Title: More than friendship... Chapter 1
Pairings: Sato Takeru/Sano Natsume, Narimiya Hiroki/OC
Author: Ramadiii
Rating: PG for language
Genre: Drama, romance, AU, chotto angst
Length: 4854 words
Disclaimer: I wish I could say I owned them *wipes tears*
Summary: One year ago Sato Takeru hired a new assistant/maid and one year ago Honda Renge accepted a job as an personal assistant/maid for her best friend/upcoming star Sato Takeru. Although she hadn't agreed on the maid-part of the job at first she soon realized that her employer sucked at doing housework so in order to stop him from hurting himself she had taken over that job as well. One year passed and the two of them grew closer, they still fight and call each other names but that's their way of being friendly with each other. But recently Renge started being shy around Takeru and although it's a pain sometimes he can't help but want to tease her...
A/N: One hell of a long summary, I know, but I didn't know when to stop so.... XD
X-posed at: cube_of_takeru, ramadiii
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“Take! Get out of bed before I come in there and kick your ass out off it!” The famous actor opened his eyes slightly and threw a quick glance at the cellphone on his nightstand: 7:30 am.
“Maid-chan~. Have mercy on me, I don't have any work today.” He whined and pulled the cover over his head.
Determined steps was heard from the kitchen and Takeru soon felt how a pair of devil-like eyes were glaring at him from the door.
“My name isn't Maid-chan. It's Honda or Ren to you, you worthless bum.” The harsh voice belonging to his assistant/maid/best friend scolded.
“Who's the worthless bum here?” Take threw the covers off and glared at the girl who stood in the doorway dressed in a bright-blue apron and a spatula in her hand while looking ready to kill someone. “I'm offered new jobs every week. You would have to look for a new one and you still couldn't get it if you tried.” He teased.
“What was that, you salamander?!”
“Violent woman!”
“Spoiled brat!”
“Non-sex-appealed virgin!”
“Why, you little...!” Take's life was probably saved by the kitchen-timer that rang at the exact moment Ren was about to beat the living daylight out of him with the spatula. “Luck's on your side, Take. But next time you call me a virgin I will kill you.” She said and pointed the spatula at him like a weapon before running back to the kitchen.
“Violent woman.” He mumbled to himself while getting out of bed. “She's so feisty these days, wonder if it's a side-effect from being a virgin for too long?” He pulled on his jeans and grabbed a shirt from the closet before walking out to the kitchen.
He found Renge by the cupboards, standing on her toes to try and reach one of the plates on the top shelf. She was a bit shorter than Take, about five centimeters, which wasn't a big difference otherwise but at that moment just a few extra centimeters would have made her able to get the plate from the shelf.
He walked up behind her and reached his arm out to get the plate above her head. He could feel how she tensed up when she felt his bare chest leaning slightly against her back and he smiled to himself as he, solely on purpose, pressed himself fully against her until she was caught in between him and the counter.
He could hear how she caught her breath as his free hand grazed her arm before resting it against the counter and she blushed as she realized that his strong arm was stopping her from moving anywhere.
With an irritatingly slow movement he grabbed the plate from the shelf and put it down in front of her.
“There you go.” He whispered in her ear with a smirk before taking a step back to let Ren get her personal space back. She turned around and was about to open her mouth to say something when she noticed his naked upperbody, she stood there for a couple of seconds looking at his trained yet slim body until she realized that she was basically staring at him and quickly turned around with a flushed face.
“I'm sorry.” She mumbled and took the plate in front of her and placed his favorite omelet on it before placing it on the counter and hurried off to her bedroom mumbling something about how slow he always ate and how she had lots of things to do.
Take stood still and watched in amusement how his friend's cheeks turned redder as she ran past him without looking him in the eyes. She had gotten more and more conscious around him lately, getting embarrassed about little things like coming into her room without knocking or telling her she looked cute when she blushed.
Before she had just laughed and called him names and occasionally she had slapped the back of his head but something had definitely changed her and although Take didn't know the reason, he wasn't planning on figuring it out either, he was more than happy to tease her about it.
He enjoyed his breakfast out on the balcony, the sun was shining and the warmth made him feel happy about not having any work today.
He leaned back in the chair and breathed in the warm air into his lungs, he and Ren had lived together like that for a whole year now. She would always wake up early to make him breakfast and he would always wake up hearing her screaming at him from the kitchen but he never minded. He liked the quarrels they had, they made him feel normal. Not like a product or a famous actor, but like the real Sato Takeru.
He and Ren had been friends since high-school and no matter how stuck up or ego-centric he had sometimes gotten she had always reminded him of the fact that he was mortal and still a normal human being.
“Take! Do you have any laundry?” Ren called from inside the big apartment. She had been a little reluctant to living with him 24/7 at first but after commuting back and forth for just a week she realized that it was the best option so they had been roommates ever since then.
“Can't hear you, Maid-chan~.” He called back and smiled to himself. He could hear her but he wanted her to come out in the sun and relax a bit.
“Mou, Takeru. How many times do I have to tell you...” Ren stopped in front of him and was about to finish the sentence when suddenly he reached for her hand, grabbed it and pulled her into his lap.
“What are you doing?!” She tried to get up again but her captor's grip was too tight for her to get out off. Sure, Take always called her violent but she had to admit that he was stronger than her.
“You need to relax a bit, Renge-chan.” He smiled at her and chuckled a little when she blushed.
“I still have work to do, Take. The place looks like a pigsty...”
“Consider this a day off. You need to relax every now and then, ne?” Ren stopped struggling and looked at him with a questioning look on her face. “Besides, what's going on with you lately? You're always working, whenever I come home you're either cleaning or cooking. Aren't you tired?” He asked and was surprised at how serious he sounded and apparently he wasn't the only one.
“Well... That was the condition for staying here with you, right? I work and I get to live with you.” She said hesitantly and looked away from his curious eyes.
“Ehh... Ren-chan really wants to stay here with me, that was something I didn't expect. Maybe you've fallen for me? Well, even if you did a plain, violent virgin like you couldn't stand a chance to the girls I meet while working.” He laughed but in his laughter he failed to see the hurt and embarrassment in his friend's eyes. She looked down on the floor and oh, how she wished it would swallow her whole but as expected her wish wasn't granted and instead she mumbled something barely audible before tearing away from his grip and ran into the apartment again.
“What was that all about? Can't she even take a joke anymore?” Take thought to himself as he heard a door slam shut and he could only assume that she had barricaded herself in her bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Baka-Take!” Ren wiped away a tear from her face. She was outside, trying to get away from the apartment that she shared with her best friend.
She was sad.... Sad and disappointed. She hadn't told Take her feelings but she had at least expected him not to make fun of her and compare her to the beautiful models he met at work. She had changed around him lately but it wasn't a conscious change. One day she just noticed how her cheeks started turning red when he smiled at her. She had started to get more careful about how she dressed and acted... She hadn't changed in her speech too much, she still yelled at him and called him names but it wasn't to tease him or make him feel inferior. He was her lovable baka, he always had been and whenever she called him any names she did it with affection.
She wanted something else than just friendship but she realized that Take would never look at her like that and at the thought of it she could almost feel her heart being ripped out of her chest.
When she reached the convenient-store a few blocks away from the shared apartment she was completely out of breath so she decided to stop and rest for a second.
That's when her eyes were caught by the magazine-stand next to her and the many tabloids with the headline “Sato Takeru is engaged?” made her stomach turn.
She quickly paid for one, flipped frantically to the given page and started reading.
“Actor Sato Takeru was last week seen together with Japanese gravure model and actress Sano Natsume at the premiere of Sato-san's movie ROOKIES – Sotsugyo. 'The two of them seemed very comfortable with each other.' Informs our reporter from the scene and when Sato-san the other day was asked about their relationship with each other in an interview he reportedly blushed while talking about how they have been dating for about a month and that they had just decided to get engaged.
Sato-san has also said that they have discussed whether they should move together yet or not but he wouldn't tell anything else except the fact that he have never been this happy and that he plans to use every single ounce of strength in his body and soul to make the relationship last.”
Ren just looked at the picture of her best friend and the famous bikini-model holding his hand. She felt sick to her stomach and she couldn't believe Take hadn't told her about this, she was after all his best friend.
A stinging pain suddenly started to spread in her chest and the shock caused the magazine to fall out off her hands. She knew this pain all too well and she hated the feeling of it, it wasn't the kind the kind of pain that she usually felt when she was hurt, she tried to breath slowly but the pain kept increasing until she couldn't anymore and she fell to the ground, panting for air. She grabbed the cloth over her chest trying to focus on something else than the pressure building up inside of her and after several minutes of struggling for air to calm her beating heart the pain started to subside.
The tears started to fall from her eyes freely, not because she felt that her best friend was going to abandon her for some bikini-model or because she was about to lose the love of her life but because she was scared. She was scared of the familiar pain, she didn't want to go back to that life again and her entire body shook uncontrollably as she kept sobbing.
She suddenly heard a loud rumbling and when she looked up at the blue sky it had changed into a black one, a raindrop fell on her cheek, mixing with her tears. Another one fell on her forehead and not even a second later she felt one on her nose and then the sky just opened up. The rain was pouring down and when she looked in front of her on the street all she saw was a blurry, gray mass that usually looked like a sidewalk but could now hardly be seen through the heavy raindrops falling from the black sky.
Ren shivered, since it had still been sunny when she left home she had not brought a sweater, much less a jacket and the temperature had dropped rapidly yet she didn't make any attempt to stand up and look for shelter against the cold rain. She just sat there with the now invisible tears running down her face, her chest didn't hurt anymore but it felt hollow when she tried to take a deep breath and she knew that if she moved the pain could return again so she stayed, still letting the cold water sip through her clothes making her entire body shake.
Suddenly she felt how the rain stopped hitting her small body and when she looked up she saw a big umbrella, she turned around to see who was holding it over her head and she immediately recognized the man whom with a warm smile looked into her eyes.
“Renge-chan, what are you doing here in the rain? Isn't it a little cold?” His soft voice sent shivers through Ren's cold body.
“Narimiya-san...” She mumbled and looked into his caring eyes, the rain had really gotten to her and she was so cold she could hardly move her lips properly.
“Renge-chan, you're gonna catch a cold if you stay here.” He said and helped her to her feet. “Let's get you home.” He placed an arm around her waist but her legs quickly buckled and she fell down once again.
“I have no home...” She mumbled and tears were starting to form in her eyes again.
Narimiya looked at the younger girl with worried eyes, how long had she been there in the cold like that in just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt? And what did she mean that she had no home?
“Renge-chan, did something happen?” He crouched down in front of her and cupped her face in his hands only to feel that the girl was burning up! She was having a fever and it was rising fast.
He had to get her home to Takeru immediately.
“I've been replaced...” Renge mumbled when Narimiya lifted her up again and her mumble caught his attention. “Take doesn't want me anymore, he replaced me with that.” She pointed with a shaky finger towards the tabloids and with just a glance at the headlines Narimiya started to understand. “He doesn't want me to come home anymore....” She whispered before collapsing in the older man's arms. Narimiya looked at Renge, her face was red but the rest of her body was ice-cold and her clothes were soaked by the heavy rain so he lifted her up and started to walk towards the apartment as fast as he could with the girl in his arms.
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Take was standing in the shower when he heard the sharp sound of the doorbell and while cursing softly to himself he turned the water off, wrapped a towel around his hips and went to answer the door.
The person on the other side of the door was apparently getting impatient if the doorbell was the judge, it was ringing of the hook once he reached the door and with a “Hold on, alright. I'm here.” he unlocked the door and opened it.
“You...?” He said surprised and quickly moved aside as he saw what his guest was carrying.
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Renge slowly opened her eyes, her head felt like a beehive and when she looked around with clouded eyes she didn't recognize where she was. She heard voices from somewhere not too far away but she was too dizzy to sit up and see who was talking so she stayed where she laid and just listened.
“She's going to be alright, just make sure that she stays warm and that she gets enough to drink and she will be up and running in a couple of days.” An older man said and then chuckled. “One almost wonders what brought a young, smart girl to run around the streets in only a t-shirt and a pair of jeans in this weather.” The man chuckled again and Renge heard another voice that sounded very familiar.
“Yes, she isn't thinking straight sometimes. Thank you so much for taking the time to have a look at her, doctor.”
“Not a problem at all, I was a friend of her late father so I'm just happy to be of help.” The two didn't say anything else but soon after Ren heard the sound of a door closing Narimiya's smiling face was next to hers and he placed a hand on her forehead sighing a pleased sigh as he realized that her fever had stopped rising.
“How are you feeling?” He asked and his voice was so warm Ren's entire body heated up from the sound of it.
“I'll live... I hope.” She said and laughed at her own lame joke but stopped as the laughing caused her to start coughing.
“That's good.” Narimiya laughed and handed her a glass of water while holding a hand on her back thus helping her to sit up straight.
“Where am I?” Ren asked when the glass was empty.
Narimiya looked at her and for a second he looked... insecure but as fast as it had shown it disappeared.
“At my place. You said you couldn't go home so I brought you here, I hope you don't mind.” He took out a chair and sat down next to the couch that she was laying on.
“No, not at all.” Ren smiled at him. ”I'm just sorry to have caused you all this trouble.” She felt a little embarrassed for fainting like that, not to mention that she did it in his arms!
She wasn't very conscious around Take's other “celebrity”-friends but around Narimiya she always managed to trip, hit herself with something and just behave pretty dense and she never meant to, it just happened. And although she was always nervous around him and the thought had crossed her mind once or twice she had never considered herself in love with him since the feelings she felt when she was with him were completely different from when she was with Take.
“What trouble are you talking about? I'm just glad I happened to walk by when I did, who knows what could have happened to you otherwise.” He placed a big hand on her head and ruffled her hair. “Are you hungry?” He stood up with his eyebrows arched and the look in his eyes when she nodded at his question was that of sheer happiness. He almost bounced out off the room and towards what Ren assumed was the kitchen and seconds after the sound of food being prepared reached her ears and she found that it actually relaxed her.
For some reason she didn't feel nervous at being alone with the Narimiya Hiroki in his own home, she didn't know if it was because of the fact that she had hung out with him and Take a lot over at their place and thus was fairly familiar with the famous model and actor or if it was because of her still high fever but it didn't really matter. She was there and Narimiya seemed very keen on making her as comfortable as possible so she relaxed her body although her chest had started to hurt a bit again but it was no where near as intense as before so she didn't really think it was anything but a bit of stress and so she closed her eyes and soon she was asleep again, with the low sounds from the kitchen acting as a lullaby.
“There we go~, chicken-soup for the little...” Hiroki came dancing into the livingroom with a tray in his hands but his singing stopped as he noticed that the girl had fallen back to sleep. He smiled a little as he placed the tray on the side-table and looked at Renge's sleeping face, her cheeks were still red and when he traced a finger over her forehead to remove her bangs from her closed eyes Renge whimpered a little in her sleep causing the other to freeze.
He pulled back his hand with a sigh, this girl was really pushing her luck: Staying out in the rain like that for too long without so much as a sweater. Hiroki knew her well enough to know that she wasn't the kind of girl who would go out like that without a reason. No, something must have happened back home. “That is the only explanation for all this.” He thought, pulled up the blanket over the sleeping girl, got his cellphone out from his jeans-pocket, left the livingroom not to disturb Renge and dialed a number he knew in his head.
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“You?” Take looked at his girlfriend who looked at him with not-so-shy eyes and huge cardboard-box in her arms.
“Yep. Me.” She said with a smile and went into the apartment after her boyfriend had moved so she could get inside. She kissed the surprised young man right on the lips but he was more than surprised. He was in a state of shock.
“What... What are you doing here, Natsume? If the paparazzi sees you...” He was stressed out about how his girlfriend could forget about the media but the latter just shook her head and pulled him close with her hands on his neck.
“It was published.” She said and kissed his lips again. “Your interview was published, our engagement is all over the news.” She kissed his jawline and continued towards his bare chest but a pair of firm hands stopped her advances.
“We can't, Natsume. Renge... Honda is still here, she could hear us.” He said and looked at his friend's bedroom-door as if he expected it to attack him any second but it stayed as still as always. He was a bit ashamed actually, he hadn't called Ren by her lastname since their first high-school year but he couldn't possibly let his girlfriend know that he was that good of a friend with the girl who lived with him 24/7.
“So? She'll just have to get used to it, the rest of my stuff will be here tomorrow so I thought I would spend the night here.” She gave him one of those smiles and Take just felt how his heart melted away because he knew that she would only show him that smile and no one else.
He gave in, hoping that Ren was sound asleep since it was pretty late, and started answering Natsume's kisses with more hunger than ever before.
She trailed her long fingers over his chest and he couldn't help but to shiver as her confident fingers traveled over his abs.
“Take-kun. Answer your phone, someone is calling you. I know you're hoping that it's me. Chuu!” Natsume's sweet voice filled the room but it wasn't the live person that it came from but from the phone on the nightstand, Natsume made a face at hearing her own voice but Take just told her to ignore it and focus on what they were doing but after three minutes of the sugar-sweet voice neither of them could take it anymore so Take threw himself on the phone and yelled in such a loud voice that Natsume jumped a few feet off the ground in shock.
“WHAT?!”
“Hello to you too, Take.” Hiroki's sarcastic voice was heard but Take's aching member reminded hi m that he was in no mood for sarcasm.
“What do you want?” His voice was a little calmer but sounded very restrained so Hiroki decided to get to the point.
“I have Renge here with me, she's...”
“Is Honda with you? So, she isn't here?” He asked in a surprised voice causing Hiroki to frown at his friend. “She's been away the entire day and he didn't even notice it?”
“Yeah, but that's not the point. She's...”
“Could you keep her there for the night? Natsume is here so Honda would only be in the way, you see what I'm saying?” If Hiroki had been in the same room as Take he would have beaten the living day-light out off him but Take cut in again before he could say anything.
“Oh, and by the way. Could you tell her to come pick up her stuff tomorrow? All of Natsume's stuff will be coming then so we thought we would make the room into a library.” Hiroki could almost hear how clever Take thought he was to have thought up the idea to throw Ren out without even telling her himself so that he could make her room into a library that he would never spend any time in.
“Now you listen to me, Take....” Hiroki's voice was so strained he sounded like a beast.
“Thank you, Hiro. I'll treat you to dinner some day.” Take hung up leaving Hiroki with a female voice in his ear telling him in a kind voice that the call had been disconnected.
His blood was boiling and instead of screaming, which would have woken Ren up, he threw his poor cellphone into the wall with such force it broke into several pieces.
How could he such a jerk? Take may have looked innocent but he could be a real asshole when he wanted to.
“Narimiya-san? Are you okay?” A small voice came from the door and when Hiroki turned around he saw how Renge on weak legs walked up to him with a worried look on her face.
“Baka, you're the one who's sick and you ask me if I'm alright.” He laughed a little and walked over to the now wobbling girl to offer his support but she didn't let herself be led back to the couch but ran over to the other side of the room with a stubborn expression.
“You didn't answer my question.” She said and although she was about to collapse again she stood straight and looked him boldly in the eyes until he gave in.
“Okay.” He put his hands up in surrender. “I admit that I'm a little angry but that's nothing for you to worry about.” He walked up to her and cupped her face but he was surprised when he felt two arms around his waist and a crying face that was sobbing against his chest.
“But I do worry. You're my friend, I don't want to see you like this, Hiroki.” She sobbed and he placed his hands on her shoulders to comfort her but then he realized something and held her an arms-length away from him.
“Renge, did you just call me Hiroki?” He asked but the girl had fallen asleep again.... This time while she was standing. “You really are an interesting girl, aren't you?” He whispered as he lifted her up but instead of carrying her to the couch again he went into the bedroom and placed her carefully on the bed, he looked at how she unconsciously cuddled up into a ball and after placing a warm blanket over her he stroked a long finger across her cheek.
“I'll just tell you the bad news tomorrow, little flower. Sleep for now and dream of nice things.” He said and was about to walk away when he felt a grip on the hem of his sleeve, he turned around to see if Ren had woken up but she was still sound asleep so he just smiled and tried to make her let go of his sleeve but in vain. She was a whole lot stronger than she looked like and there was no way for him to get her to let go unless he either hurt her or woke her, he wanted to do neither so he just placed himself next to her on the big bed.
With a smile Renge felt the warmth from something beside her and since she was freezing-cold she cuddled up against it and as she did she felt how the heat started to spread in her body and with a content sigh, very much like a puppy, she threw her arms around whatever it was that was radiating the heat and snuggled even closer to get as much warmth as possible.
Hiroki's heart had never beaten so hard before, Renge's arms were locked around his waist and she rested her head on his chest with a smile... Even if it was possible to move her without waking her up he didn't want to, he knew that it would only happen once and never again so for some strange reason he wanted to make the moment last a little longer. He looked down on her sleeping face and without thinking he pressed a kiss on her forehead before placing a protective arm around her shoulder and also he fell asleep to enjoy the greatest night of sleep he had ever had in his life.
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A/N: I hope you like this new multi-chapter =3 Comments are very appreciated :P
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Still sick T_T
A little tired
Can't figure anything out.
Happy.Happy.Deliriously happy!
Fairly happy
In love
Soon off to bed
School started and I'm TIRED!
Can't figure out what to write
Thirsty![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
Pissed off!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't sleep!
Hungry