Boys For Hire!!

Chapter 20: Kiss

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LOL so I got a message request (yes you can do those I'm always willing to incorporate readers thoughts into this story, I mean it's you guys reading this right) to more like sensual romance scenes, so thought I'd put one in one of the scenes here. I'll put a ' ~*~ ' where it starts, so anyone not interested in reading it can skip to the next ' ~*~ ' where it ends. Enjoy!!

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Akihiko sits in silence as I huddle up back against the wall of my bed.

"How can I believe that..." He wisps out in a shaky breath.

"I think you already believe me." I whisper back. At the sight of my own tears, which I try but fail to cover, Akihiko drops his head into his hands.

"I thought you were a murderer, for so long I blamed you."

"Everyone did." I choke out, my small whimpers slowly turning into thick, throaty sobs. "Everyone thought I killed my best friend, t-they didn't even let me go to his funeral..."

He props back up at that, eyes swimming in regret. "I'm sorry."

Shaking my head, I shimmy over to the edge of the bed and fold my legs. "You didn't know me back then, you wouldn't of known what to believe."

He clutches the arm of the chair so tightly I swear I hear the wood splinter. "But I know you now. I knew you when you convinced Ichi he shouldn't of been a Boy For Hire, when you were able to make Hotaka laugh, when you climbed half around your house to get to Katsumi." He laughs sadly. "And yet I was so blinded by my baseless hate and anger towards you that I saw you as nothing but as someone I loathed."

"Well, one time you tried at least..." I whisper.

***

It was after we'd had the tomato juice filled water balloon fight, I'd just finished hosing off Katsumi who insisted I hose him off. I turn off the hose and make my way over to the outdoor sink to wash off my hands when I bump into Akihiko.

"Akihiko! Are you going inside? Could you grab some towels from the laundry for me? I'm scared Katsumi's gonna catch a cold, the hose water was pretty cold." I bite my nails anxiously, the last thing I need for the next school week is taking care of a sick Katsumi.

"Why would you even be worried."

"Huh?" I question, half distracted by picking up popped balloons.

Akihiko shows me a princely smile. "I meant, wouldn't it be easier not to worry? If Katsumi gets sick it isn't your responsibility, it's the Corporation's."

"That's harsh." I burst. "Katsumi's my friend, if something were to happen to him..." I trail off. "I'd be... really sad." And it's true. If one day I woke up and one of them were sick or hurt I... I feel like it'd hurt me too. "And stop wearing that fake ass smile around me." I accuse.

Akihiko's smile falls, replaced by curiosity.

"I've spent enough time with princes to know whether it's the throne or the princess that makes them smile."You figured that out the hard way with Shintaro didn't you. A little voice in the back of my head spites.

"Thank you." Akihiko finally gets out after a period of silence. "For worrying about Katsumi, and for repairing his relationship with Ichi." He rubs the back of his head.

"It was a team effort no thanks needed." I walk up to him hand out stretched. "Up-top." He reluctantly returns my hi-five and trudges back into the house. "Geez, I wonder what's up with him."

Oh well, it's the nicest he's been to me ever, so I'll take it.

***

I sit in silence, the blankets still huddled around me. "I met you once, you know." I finally speak, flinging my legs off the bed so I could swing them back and forth. "Hakiko invited me to watch one of your football games when you were in your last year of school. You taught me how to throw a ball, I should thank you. They let me onto the track and field team at school after..." He left...

His eyes widen a tad. "That was you? What were you doing behind Building G anyways?" He asks suspicious and I sigh.

"Waiting for Hakiko."

He nods understandingly. "You were so bad at throwing that ball, it was going all over the place."

"It's not my fault! The shape of the bloody ball is like an oval." We laugh a bit, and I realise I've huddled myself a fraction closer to Akihiko.

"If you knew who I was... didn't you question why I became a Boy For Rent?" He asks me suspiciously and chuckle in return.

"It was like if I saw Brittany Spears at Macdonalds, I wouldn't believe someone as famous as her would be there but she was." I shrug. "Worked the same I guess. The Akihiko that was in my head was level headed and sophisticated, so I never thought that..." I gulp nervously. "You'd become a Boy For Rent."

"I guess so..." He mutters sadly. "Besides, it was a long time ago, I barely see any of my friends from high school anymore, they've all changed so much..."

After Hakiko died, it's as if he was completely stripped apart...

"You know, you were really cute as a first year, with the worn down shoes and everything. And," He reaches his hand out to lift my bed hair to the top of my head. "You used to tie your hair up into a bun like this." I feel myself blush as he takes a hairband off by side table and ties my hair into a messy bun, I sniff as tendrils of hair fall down my face. Akihiko brushes the hair and tucks it behind me ear with his gentle fingers, his soft skin causing every bit of my face he touches to go red.

~*~

"Akihiko, I... Hotaka and you..." My head's spinning as Akihiko's dark blonde hair falls softly onto my forehead, the strands tickling my nose. Our faces are only centimetres apart, I can feel his breath on my lips. Suddenly, a faint memory of Shintaro pops into my mind and I wince. I try to revert my face to normal fast enough, but Akihiko notices.

His slender fingers dance across my neck then gently graze across my lips. "Are you thinking about him again?" When I don't respond, his amber eyes darken to a canary yellow. I jump when I feel something wet travel across my lips. "Shh..." He leans forward off the chair and drags his lips along my left cheek bone. I can hear my breaths becoming more and more detached with each time Akihiko touches me.

Moving my hands from the awkward positions they're in, I clasp his face with my hands and pull him toward me. He finally gets up from off the chair and puts both of his arms on either side of me. My face is probably blushed pink by now, and Akihiko can see that well enough. He tilts my chin up to look at him in the eye, his thumb grazing across my bottom lip. "Has anyone else ever held you like this?" I stay still unsure of how to answer. The only time Shintaro kissed me was when we were walking back from that restaurant. He told me that any other kisses like that could decrease his liability, which could affect him quitting or something or rather.

Akihiko frowns. "How many times."

"Only once." I shoot back. His smile returns, and it's not like the princely ones he used to throw around to keep me happy. It's... genuine.

His lips land on mine in a heart beat, and it isn't as aggressive as I'd expected it to be. He's careful, as if he's handling something delicate. It's almost... Cute. I lean further into him, pressing my lips harder against his. I part my lips and he slides his tongue into my mouth, playing with mine. He wraps his arms around me, closing the gap between our bodies. It's as if no one and nothing else exists, just Akihiko and I.

"Aki..."

~*~

I look up at the same time Akihiko does, the voice speaking his name wasn't mine.

"Chi..."

Looking over Akihiko's shoulder, I stare into shaky eyes, watering and sad. The boy at the door blinks tears down his face and sniffs quietly, trying to hold back an outburst. I'm frozen to the spot.

"K-Katsumi!" Akihiko turns around, still holding me tightly to his chest. Katsumi drops the wet towels and bandages he was previously holding and dashes from the doorframe, arms wrapped around himself.

Akihiko sits up in a panic. "Shit."