A/N- Sorry for the long wait. Some things came up, so I couldn't work on it as much. Anyway, enjoy!
"What's wrong?" he asked. I got up and grabbed his shoes and shoved it to him along with his bag.
"You need to hide," I told him.
"Why?" Karma frowned. There was no time to answer his question. The key started to unlock the door. I grabbed Karma's wrist and dragged him upstairs. When the door opened, I had no choice but to go into the nearest room; the bathroom. "What's going on-." I covered his lips with a finger and shushed him.
"Katsumi~," a voice muffled from the closed door.
"That's my mom," I whispered hastily. "I forgot, today was supposed to be a family reunion. Right now, my mom is stressed out from a lot of things, and I'm sure the last thing she wants to see I brought my boyfriend here." He removed my hand.
"But she-." Karma stopped himself. Wait... This is kind of interesting. Katsumi doesn't know that I already met her mom. "Does your mom not like you having a boyfriend?" he asked.
"Well, it's just... I think with the divorce going on, she wouldn't like to see me date right now. Also this reunion is supposed to be the last one just for formalities between the two sides of the family. It's kind of stupid, but my dad's side of the family insisted. So my mom is more stressed right now, and trust me you wouldn't want to meet her when she is stressed."
He smirked. No... Karma thought to himself. I trust you. So basically, you're going to hide me in your house while this reunion is going on. That's not so bad.
"KATSUMI~!" my mom screamed.
"Just a minute!" I called out. My eyes frantically looked around the room. I took off my tie and covered Karma's eyes with it. "Don't take this off," I commanded in a harsh whisper as I tied it.
"Funny, I thought I was still in command for the day," Karma taunted.
"Please," I entreated. He just gave me a smile as a response. I quickly unbuttoned my shirt and took it off along with my skirt. Then a bit hesitantly, I took off my bra. While keeping my eyes on Karma's hands the whole time, I wrapped myself around with a towel and then ran water through my hair. Karma lifted the blindfold out of curiosity.
"What are you doing?" he asked. After sprinkling some drops on my skin, I whipped my wet hair back and told Karma to stay inside. I walked out of the bathroom, and saw my mom coming up the stairs.
"What?" I asked, quickly shutting the door behind me.
"Oh you were showering?"
"Yeah, I just forgot to bring my clothes with me and got distracted by a drama on my phone," I lied like a professional. It was a ridiculous lie, though.
"Well hurry up and get changed before you catch a cold," my mom said.
"Yeah," I agreed while nodding my head. "Okay." Some of the drops from my hair fell and started to roll down my shoulders. Since she's stressed, she didn't notice how dry the towel was. My mom gave me a kind and warm smile. Did she notice?
"Katsumi, my dear. I don't care if you are going to bail on this reunion, but please make sure to help your mother out." I only just realized the kitchen knife in her hand. "If you don't, I'll make sure you can never watch, hear, or even know about anything ever again," she threatened with a friendly smile.
"Yeah," I said, understanding what she meant. "Just let me change first... And watch one episode?" She gave me a friendly smile. So it has to be one quick episode, huh. With that, she left smiling the whole way down. Usually, her threats don't go that far. The worst her threats get is stabbing my phone, labtop, and T.V. I guess this is really stressful for her. Suddenly, something encloses around my waist. I was so frightened, that I almost lost the strength in my legs.
"You're mom is really something," Karma stated in a playful voice, while resting his chin on my shoulder. I just sighed in agreement. "What does she mean you're going to bail?"
"Oh, I don't like it when family comes over," I started to explain. "That's why I'm just going to stay in my room and my mom is going to tell them that I went to a friend's house." The truth is, my dad's side of the family are such snobs. I know I'm rude, but they're worse.
"Heh~." He then held up my bra in front of my face. My face flushed red as I try to snatch it, only for it to disappear behind me. Karma held it back as I quietly hopped to reach it. "It's bigger than I thought," he teased. My cheeks burned and I gave him a nasty glare.
"It's not that big!" I yelled in a harsh whisper. He gave me a curious look.
"It's supposed to be a compliment," he said. I stopped jumping for it.
"Really?" I asked. Just then, I felt the towel loosen around my chest. We both noticed it falling, and I quickly crouched down, before it fell completely. While smirking, Karma swung my bra around with one finger and leveled his gaze with mine. "Give it back," I demanded while looking away and blushing terribly.
"Can't. This your punishment."
"Punishment my f****** a**." Karma was really surprised by how I cursed and I lowered my head for a moment. "I wasn't supposed to say that out loud," I explained.
"Is it that embarrassing for you?" he asked in a teasing voice.
"Because you saw it!"
"Katsumi?" my mom called out. I looked at the stairs, hoping she wouldn't come up. I couldn't move. Not with the towel so low and Karma right in front of me. Then, he started to lean in. The closer he came, the more I tensed up. Surprisingly, he hugged me and we got up together. I pointed at my bedroom and carefully, we went in while sticking together. Inside, Karma was about to move away, but I immediately wrapped my arms around him.
"Just wait a second," I said. A smirk appeared on his face. While one hand kept Karma sticking to me, I used the other to pull up the towel and cover myself up. "Okay." Karma backed away and peeked out the door.
"I'm going to get my stuff," he said.
"Make sure to get my clothes while you're at it." He frowned at me, before he left. I sat on my bed with a bitter smile. He's so going to make me pay for that.
I managed to put on some clothes, before Karma came in. In fact, I started drying my hair with the towel. I had on a tank top and running shorts. Of course a bra as well. The thought of it made me blush. I turned my head to the side and placed my arms more over my chest, as I dried my hair. He sat down right next to me while smirking. I felt a bit uncomfortable by how close he was. "What's wrong?" he asked. I gave him a cold glare.
"Hey, take off your shirt," I said. He gave me a really weird look. "No matter how I see it, it's really unfair. Sure, I have to do everything you want today, but you saw..." I couldn't even finish the sentence.
"I didn't see anything," Karma said with an innocent expression.
"You saw as much as I saw." I gave him a disdainful glare for even trying to lie.
"Compared to how much Bitch-sensei shows everyday, that much is nothing," he responded with a nonchalant tone.
"Is that so?" For some reason, I felt like I was overreacting. "Then... Just forget about it."
"About what?"
"What you saw," I said.
"What did I see?" I can't believe he was still teasing me. Karma then placed a hand on my arm and pulled me in. I felt a bit anxious, but then he said, "Don't worry. I won't hurt you." Even though Karma's voice was airy and he had his usual mischievous expression, I wanted trust him. He hugged me tighter and rested his head on my shoulder. The red hue in my cheeks burned darker. Karma closed his eyes, relaxing.
"T-To close," I stuttered. I could hear him smile. His breathing tickled my neck, and my heart started to pound harder hurting my chest. A bit hesitantly, I started to pet his head. His hair was softer than I thought it would be, and he looked really cute. Cute, in a way it made me nervous being next to him. A few minutes later, I remembered that I wanted to tell him something. I should do it now, otherwise I'll put off until later and it'll be too late. "Kar-."
"KATSUMI!!!" Literally, I jumped when I heard that. Karma's eyes flashed opened, but he didn't seem to surprised. Slowly, he sat up straight and stared at the door. Then with a forced gentle voice my mom said, "If you don't come down here soon, your wifi will meet its end." For once I was really annoyed at my mom. Not only did she interrupt me. But she interrupted me, right when I was about to say something important. That's two interruptions by the same person! And this time she threatened to take away my life source!
"... I should go. I like having wifi," I told Karma.
"What? Are you scared of your mom~?" he asked in a playful tone. I gave him a blank stare.
"One time when I showed her the knife skills Kuro taught me, she cut my hair using the same skill I showed her as a form of discipline for learning such a thing."
"..."
"Another time, and this happened recently, when I revealed that I was pretending to be sick, she stabbed through my phone with her knife..." I recalled. "But my dad bought me a new one fifteen minutes later so I was fine." He didn't seem to know how to react. I gave him a warm smile. "What I'm saying is that when my mom says she's going to do something, she means it."
"Then, I'll go talk to her," Karma said with a cheerful smile. "And tell her that you're my pet for the day."
"No please don't," I muttered. His fake smile faded.
"Aren't you angry?" he asked.
"Eh? About what?"
"I just called you my pet," he said. I blinked a few times, processing the thought.
"Yeah... You did..." I affirmed. Karma had this dazed look on his face. "But, I can't exactly criticize you on that," I started to explain. "I also always wanted ikemen as pets, or my personal slaves."
"What a sadistic thought," Karma commented.
I was about to leave, when Karma grabbed my wrist at the door. "Wait," he said. "Kiss me," Karma commanded. While smiling slightly, I give him a quick kiss on the lips.
I helped my mom as well behaved and quiet as I possibly could. But the thing is, whenever she is stressed out, she busies herself. So basically, she did everything: cooking, cleaning, and making everything seem nice. While she did everything, she made me peel a bowl of red onions that really stung my eyes. That's not the worst part. The worst is when she hums a happy tune. That's the only time she really scares me. Imagine everyone getting killed in a horror movie and then at the end there's my smiling mom, humming and continuing her life like nothing happened. That's what it felt like; being in the same room with her, when she hums.
Anyway, after I was finally done, I went upstairs with tears in my eyes. In my room, Karma helped himself to some video games I had, while lying on my bed... Without my permission. Though, I couldn't blame him; I was gone for like three hours. He glanced up from the game. "What's wrong?" He couldn't have sounded any more bored.
"I had to peel onions, and they still sting," I told him. Karma tossed the game controller to a nearby chair, and sat up.
"Come over here," he commanded with a sadistic smile. I did as he said. "It looks like you were really crying."
"It's like getting pepper sprayed in the eyes," I described.
"Close your eyes," he said. Once I shut my eyes, I felt my whole body fall down on the bed. When I opened my eyes, I saw Karma hovering over me.
"W-What are you-?" I couldn't even finish the questioned. My teary startled eyes were fixed on his mischievous smiling face. Our faces were just inches away from each other.
"I was really bored you know." I started to tense up. Suddenly, he pinned my arms down, above my head on the bed with a sly look on his face. Then, he removed one hand and started to unbutton his shirt. The pressure on the hand pinning me down grew stronger and started to hurt me.
"K-Karma." I was so nervous, my voice was shaking terribly. He stopped at the middle end of his shirt and gave me a slight smile. Karma leaned in slowly, and I placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. It was no use. His lips were barely touching my ear.
"You said that you will do whatever the winner wants, right?" Karma whispered. His words tickled my ear and I started to blush. "Remove your hand." Hesitantly, I lowered my hand back on the bed. "Relax," he whispered in my ear. "I'm just going to kiss you a bit." He started to kiss down my neck very slowly. I instinctively stretched my neck as far away as possible. His hands started to trace down my arms and planted down my shoulders.
"Karma, this is a bit..." My voice was shaking terribly. He smiled in understanding and moved back, until he was leaning over me. Then, all of a sudden the door opened. My mom was staring at Karma, who was on top of me, who had tears in my eyes. This is not good.
Karma quickly got off of me and I sat up, trying to explain the situation, "Mom... This is... Uh, what it looks like, but nothing obscene." That was a bad explanation of the situation. Even Karma found it weird.
"Mrs. Tsukino," Karma started to say. "I fell on top of her, while trying to blow something out of her eyes." Well, at least his lie was believable.
"What are you doing here?" my mom asked. She's not even bothering to ask who he is?
"I invited him," I quickly answered.
"So he wanted to come," she concluded. I looked away, wincing at how she figured it out. I tried to keep my composure more, but that was impossible. A wide smile was forcefully stretched across her face. I could tell she was going to threaten him, probably even kill him
"Mom!" She looked at me with a slight scowl. "He's my boyfriend," I said, trying to calm her. "It's not a business relationship. I really like him." She stared at me for a moment, but I could tell that her anger was fading. Before she could say anything, we heard many different voices downstairs, coming in. Karma smiled innocently.
"Well, if you don't want me to stay, then I'll just leave," he said. My mom turned to him. Is he out of his mind?!!!! The one thing my mom hates the most is being at someone's mercy. She gave him a pleasant smile.
"Please do stay," my mom insisted. "Sorry for any trouble I have caused." Then, very casually and normally, she shut the door to attend the guest. I slouched over, sighing out of exhaustion and dropped down on the bed.
"It's scarier when she doesn't do anything," I said quietly.
"Must be tough for you~," he empathized with a smile.
"Don't talk like you had nothing to do with," I whined. While I was resting, Karma came on top of me again. This time he didn't hover over me, but just embraced me. He was a bit heavy, but it was more like a gentle smother than a feeling of getting crushed. The warmth made me feel at peace.
"I'm going to sleep with you tonight," Karma declared.
"..." I really didn't know how to react to that. "Eh-uh-umm..." He snickered.
"How cute~." Karma got off me and sat on the bed. I sat up as well, wondering what he meant. "Face it Katsumi~. I have complete advantage over you." I gave him a glare, which amused him. Karma calmly buttoned his shirt. "If Asano won, what do you think he would've done?" he asked lightly. Why is Asano getting mentioned here? It's unpleasant.
"Asano wouldn't do such a thing," I grumbled, still frowning at him. I couldn't figure out if he was serious or not. Karma isn't like that, but what he was saying made me anxious in all sorts of ways.
"How naive~," he said, while turning to me. "Any guy would go all the way with you, if they were in my position." We stared at each other for a moment.
"Would you?" I asked. He only answered with a smirk. Something that I couldn't figure out at all.
"You said that you didn't believe in love, right?" I looked at him curiously. Why is he mentioning this now? "If you don't believe in love... Then there's no point me telling you that I love you." My lips parted slightly from shock.
"T- That's not true!" I insisted. "I l-."
"From what I see, you're misunderstanding what love is," he interrupted. Karma looked at me in the eyes. "Your love is different from mine." My hands gripped the bed sheets. Right when I thought our feelings were the same, he's telling me that they're not. I can't accept that!
"It's not different," I protested. He gave me a tired look.
"If I didn't command you, would you let stay for the night?" Karma asked.
"Huh?" I thought about it for a second. Since he looked so serious, I gave him an honest answer. "I probably would."
"Why?"
"... Because you wouldn't do anything," I reasoned.
"There's no guarantee I wouldn't," he said.
"What are you trying to say?"
"There's no point if I'm the only one capable," he said calmly. I stared at him long and hard. "You think that you can't keep a relationship, which is why you're hoping that I would keep it together for you," Karma started to say. "Sorry, but that's not relying to me. That's just giving up and running away." He's not wrong. To me, I think that relying on someone is when you let others do what you're incapable of. If that's not what he thinks "relying" is, then it can't be helped.
"But, I still want to keep dating you," I told him. Surprised, his golden eyes widened. "I think that your "love" and my "love" are not different," I explained. "I think we just try to preserve it and express it differently."
"Isn't that problem?" Karma asked.
"I get that you're concerned about me," I said. "But if it becomes a problem, then we'll just have to think of a solution." He smiled.
"Finally, you said "we"," he pointed out. Then, we both noticed the noise downstairs disappear behind the sound of a door closing. Lately, I've been having bad times with doors. I stepped out of my room and saw that the house was completely empty. Karma then appeared behind me. "Wasn't there supposed to be a family reunion?" he asked.
"My family are a bunch of underhanded rude people," I explained. "They probably saw the food my mom prepared, but wanted to eat out anyway. I'm sure it's their cowardly way of taking revenge on my mom for divorcing my dad."
"But it looks like she saw that coming," Karma said. "She wrapped the dishes in plastic."
"Yeah... Well, dinner's ready. Wanna eat?" I smiled and he raised his eyebrows at me. After we ate some of the dinner that my mom made, I made sure to make it look like how it was before. She made a lot of food, so I'm sure if the family comes in, they won't notice some of it was gone. I prepared a hot bath for Karma, since he commanded that he wanted one. Once I called out that I was done, he came in with a towel over his waist. Immediately, I averted my eyes.
"Why are you so shy?" he asked. "You had a page on your website filled with fan service." He checked out my website?
"So I can look?" I was already facing him normally, though.
"Join me," he said with an innocent smile. I rubbed the temple of my forehead.
"There's no way I can do that," I mumbled. Karma then walked up to me, and pushed me into the tub. I fell back, creating a large splash, soaking myself completely. "I'm not that surprised, but it does hurt. Couldn't you make go in with a gentler way?" He came in, while smiling. I moved over, to give him room.
"My bad~, I didn't think you would actually stay. In fact, I thought you would freak out," he said.
"Can you massage my shoulders?" I asked, leaning my back against him. He pinched my cheek.
"Don't over do it," he advised. We sat in the hot water, letting our bodies relax. It felt so good, I almost fell asleep... Until Karma jabbed the side of my waists from time to time.
As he said, Karma was planning to spend the night, so I told him that I'll sleep on the floor. Then, he commanded me to lay down next to him. "I'm more comfortable on the floor."
"Don't worry, I won't do anything." For some reason, he didn't have his fake innocent expression. Instead, he looked pretty serious, so I sat on the bed next to him. He was already laying down. I gave him the clothes a fan of mine gave to me, thinking that a was a male critique at the time. (I hid my identity at the beginning and kind of acted like a guy. When they gave presents, I revealed my gender.) It was just a simple white shirt and comfortable sweat pants. He looked really nice in it though.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" he asked. I carefully turned off the light, but still stayed seated. "Lie down," he finally commanded. Reluctantly, I did as he said. "Can I hug you?"
"Eh?" I freaked out a bit too much. "Ah. I mean, if that's all you're going to do-." He hugged me tightly, until my face was buried in his chest.
"Then again, there was no need to ask. I have control over you," he teased.
"Only for one day," I reminded. Karma chuckled. It's strange, just simply being with him puts me at ease. Before, I was always trying to be at an advantage with people. Why is that?... "Karma."
"What?" he asked.
"I love you."