d found a beautiful, intelligent woman, that wouldn’t take crap off of anyone…” He glanced from his peripheral vision, but even then he could see a new blush staining her cheeks. ‘For someone so honest, she sure does redden a lot,’ he thought. ‘That’s it, Ryo old boy, just turn on that Rekka charm!’
‘God, he’s so handsome. He seems sweet, too, and maybe he’s not just some sloppy college guy…’ Makoto thought as she suddenly zoomed past Ryo, her foot dropping to the “floorboard” for the final lap. ‘Can he really be interested in me, or is he just doing this for Minako and Seiji? Get a grip, Mako, why would he be doing it for them?’
“Minako also told me that you kicked Seiji’s butt in a Kendo competition last year, even though you are a belt lower than him…” For some reason, Ryo found this immensely amusing, because he laughed for a good two minutes before stopping. Makoto couldn’t help but grin.
As he laughed, she spoke, “Yeah, well, sometimes the guy is way too cocky for his own good. It makes me wonder what Minako sees in him beyond good looks…” and sighed. It suddenly occurred to her what she had just said and she turned quickly to gauge Ryo’s expression. He was grinning from ear to ear. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, wincing tightly. “I sometimes let my mouth get away from. I completely forgot that Seiji is one of your friends…”
“One of my best friends, actually,” Ryo clarified. Makoto winced further, but she was broke out of her growing funk by Ryo’s laugh. She looked up quickly and said, “That’s how I know that you’re exactly right!” He laughed again and turned back to the screen, neglecting to mention that he could have made the same comment about what Seiji could see in Minako past looks. ‘To each his own, I guess,’ Ryo thought as he raced across the finish line, flashing another grin to Makoto. Just as he did, she looked back to her own screen and saw that her neglect had caused to crash into the perimeter of the track. Her chance at a free laugh slipped away and she cursed loudly, causing Ryo’s eyes to widen…
Chuckling wryly, she glanced back to him and spoke, “Standard disclaimers apply?”
He could not help but laugh at her nervousness and slipped a few tokens to her so they could play a few more rounds. They played for nearly thirty minutes before a tall blond man slipped into a leaning position over Makoto’s shoulder and was watching the screen.
Ryo glanced over, seeing the movement out of the corner of his eye and watched as the man grinned at him and then looked back to Makoto’s game screen while she concentrated entirely on the game, oblivious to his presence. For a moment Ryo felt a surge of jealousy. Who was this dirty looking blonde guy that was standing way too close, to his date?
As Makoto pulled across the finish line, narrowly beating Ryo, she flashed him a grin, but he was not looking at her. Following his line of sight she turned quickly and a large smile lit her face.
“Motoki-san!” she called and jumped from her seat, standing on her toes to wrap her arms around the older man’s neck.
“Good to see you too, Mako-chan. How are you doing tonight?” he asked as he hugged her tightly.
Ryo was beginning to see red. He became very distinctly aware of the shortness of Makoto’s jacket as it rode above her posterior and even more aware of how cute and round said posterior was beneath its tight leather pants. He felt a silent groan coming on and suddenly wished to be free of his leather pants. The fact that the rain on them was causing them to shrink was certainly not helping his cause.
“Ryo-san, this is Furuhata Motoki,” Makoto spoke, drawing Ryo’s attention higher as she disengaged herself from Motoki’s arms. Luckily for him, Motoki did not make any other attempt to hold Makoto… “His family owns the arcade and the parlor across the hall. He’s been a friend of Minako and me for a few years now… Motoki-san, this is Sanada Ryo, ” Reaching over, Motoki held his hand out to Ryo for a friendly shake. It was readily accepted and as Motoki grimaced from the power behind the shake causing Ryo’s smile to only grow larger.
“I’m just coming around helping people out like normally, but since you guys are here, I thought I might go ahead and offer you some drinks to break up the monotony… You don’t know what it’s like with all of these junior high students throwing themselves at me… And not just girls!” he confided, lowering his voice to a near-panicked whisper as he spoke. All of a sudden, Makoto coughed nervously and Motoki grinned down at her, causing Ryo’s brow to quirk.
At his unspoken question, Makoto leaned forward gently and confided as well, “I used to be one of those love-sick junior high students…” Standing up straight before Ryo could say anything, she said, “I’d like some tea, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, Motoki-san…”
Ryo felt some of his animosity ease off as he realized the extent of Makoto and Motoki’s feelings for one another, feeling silly for having gotten so jealous. ‘Makoto and I aren’t even really dating… But I still feel jealous that he was hugging her, holding her like that…’
“Anything to drink for you, Sanada-san?” Motoki offered politely, but with the formality of a maitre’d, and Ryo stood from his car seat.
“Yeah, but I’ll come with you and get it,” he offered, leaning on the back of the car for a moment.
“That’s not necessary,” Motoki spoke as he stood up, a few centimeters taller than Ryo, and sincere in his words.
Ryo returned the sincerity in a smile and spoke, “No, I insist. If that’s okay with you, Makoto-san?”
She shrugged, a slow smile spreading on her face as she nodded to him, speaking, “It’s fine by me.”
The two men turned toward the parlor, leaving Makoto to find a spot at the single Sailor Senshi game where she tossed in a few tokens and picked Sailorjupiter, immediately moving into an aggressive gamer mode.
“So how long have you and Makoto known each other?” Ryo asked casually while Motoki stood behind the drink counter, reaching for two large Styrofoam cups. The blond regarded the slightly shortly for a moment before grinning openly.
“A few years, she’s a great kid.” He went about his business easily enough as Ryo a monosyllable response, his eyes watching the fiery brunette only a few meters away. “Yeah, you’d have to be blind not to see it when she likes you. She’s always been open with her affections- and her anger,” Motoki added as an afterthought.
“Tell me about it,” Ryo mumbled and rubbed his cheek gingerly while Motoki began to pour a little milk into Makoto’s tea.
“So, I can assume from the love tap that she gave you, that you two are on a date?” Motoki asked, while chuckling jovially.
“Yeah,” Ryo answered with a sigh, turning toward Motoki fully, before asking for the same drink as Makoto was having.
“What with the heavy sigh?” Motoki asked warily. “Mako-chan can be a little volatile sometimes, but she’s not all that bad…” Ryo shook his head.
“No it’s not that. It just started out a bit on the rough side. Aino Minako and one of my friends set us up,” at this Motoki winced so that a tremor ran down through his arm, sloshing a bit of the tea, but Ryo continued, “Makoto didn’t know that she was being set up. Needless to say she wasn’t happy about it.”
“I can imagine,” Motoki said sympathetically before placing two caps on the drinks. He moved around again. “Minako-chan is as flighty as Makoto can be angry… She means well, but still…” He left the sentence hanging as he retrieved two straws and made his way back to Ryo.
“Yeah, she and Seiji- my friend- both mean well… But…” Ryo sighed and he took one of the straws. “Can I confide something to you?”
Motoki seemed surprised by the gravity Ryo’s expression quickly took and nodded. Over the next few minutes Ryo painstakingly told Motoki the entire nature of the “contract” that he had agreed to with Seiji. Motoki understood the delicate nature of agreements between men. He still seemed horrified at the entire implications of the contract, though, and voiced his opinion quietly.
“Listen Ryo, I promise not to tell anyone about this, but you have to understand that when Mako-chan likes someone, she really likes them. It’s a total eclipse of the heart. She doesn’t go for a simple attraction, she goes for the whole enchilada. Even if she didn’t arrange this date, if she goes through with this, I know that she’s going to fall hard for you.”
Ryo resisted the urge to snort, not at Motoki’s pleading, but more his last statement.
‘She seems to be able to hit harder than she can fall, at this rate anyway,’ Ryo thought, maintaining a straight face as Motoki stared at him. The solemnity of Motoki’s words and his expression hit him full force for a moment, and he nodded. “I promise, Motoki-san. I’m not going to break Makoto’s heart.”
Before Motoki could offer his honest apologies, there was a loud shout from the arcade that caught the attention of both young men.

___(A Few Moments Earlier…)___

The two men turned toward the parlor, leaving Makoto to find a spot at the single Sailor Senshi game where she tossed in a few tokens and picked Sailorjupiter, immediately moving into an aggressive gamer mode. Her first challenge was straight off Sailorvenus.
‘Thank God,’ she thought with a malicious grin. ‘I’ve been needing to kick Minako’s ass all night… Maybe when the night’s over, I can actually thank her for hooking me up with such a cool guy…’ She grinned even wider at the thought as Sailorjupiter sent a cheesy and pixellated attack at Sailorvenus. Fortunately, it was enough to harm the equally cheesy and pixellated Soldier of Love.
She was oblivious to the form behind her until a slightly masculine cough interrupted her thought processes, causing a Love-chain to slip by and pull Sailorjupiter off of her feet. From there it only took a well-aimed Crescent Beam to put the strongest of the Inner senshi out of commission.
“Damnit,” Makoto growled through gritted teeth, looking over her shoulder quickly to glare at the person that had broken her fragile attention. Her eyes widened in surprise at a sudden memory, and then immediately narrowed in animosity. “You…” she muttered, her fist tightening around the game control of its own accordance.
“Yeah, babe, it’s me. Joe the Storm! So any old time now you can move that cute little ass of yours, because that’s my game you’re playing.” Makoto glared at him, almost surprised at his density.
‘You want a storm? I’ll give you a storm, you punk…’ She was sure that she was steaming by now. The creep still had the same tacky glasses, cap, and jeans/jacket outfit.
‘I bet he thinks he’s the shit,’ she thought and closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. ‘I am calm… I am the forests. I am the leaves of the trees… My heartbeat is the breath of the earth… I am the living incarnation of the earth and wind…’ Slowly opening her eyes, she suddenly felt much better. ‘I can handle a jackass like Joe the Storm…’ She stared at him calmly, forcing a smile onto her face as she spoke evenly, “This game doesn’t have your name on it. You can wait your turn, though it’s probably going to be a while. I kind of like this game, myself…” She turned around slowly, emphasizing her point and reset the game, once more choosing Sailorjupiter as her champion. Quickly changing her thoughts she wondered, ‘Why does it feel wrong to use one of the other guys? Maybe it’s because Jupiter is who I really am and to be one of them would be lying to myself. Still, it’s just a game…’
“Hey baby,” Joe spoke as he moved to her side so it would be harder to ignore him. Not only was he now leaning on the console, but he was also leaning close enough that she could smell him. “Everyone knows that this is my game. Why don’t you be a doll and run along and play dress up with your friends or bake me a cake,” he suggested, grinning at the crowd that was starting to gather around them. In the effort to get the smell of soured clothing and body odor out of her nostrils, she nearly missed his words, but quickly allowed her subconscious to replay them for her.
She turned over her shoulder once more and snapped angrily, “Go try the crane game!” before she turned around shortly and continued her brutal assault on Sailormars, who was already twitching in an electrocuted heap on the ground.
Joe watched the feisty young woman before him with a sense of déjà vu. Something about her words stirred a vague memory within, but as soon as it had come it was gone. A few years earlier he had been the best UFO prize catcher in the surrounding three districts then his talent seemed to have simply declined, leaving him to pursue other areas of the arcade. As it was, he had worked hard to get his name in the second highest score slot on the Senshi fighter game, and he wanted to continue in his pursuits. The chick in front of him was starting to be a real bother.
‘Yeah, who cares if he can’t remember the Dark Kingdom,” Makoto thought sourly, narrowly missing a “World Shaking” attack from Sailoruranus. ‘Serves him right for being such a prick. At least now he’s shut up…’
She seriously considered rethinking her last thought when she felt a firm hand grasp her shoulder and swivel her seat around so quickly that she banged her knee on the game. There was no time to dwell on the surge of pain through her knee, not that it was horrendous as it was, because Joe still had a grip on her shoulder and was trying to forcefully remove her from the chair. She stared up at him with wide eyes, gripping the seat of her chair with both hands while her jaw set in a firm line, demonstrating her stubborn will against his sudden aggression. ‘I have tried to be calm, but to hell with that! He’s asking for it!’ she thought angrily. At the same time a growl rose within her throat and she shook him off roughly, saying, “Get. Lost. Now!”
Her eyes never left the face of the openly frowning Joe the Storm, but she could still see through he peripheral vision that a crowd was gathering around them, a large one. ‘Fuck,’ she thought silently, clenching her fist.
Part of her wanted him to lash out at her. She wanted an excuse to deck someone, still angry with Minako, though it was really just a strong annoyance with the blonde’s antics at this point. Part of her wanted him to just leave so she could calm down. Either way she didn’t think that the night was going to end nicely.
"Stubborn, aren’t you, bitch?” Joe muttered, smirking wildly before he raised his hand quickly to strike her. Her eyes widened and in a split second she was creating a fist while turning the swivel chair to dodge him- unnecessarily.
Ryo had rushed out of no where and grasped Joe’s arm faster than she could even see, which certainly caught her attention, as well as the attention of everyone else in the arcade. Motoki was standing next to her, helping her to her feet as she watched the interplay between Ryo and Joe. By the time she was fully aware of what had happened, Ryo had twisted Joe’s arm behind his back, forcing his now spasming hand above his shoulder blades. Joe’s glasses were now askew, thanks to the fact that his greasy face was held firmly against the screen of one of the crane games, across from the console Makoto had been using.
‘Much more tension and his arm will break- and not clean,’ Makoto thought numbly as she held her hands at her sides casually. She was vaguely aware of a burning pain in her knee.
An audible murmur rose from the patrons, some smiling, some pointing as they watched the scene. After a moment Motoki’s body began to tense and Makoto could see that he was about ready to move forward and intervene. She placed a gentle hand on his wrist, not lifting her eyes from the scene before her.
“Some of the words that you’ve just spoken to the lovely lady before you were very impolite!” Ryo admonished sarcastically, his tone being that of what someone would use with a small child.
Joe spluttered and muttered beneath him, spit flying from his mouth in a rage as he snarled, “Fu-“ The Storm quickly found himself slammed into the console again, his breath being knocked from him as Ryo gasped in feigned surprise.
“What was that, Joe? I’m sorry, my arm must have slipped- hard. Now, let’s try this again. The beautiful woman that you can see, if you open your eyes, is a bit upset over you touching her without her permission, as well as insulting her like the filthy scum-sucking pig-faced maggot you are.” Ryo exaggerated his pondering tone, thinking about his course of action to take, while leaning on Joe with the elbow of the arm that held the offender in place. It seemed as if a light bulb went off in his head, the same time that Joe’s diaphragm began to relax. “I know! I am going to strongly suggest that you apologize to her right now. Her name is something that you don’t have the privilege of speaking, much less knowing, but I think that ‘lady’ will work when you apologize to her… What do you say? Do you think that’s fair?” Ryo asked, smiling jovially down at Joe, while giving his arm a small squeeze. There was silence for a time and Ryo’s arm accidentally “slipped” again, causing Joe to drop against the crane with another wheeze.
“Sorry, lady,” Joe muttered pathetically. His arm was starting to go numb…
“What’s that, Joe?”
“Sorry, lady!” Joe cried out, half in anger half in embarrassment.
“Much better,” Ryo cried. Then all at once his expression darkened and he had lowered his mouth to Joe’s ear, speaking lowly to him. “If I ever see you touch another woman, or try to hit another woman- especially this woman- I will do more than just twist you arm. Understand?”
“Okay…” Joe spoke lowly and nodded against the game, sending a smear of oil over the plastic cover.
Ryo gave Joe’s arm one more good squeeze before releasing him and taking a few quick steps back, in case the greasy pig tried to fight back suddenly, causing the crowd behind him to move as well. Joe slowly stood from his spot, moving his arm around slowly and rotating it even more slowly. He cast a quick glare to Ryo before turning away and shoving his hands into his pockets. He moved toward the exit doors, walking past Makoto and Motoki without so much as a word. The entire crowd that had gathered, nearly all of the patrons, watched as he made it to the sliding glass doors before looking back.
Makoto was silently glad that he had taken the small beating. It wasn’t as bad as what she would have done to him, she thought later, but for the moment she was startled, and slightly pleased, with the outcome of events. She turned her gaze back from the doors of the arcade to Ryo who was already watching her with a benevolent, if not somewhat sheepish smile.
‘Maybe I should be, but how can I be angry with a guy like that? When was the last time a guy took up for me? Mamoru-san as Tuxedo Kamen doesn’t count. That’s his job… If Ryo was doing it just to be some macho guy, he could have taken it a lot farther than he did, but he just made a point… And that point was for Joe to apologize to me…’
Makoto stared as Ryo bridged the few meters between them and took her hand in his lifting it to his chest while she stared at him with something between admiration and wonder. Motoki took the opportunity to break up the crowd of people around them, but the pair was oblivious. Her eyes narrowed slowly in concentration and thought and she murmured, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he replied, echoing with the same soft voice she had used. Seeming to sense how close the two were and how intense the situation was getting, though now for an entirely different reason, Ryo slowly released Makoto’s hand and was about to ask her condition when a grimace on her part answered it for him.
The brunette became lopsided for a moment as she reached down to her knee and rubbed it gently, only causing her to crouch further as it sent a tremor of pain through her leg. Motoki reappeared before Ryo could ask what was wrong, besides the obvious. While Motoki’s attention was focused on Ryo, Makoto righted herself and forced a smile onto her face.
“Haven’t seen one of those in a while,” Motoki admitted with a goofy grin, in reference to the small skirmish. Makoto shared it for a moment, before it melted into a smaller smile.
“Sort of sorry about that, Motoki-san,” Makoto spoke, not bothering to put much force behind the words. She had spoken sincerely. Turning back to her date, she spoke, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to stick around too much longer. If people remember your face they’ll be coming out of the woodwork just to pick a fight with you. Joe’s probably got a few thugs to back him up, anyway, somewhere- under rocks…”
“That’s probably not a bad idea. Besides, if the old man comes down in a bit, he’ll wonder what all the ruckus was about anyway,” Motoki said, sparing a glance to the ceiling. He chuckled then, and spoke, “Whoa, brings back memories…”
Makoto could not help but flush in embarrassment, muttering lamely, “Things change…”
The blond worker escorted Makoto and Ryo to the door, handing them their tea before they headed out. At the door Makoto held up her cup. “Thanks for the foresight,” she spoke in reference to the portable cup.
Motoki leaned against the wall with one shoulder, feet crossed before him before tapping the side of his head and replying, “You mean hindsight!”
Makoto blushed at the innuendo and bowed her head slightly. She turned quickly, grateful that Ryo was patient enough to wait for her, but desperately wishing that he would keep pace with her so that they could get out quickly. It had been nice to have someone protecting her for a change, so much so that she would not have considered the evening a total waste.
“Hey wait!” someone called from behind them as Makoto was beginning to raise her cup to her lips. She paused and lowered the cup, looking back to the doors while she began to put her umbrella up. “Ryo!” It was Motoki that was calling and for a moment Makoto tried to catch her date’s gaze, but he would not catch her eye. “Ryo, don’t forget that promise, OK?”
Makoto watched the exchange silently, her eyes shifting from Ryo to Motoki and then back again. Ryo spared a glance to his peripheral vision that did not go unnoticed, then grinned and flashed Motoki thumbs up.
“Sure thing, Motoki-san!” Ryo called before he hurriedly turned himself and Makoto back into the rain to make for a cab stop.
“You two sure chummed it up pretty fast,” Makoto spoke as she looped her arm around Ryo’s carefully. “What was all that about?” He looked at her in surprise before returning her smile with a gentle one of his own.
“Oh nothing; guy stuff, you know. Motoki’s not a bad guy…” Ryo spoke, casting a quick glance to Makoto as they walked beneath her umbrella. Would she buy it? If she hadn’t, she wasn’t pressing the issue. He was grateful for that much, at least. Minako and Seiji had told him that she was brutally honest, sometimes to a fault. If the pretty young woman was as honest as spoken of, he could only see that she would expect the same honesty given to her. ‘She’s going to be pissed if she ever finds out about the contract.’
They found a cab quickly and Ryo held the umbrella over Makoto as she slid into the car then quickly jumped in himself, trying to get the umbrella in without too much hassle. Makoto laughed lightly as Ryo ended up getting wetter than he would have without the umbrella as the rain poured in through the open door. Finally, Makoto reached over his lap and placed her hands over his, steadying his fumbling arms. With her calm hands gently guiding his, Ryo closed the umbrella. Makoto bit her bottom lip through a smile as she gave it one more shake, closed it, and then reached for the door, supporting herself by gripping Ryo’s thigh.
A shot of heat ran through him as fast as lightning and it did not help that Makoto chose to crawl back over him slowly the same way so that she would not tumble completely into his lap.
‘Damn leather pants! Damn leather pants!’ his mind screamed while he watched Makoto brush part of her bangs out of her eyes while leaning forward to give an address to the driver. Her hair was slightly damp, and a few drops of water ran over her cheeks freely, and down her chin where they raced down her neck to quickly disappear between her cleavage. He noticed as he forcefully pulled his eyes back to her face that it was flushed from the cold, no doubt his was too, and he came to a stark realization.
‘Kino Makoto, I want you…’

___(Shift!)___

‘Kino Makoto, I want you…’
Makoto’s gaze turned away from the driver and was on Ryo in a flash. His mouth was closed; he hadn’t said anything, and yet she had heard the words as clearly as if he had murmured them like a silken purr at her ear. He was gazing at her with intense blue eyes that caused her breath to catch before she licked her lips gently.
Her gaze broke off quickly and she wrapped her arms around herself, looking out of the window and then forward beyond the driver; anywhere but to Ryo.
‘He didn’t say it. He never said anything. …Right? But if he had said something, why am I so bothered? How long has it been since I’ve been with someone so intimately. For that matter, has he ever been with someone? Sure he’s a guy, and he wouldn’t just come right out and tell me if I asked him, but he’s not lewd like some other sex-crazed guys. But he doesn’t seem like a total prude, either… Why did Seiji and Minako pick him? Or maybe, why did they pick me?’
Ryo sighed as Makoto looked away from him and closed in on herself. For a short time, she was completely silent as she stared straight ahead, thinking about things that she did not choose to divulge with him. He sighed aloud and looked forward himself, feeling the night slipping away from him.
‘Why did she look at me so severely? It wasn’t like she heard what I was thinking… Did she?’ He shifted uncomfortably. The combination of his restrictive pants and his growing need for release was becoming most uncomfortable, even for someone with his pain tolerance.
“What the fuck?!” the driver shouted angrily. Ryo and Makoto leaned forward as he began to beep the car’s horn madly, while screaming, “Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” The pair in the backseat once more found their gazes locking with the other’s as the driver continued. “Hold on!” he cried out to them, jerking the pedal to the left roughly. Both were sent tumbling to the left as the screech of tires reached their ears.
For a while all Makoto could see were the blurring lights of the city streets around her. She squeezed her eyes together tightly to push back a wave of nausea and gasped deeply, ready to cry out in blind panic.
Everything stopped.
It took a few moments for Makoto to realize that she was not dead. It took another few for her to realize that not only was she sandwiched between Ryo and the back, left door of the car, but also that his arms encircled her protectively. He had shielded his body from hers for all of the good it would have done in a wreck, and his breath was currently ragged and blowing against her ear in a hot breeze that was causing the hairs on the back of her neck to raise.
She released a shaky sigh, looking forward for a moment. The driver was gone, and his door was wide open, allowing some of the rain to be carried back in by the wind. Then she cast her glance to the back windshield and saw that they had been turned fully around in the road. Releasing another shaky breath, she snaked one of her arms under Ryo’s grasp and around to his back, shaking him slightly.
“Ryo?” she croaked and her voice was more emotional than she would have liked it to be. He gave no response and she shook him harder, “Ryo!”
“Makoto,” he spoke calmly, lifting his head from hers and looking down on her in concern.
“Are you okay?” she asked quickly, lifting both hands to his face and turning his face this way and that. He gently removed his face from her grasp and held her gaze for a moment, still holding her protectively.
“I’m okay. Are you?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied quickly, then realizing that she hadn’t had the opportunity to take a tally of any would-be injuries. Silence passed between them despite the angry shouts that were forming outside. Heat radiated between them being shared, absorbed by the other, a shield against the angry storm outside that raged and howled at them.
Makoto stared at Ryo, aware of these things and more.
‘Twice… Twice that he’s tried to protect me…’ she thought silently, an expression mixed with sadness and wonder written on her face as she stared at him, searching for words to voice the sudden surge of emotion within her.
She buried her face hard against his neck, clinging to him. Adrenaline was still racing through her and he returned the hug tightly, coarse emotions running through him as he frowned deeply and held her. They were alive, thank God, but what had happened?
Her kiss threw him for a loop. One moment she was hugging him with fierce abandon and the next she had covered his mouth with hers, still clinging to him like a lifeline. His eyes were wide with surprise and- surprise? He found himself returning the kiss, his eyes closing as his hands felt more comfortable positions around her body, relaxing his hold, but only slightly. One of her hands felt its way to cup the side of his face loosely, gentle for all of the strength that he knew was hidden beneath it.
‘The driver was yelling and then we were turning and turning and all I could think about was protecting you…’ he thought with a sigh holding her more tightly. She shifted against him as she made a move to deepen the kiss, unknowingly rubbing her thigh against the dormancy in his pants. Nearly at once he began to feel the pangs from earlier in the evening when a seemingly innocent encounter with her would send heat rushing through his body. Makoto did not shift again, though, and as blood continued to course through him, and the bulge in his pants grew larger against Makoto’s leg.
Whether or not she was aware of his growing need for release, she deepened the kiss, coaxing her tongue into his mouth and he was responded. His tongue slipped into her mouth easily and began to cautiously explore. The taste of tea, milk, and sugar was still on her mouth, leaving a sweet taste on her that he began to drink in greedily. His breath came faster while his hands began to move over her body. He was not moving beyond his bounds yet, some bit of sense still with him, but it was leaving quickly as the cold from the storm began to disappear thanks to the heat within their bodies.
His hand came to rest just beneath her breast when there was a loud cry of, “Fucking pervert kids!” The kiss broke off quickly leaving the two slightly dazed as to what was going on. From the front seat, the old driver had stuck his head over his chair and was scowling deeply at them. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! If you’re going to do that kind of crazy shit go home and do it in private! You’ll give this old fucker a heart attacker!”
At once Makoto had slipped out from under Ryo, shouting obscenities at the driver. If there was ever any doubt in his mind that she had not wanted to be there beneath him kissing him until he couldn’t think straight, it had vanished. The ease with which she had freed herself told him that much. Either that or he had been so disoriented by the exchange that he hadn’t put up much resistance.
“You fucking pig!” Makoto was shouting from outside the car, towering over the old man by several centimeters. “You nearly get us killed and then you throw us out on the street?! You should give us free rides for the rest of our lives so we don’t sue your ass, old man!”
His desire receding once more, he crawled out of the car and into the fierce rain storm once more, the heat at once fading from his body as the wind ripped past him, tearing at him as if it had come straight from the arctic. He moved next to Makoto and stood silent for a moment. The old man was oblivious to him.
“Go bang each others brains out somewhere else! I’m not having anything else to do with you!” he shouted angrily and then turned back toward his car, shoving past Ryo to do so. Makoto whirled angrily to follow him, but her eyes fell on Ryo instead and she balked, all anger leaving her in a flash. She was too distracted by his presence to remember the old man.
It was evident that the kiss was still fresh on her mind. The young woman was no longer shy and coy with him. The kiss was fresh in her mind now that her anger for the old man had been vindicated. Emerald eyes roamed over his rain soaked appearance. The jacket that he had taken off in the arcade had not come back on yet, and his figure was outlined perfectly, the light of the street lamps behind him casting an ominous red halo around his black-clad body.
It was the same for Makoto as Ryo studied her. The leather on her body had turned so dark it was nearly black, thanks to the rain, but the skin he could see, her belly and the tops of her cleavage, were glistening from the rain. Brown locks were plastered to her face and in the rain he could see her face more clearly, seeing how vulnerable she truly looked behind the thick dark locks of hair. Yet at the same time, she seemed to be in her element. She was unblinking as she stared at him through the rain, and she did not shiver, though he seemed ready to freeze. It was as if she was a part of the entire system, not just withstanding the rain, but living with it.
He stared down at her solemnly and closed the gap between them. One hand wrapped around her waist possessively while the other grabbed the small of her back and pulled her to him, no longer shy and surprised as had been the case before.
She did not struggle against him.
He had not expected her to.
Ryo pulled her upward, easily enough, to bridge the few centimeters in their height and he kissed her with the passion and strength of the storm around them. The intimacy between them could have only been taken a single step further. As it was they were already beyond the culture limits of decency.
While the angered shouts of those involved in the “car accident” continued to wail, Makoto wrapped her tongue around Ryo’s, massaging it aggressively. At the same time he pulled hard at her mouth with his own kiss, his arms wrapped around her possessively, shielding her from some of the rain.
‘Fast learner,’ fluttered across her mind before she suddenly found her hands dropping from his back to his ass, which she squeezed firmly. He moaned into her mouth and she kissed him harder in response, suckling his tongue while setting his body on fire once more.
‘When did this happen? Two hours ago she wouldn’t even speak to me, and now I’m nearly in her pants?’ Ryo thought as one of his hands took a mind of its own and migrated to Makoto’s thigh, giving it a nice squeeze. She suddenly groaned against his mouth and pulled away from him roughly, her hands leaving their holds.
“Damnit!” she cried loudly, hunched over as both of her hands grasped her knee. Her voice was choked with emotion and her eyes were closed tightly.
“Makoto, what’s wrong?” he asked quickly, placing a hand on her shoulder as he hunched over, but immediately stood back up. The bulge in his pants was not going to have him doing any bending until he found release. This was not the time for Makoto to be freezing up on him, either. True, the middle of the street was not the best place to make love to someone, but he was too aroused to care. If they simply stumbled onto a semi-dry alley with a few cardboard boxes he would have been happy.
Still, the question did not need asking. Her hands were clasped gingerly around her knee, which looked nearly as swollen as he felt. “Did Joe do that to you?” he asked. It seemed to take a moment for Makoto to digest the question, then she released a shaky sigh, her jaw twitching as she reigned in on the pain and opened her eyes.
“Yeah,” she replied throatily. Despite the pain she was experiencing, she was still being affected by the kiss, too. He looked around quickly, looking for a pay phone and wishing that he had a cell phone. Then again, if he called a taxi, they might end up going at it in the back seat before they could get to a doctor. “Come on,” she called, drawing his attention quickly and easily. “My apartment’s not far. Besides, we’re both soaking wet…” Makoto stopped. She had been about to say that they needed to get out of their clothes, but they were already moving at the speed of light as it was. She didn’t need Ryo thinking she was some kind of easy tramp…
The walk to her apartment was painful for both of them. Makoto, because of the obvious pain in her knee and for Ryo less than obvious reasons. The rain, however, was at least helping his cause. It held the same magic as a cold bath and by the time they reached her small apartment complex, he felt almost himself again. He could at least think straight.
Inside it was not much warmer than it was outside, but at least it was dry and there was not a strong wind blowing at them. When they stepped in, Makoto swore while she pulled off her leather jacket and tossed it beneath a coat rack next to the door.
“I’m sorry it’s so cold,” she spoke with a heavy sigh, limping toward a hallway directly before them. “It saves money to leave the heater off when I’m not here, and I wasn’t expecting to get caught in the rain like this.” For a moment she disappeared from his view and Ryo had to release a thick breath he had been holding. His body was definitely not as cold as it had been in the rain. After Makoto had removed her jacket he had gotten his second good glimpse of how round and firm her ass looked. The first time had been when she had hugged Motoki, but this time there was nothing to obscure the view and he once again felt desire begin to consume him.
‘What happened to your virtue, oh mighty man?’ he demanded of himself. The dull hum of machinery told him that the heater was turned on. He began to busy himself looking around her apartment so not to be caught staring when she reappeared. Plants were everywhere, thriving, and the entire place was immaculate, save the jacket she had just thrown to the floor. Then to top it off, it still looked lived in.
He heard her before he saw her, rather he heard the clinking of dishes in a kitchen, and he let his ears guide him to her. She had thrown a thin sweater over her slim top, but had not bothered to change pants yet and she was whirling around the kitchen, breathing heavily and nearly hunched in on herself from the cold.
He found her reaching for a bag of tea, or something, over the stove, but unsuccessfully. She was trying to do so by standing on the toes of her good foot, but the difference caused by her tilting was just enough to throw her off. With a disgruntled sigh, she put the other foot down and braced herself for the pain that would come with the stretching. Ryo didn’t realize what was going through her mind until she was crumpling to the floor, box of powder in hand.
Before she completely fell, he dashed forward and grabbed her, hauling her back to her feet while she clutched his arms tightly. He just held her for a time, listening silently as she released colorful, but muffled, swears against his still-soaked black sweater. It was not until he had lifted her from the waist and began to tow her into the living room that her screaming ceased.
Makoto found herself dropped onto her couch unceremoniously, jarring her knee further and causing her to glare at Ryo.
“What the hell are you doing?!” she snarled. He matched her expression easily before he knelt before her, fighting to keep eye contact instead of giving in to her withering gaze. After a while she subsided to a frown and looked away, pouting with her arms crossed over her chest.
Ryo did not bother hiding a small sigh of annoyance, before he looked down at the swollen knee, hidden beneath wet blue leather. His fingers tentatively searched just outside of the bruised area and he caught the movement of Makoto turning back to face him.
“It’s dislocated,” she spoke artlessly, almost calm, but her voice was thick. From pain or emotion, he could not tell. He simply nodded in agreement, and the two shared a sigh.
“Take off your pants,” he spoke gently. Had he not been so calm about his demand, she probably would have slugged him and then thrown him off of the balcony where his body would create a blood smear. If the rain kept up, he would have washed away by daybreak.
Instead, she settled for eyeing him as if had grown another head and questioned, “What the hell is going on in that cute little head of yours, hmm?”
Ryo instantly blushed and frowned, despite the fact that his patience was wearing thin. His intentions were purely innocent, but he could see how it must look from her angle.
He replied, “I can pop the knee back into place if you’ll let me, but I can’t do it with your pants on. So go ahead and take them off.”
Makoto grinned wryly at him, causing him to look away as she placed her hands on either side of her hips, speaking huskily, “That eager to get me undressed?” Thick silence ensued as she waited for him to reply. Her words had been meant in jest, but his laugh was too late in coming. They were both aware of the tension in the air and for a while neither of them spoke. “…Yeah,” she finally murmured, eager to dispel the tension.
She coughed lowly and began to push off of the couch with one hand. The other held out to Ryo, which he stared at for a moment. When he had still not done anything about the hand held in front of his face, Makoto sighed gently. For all of her passion a few minutes earlier, she was gentle when she spoke, “Help me stand, please.”
Taking her hand, he did so, and pulled her to her feet. He could feel that she was using him for support by the pressure on his hand, but he was not complaining. It wasn’t that bad and it helped to take his mind off of some of the more pressing matters, like the blood coursing through his body, or the fact that Makoto was about to be undressing, with the idea that he would then put his hands on her bare flesh. True, it wasn’t for a carnal goal, but you could never tell…
She pulled her sweater up gently and then grabbed a zipper at her hip, pulling it down quickly and exposing the milky white skin that lay beneath it. She did the same with an identical zipper at her other hip, reaching further to use the same hand. The same china-colored skin lay beneath the blue leather. Whether it was so pale from the cold or it was naturally that color, Ryo didn’t know, but he didn’t care either. It was flawless.
Here she seemed to hesitate and when he looked to her face, she did not return the glance. Still, he could see a fierce red blush staining her face as she reached for the waist of her pants. No longer using his hand for support she used both hands and began to pull at the waist. For a moment the pants seemed to be stuck to her skin and she blushed even more crimson, murmuring something that he barely heard; a request for him to turn around.
He complied and took a step away from her to give her more room and she tried to be quiet. The pants gave her away though, with a sloppy, sticky motion as she pulled them down slowly. He heard her sigh and figured that she had gotten the pants down as far as her knee and was now working the leather down slowly to stop some of the pain.
The pants were kicked off roughly and zoomed past Ryo where they hit the wall and fell to the floor with a sickening plop. “Okay,” Makoto spoke calmly and Ryo turned around. She was sitting on the couch again, her sweater pulled over her lower areas while her legs to the bottom of her hip were bare and extended straight before her.
Surprisingly, the first sight that caught his eyes was her discolored knee. The kneecap was nearly turned up on its side and the skin around it was purple color, causing the skin to appear shiny and velvety, and not in a good way.
‘How the hell did she not feel all of that pain?’ he wondered silently. ‘That has to hurt like a bitch…’
With a deep sigh he knelt before her, his rough hands gently covering the bruised flesh. He saw Makoto wince slightly, but she was silent as they made eye contact. In her eyes he saw the same expression that had come from Touma when he had had to do this to his blue-haired comrade in the Demon World. Their was worry and some fear, but overall resignation. This time he chose to use the same tactic as he had with Touma. After all, to be able to stand such pain for so long, Makoto was not a normal girl.
With his eyes he held her gaze and murmured lowly, “Are you ready?” Then he waited a moment as her mouth opened to respond. But before she could say a word his hand pressed down over the kneecap and moved quickly, jerking the bone back into place.
Her head thrown back, a scream of pure, unbridled agony left her lips and she dropped onto her side, clutching her knee tightly. The sound disappeared quickly and Makoto grit her teeth tightly, holding her knee to her chest, no longer able to hide her body from Ryo’s inquisitive eyes. Still, he cast away the temptation of drinking in her form and sat on the couch beside her, pulling her into a gentle embrace so that her head rested against his chest. Her eyes were drowsy with the pain, and her hands slipped from the purple knee to his arms where she held to him as tears dribbled over her face.
“I thought you’d at least swear…” he teased gently, leaning back over the couch and pulling her with him.
His hand stroked her back soothingly as she mumbled, “Fuck you.” Then she chuckled gently, sending a wave of emotion through him as he held her. At last she broke into a full out laugh, grasping the sweater on his chest as tears continued to course down her face.
“At least I made you laugh,” he murmured proudly, a smirk on his face as she looked up and regarded him with a pink, puffy face. Before grinning and slapping his chest tightly. Then she took a deep breath and pushed off of him, standing unsteadily before walking past him. There was a nice view of her thigh, which some of the color had returned to, and an upside down view of her derriere that caused him to sigh and close his eyes.
He rolled off of the couch and followed her to the kitchen where the teakettle was nearly ready to whistle. When he reached the kitchen he expected to find Makoto pouring steaming water in china teacups but instead he found Makoto, herself. As he entered the kitchen, her body impacted with his in a carefully planned move. He was forced against the wall next to the door where he opened his mouth to cry out in surprise, his eyes wide with surprise. The sound was swallowed as Makoto’s lips covered his and her tongue slipped into his mouth, continuing where they had left off in the middle of the street. She nibbled at his lip only for a moment before her tongue slid over and around his gently, coaxing it out of dormancy. He whimpered, too aroused to feel ashamed at the sound, and wrapped an arm around her waist tightly, quickly responding to her efforts. He drew her against him with one arm and took a deep breath as he felt her breasts swell against his chest.
She did not let him take charge right away, though. While her mouth kept his busy and silent, her left hand moved to the hem of his sweater and then slid beneath it, sending warmth over his chilled skin. She could feel a wave of goose bumps prickle over him and she smiled. Ryo was already breathing hard and Makoto could only give a devilish grin as her silken fingertips grazed his left nipple. Her movements were constricted because of his tight sweater, but he was responsive enough for Makoto to continue her efforts.
‘That’s going to go soon, though,’ she thought as she began to caress the nipple between her thumb and index finger.
Ryo’s free hand reached up and to the clip holding Makoto’s ponytail in place. He gave it a soft tug, amazed with the ease in which it came out, sending auburn curls tumbling to the small of Makoto’s back. It fell from Ryo’s hand with a soft, forgotten clatter and became forgotten itself as Ryo ran his hand through her thick, soft tresses while he remained pinned between Makoto and the wall.
The soft skin of Ryo’s nipple warmed and hardened pleasantly under Makoto’s touch. She pulled her mouth away from Ryo’s mouth, leaving a few centimeters between them while the moan that she had silenced earlier spilled over his lips. Hot breath billowed over her cheek as she too caught her breath, though more subtly than he did.
Despite his passiveness and the fact that he seemed to be too caught up within the pleasure Makoto was bringing him, as soon as she paused he regained his senses and sought control. His hands dropped to the backs of her thighs and he lifted her easily, causing her eyes to widen before he grinned to her and kissed her again.
For a moment her breath was lost as the deep kiss caught her off guard. She wrapped her legs around his waist, though, and pulled her arms around his neck as she responded to the kiss, her tongue rolling over his. Her eyes closed, but she could feel him carrying both of them with ease back to the living room.
She felt herself being dropped onto the couch once more and she stretched her long legs over the length as she propped herself up on her elbows, gulping air as she looked up at Ryo. He stood over her for a moment, but his face was hidden behind the cloth of his damp black sweater as he pulled it over his head. When it was fully removed from his body Makoto got the first good luck at the bronzed, toned skin that her hand had only briefly explored a few moments earlier.
Ryo’s sweater took the same course as Makoto’s pants and she watched as they hit the floor in nearly the same spot. Movement above her caught her eyes and she turned back quickly to see Ryo crawling over her. She couldn’t help but grin at the mussed look his hair provided, but it was quickly lost as he dove on her again, his mouth slipping over hers.
Her arms wrapped around his back and as he shifted she could feel a ripple of supple muscle beneath his taut skin. His lips left her but continued to plant hot wet kisses on her skin as they migrated over her jaw line to her neck. She stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily through her mouth before the swell of her breasts met the restriction of Ryo’s chest and she closed her eyes lazily.
Ryo was vaguely aware, as one of Makoto’s hands slid into his thick tufts of hair and as one of his hands slid over her breast, that something about this bliss was wrong. The small feeling in the back of his head, his Jin, was tickling the back of his consciousness, but he was too preoccupied to give it much thought. He was especially preoccupied when Makoto’s hand dipped down to the waist of his pants and unfastened the button holding it closed.
He broke off quickly and swallowed as he looked down at Makoto. Her lips were red and swollen and her neck had turned pink from his attention. He could see in her eyes the same wary expression that he felt within his own heart.
Makoto swallowed gently and closed her eyes before she slowly opened them, watching Ryo carefully. Her hands left their current positions for better holds around his shoulders. He sighed heavily and draped his body limply over her, his head resting in the crook of her neck where the smell of her shampoo wafted up to his nose and soothed his senses. It was as if they had skipped the entire lovemaking process and gone straight to the glow afterward, yet there was no warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach. The only things he felt were anxiety and worry.
He expected to lie there, to lie there silently until he either succumbed to sleep, Makoto moved, or until she kicked him out, but as she had in the kitchen, she surprised him. She hugged him with one arm, and used her free hand to interlock her fingers with his hand.
Giving his hand a light squeeze, she murmured, “Is this wrong?” Her hug shifted to a comforting gesture as she slowly rubbed Ryo’s bare back with her hand.
“We barely know each other,” he replied, his lips brushing against her neck and sending a chill through her spine. She nodded slowly, but remained silent so that he sighed again and she twitched from the warm sensations that ran through her. ‘I don’t want to have a one-night stand, Makoto… No matter how much Seiji or any of the guys think I need this, no matter how beautiful you are… It’s going to hurt more if I sleep with you and never see you again… You understand, don’t you?’ A loud clap of thunder that caused him to jump slightly, while Makoto seemed unaffected by it at all, punctuated his thought.
“Ryo,” she breathed.
“Hmm?” he asked slowly.
“Ryo, I don’t want to have a one night stand with you… I think you’re handsome, sweet, and intelligent, and even though we didn’t get to do much, I had fun with you…” Makoto’s voice was strong, but she paused as if uncertain and Ryo’s eyes closed a bit more as one arm drew around her. Her own comforting motion ceased and she continued, “But I don’t want to sleep around, and I don’t want you to think of me that way-”
“Makoto, I don’t think of you that way,” he spoke quickly, his face rising from the crook of her neck to look down at her with compassionate, understanding eyes. He smiled and rested his forehead against hers. “I think you’re one of the coolest women I’ve met. You’re beautiful, you’re fun, and you could probably kick my ass if you wanted to.” She laughed suddenly, a mirthful sound bubbling up from her throat that contradicted her uncertainty from a few moments earlier. “I don’t feel like you’re that kind of woman at all…”
She rolled them onto their sides slowly so that they could face one another more comfortably. They were still pressed tightly together from the lack of space, but neither seemed to mind from the closeness.
Their foreheads were still pressed together as Makoto took a deep breath and rolled Ryo onto his back, straddling his thighs. He stared at her with wide blue eyes, surprised at the seemingly one hundred and eighty degree turn her actions were from what they had just agreed. She leaned in quickly until their foreheads were once again pressing together and she closed her eyes.
His remained wide, though and he waited as she spoke, “There’s something about you, Sanada Ryo; something special… and I intend to find out what.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle, sending a gust of warm air over her face and neck, before he spoke, “There’s nothing really special about me. I’m just a guy. I’m just a guy with a beautiful woman in my lap.”
She pulled away from him, blushing crimson as she spoke, “When you say it that way it sounds bad…” He shook his head to dispel the thought and intertwined his hands behind his head, content for the moment to simply stare up at her. She smiled back down at him and released a deep breath, then dove down quickly and claimed his lips for a chaste kiss. “You’re wonderful.” When she pulled away he seemed slightly disappointed, but he smiled quickly.
‘There goes the contract, like it never existed, but if Minako and Seiji have anything to say, I’ll just tell ‘em to shove it. What kind of fucked up deal was that, anyway? I’ll just have to talk to them about setting up their friends…’ Ryo thought and wrapped both arms around Makoto, pulling her back down to him.
She yelped in surprise as he suddenly climbed off of the couch, still holding her easily. He moved back down the hallway as she protested, but remained clinging to his neck for fear that he would suddenly drop her, much to his amusement. It was the farthest thing from his mind.
It did not take long to find the door to her bedroom. It was opened and was of the only two actual doors in the shallow hallway. In her dark room it was dark and when Ryo tripped over the futon lying on the floor, Makoto yelped and the two both went flying. There was a loud grunt as Ryo landed on Makoto, causing the young woman to swear loudly before she began to laugh just as loudly. His eyes adjusted to the dark quickly and he watched as Makoto rolled onto her side, laughing loudly, while Ryo picked himself off of her.
‘We haven’t even slept with each other and I feel happier than I have in a long time,’ Makoto thought as she rolled over to face him quickly. He was busy tossing his leather pants into a meticulously clean corner of the room. She smirked while he grinned down at her.
“You know that when new leather gets wet, it has a tendency to shrink… I’ll admit that Seiji made me wear that getup just for tonight…” Ryo spoke and let loose a sigh of relief as he sank onto his side in the double-sized futon.
“No kidding! Minako made me borrow that outfit from a friend of ours… It’s probably never going to fit again…” Makoto sighed and then wrapped an arm loosely around his waist.
For a time she watched him as he made himself comfortable, resisting the urge to run fingers through his thick black hair. She sighed lowly, and asked, “So is this a mutual agreement to sleep together, but not?” He grinned at her, mimicking the gesture of putting an arm over her, though his went over her shoulders.
“Just think of this way,” he murmured lowly, his face dark in the unlit room. “This way we have plenty of time to get acquainted. Besides it’s already past midnight and my place is three districts away and would you make me go back through the cold and rain just to sleep by myself when there’s a beautiful women right here in front of me?”
“Flatterer!” she spoke. “Why don’t I just make you sleep on the couch?” she wondered aloud, snuggling closer to him to show that she had no intention of doing so.
“Because I am ‘handsome, sweet, intelligent, and fun’?” he prompted, causing her to poke him again, this time a bit harder, eliciting a small cry of surprise from him.
“Just don’t ever tell anyone that Kino Makoto just needs a warm body, all right?” she spoke and then curled her head against his shoulder, her hand reaching to the small of his back. Ryo grinned and pulled her to him, realizing that she was still wearing her leather top and her underwear. It was slightly damp from the rain still, but her body held enough warmth to more than make up for it.
For all the merit his suggestion about getting to know each other better held, Makoto did not seem to be in the mood to talk, and he could not blame her. With a low sigh of contentment, he wrapped his free arm beneath his head and closed his eyes, thinking that the entire night could have been a lot worse.

End Part One

Okay, so this chapter was more of a grape, but this WILL BE A LEMON BEFORE the END. To the would-be receiver of the story, I hope that you’re not too disappointed, but I just couldn’t bring these two to hop in the sack on a first date. I just don’t think that’s what either of them would do, and with each being with a “special” person it just seems more unlikely.

For the rest of you, I hope that you aren’t too disappointed either, and I hope that thus far you have enjoyed the story ^_^;;;