"E-Excuse me?" I fumbled over my words, something I thought I was doing a good job getting over, but his incredible brashness had brought the stutter back strong. "You get to...?" My thoughts were in shambles, his words had somehow turned my brain to mush, a swirl of confusion and incomprehension.

That bright happy laugh of his pierced through my fog, "Loosen up, Kiddo!" He patted my back reassuringly, and I relaxed a little. His touch had become a great comfort of mine. "If you don't, it's gonna hurt." He cackled, I didn't catch the joke, but I sensed it must have been crude.

"You're insane."

"Like you've got room to talk, Mr. Symmetry."

I pushed him playfully, adding a "Shut up." for good measure, and before I knew it, Black Star held me captive with both of my arms pinned behind my back, bordering on painful. The hold was amateur, and easy to escape. If nothing else, I was surprised he was using such lame tactics.

"Pickin' a fight with the almighty Black Star, huh? You must have a death wish."

"You're overreacting," In one swift motion I freed my arms and got him to the ground in an armbar, "And underestimating me. Have you forgotten how our previous fights ended?"

He grunted, testing my hold and finding it secure, "Jeez, Kid, I was just playin'." A mischievous smile spread over his lips, "But if you want a judo match, you got one. Prepare for defeat!"

The battle was on.

Half an hour later, we'd reached a stalemate. Our arms and legs were curled around each other like a game of twister gone horribly awry, our breath coming out harsh and sweat beading on our skin. A familiar hardness was pressed into my side, reassuring me that the fight had been, ehem, 'exciting' for the both of us.

"Truce?" His voice was muffled, buried in my jacket.

"Truce. On 3?"

We counted it off in unison, but as I relaxed my hold I found myself flat on my back, Black Star straddling me and holding my hands above my head.

"Cheap trick, you'll get eliminated for that in a competition. This," I tugged at my arms, "Isn't even Judo."

"I'm not doing judo anymore," There was that low, seductive voice that drove me crazy. A dark parallel to his chipper, shrill norm. Whenever he used that tone it went straight to my groin, made my skin shudder into goosebumps and sent electric currents through my nerves. Especially when, like now, he spoke directly into my ear.

I didn't respond. Couldn't, really, without risking my dignity with some ridiculous, humiliating response that would surely spew out if I attempted to talk.

The strong, skilled hand of a samurai glided over my belly. When had his hand gone up my shirt? I definitely hadn't noticed, but now that it was there I had little to say negatively on the matter. What was pride, again? What was prudence? I noted, not for the first time, that his fingers were surprisingly soft. One would assume that a swordsman with as many hours of practice as he would have developed a slight roughness, callous, but his were smooth and gentle. Brushing lightly over my skin, they continued their ascent, tantalizing my nerves and finally, gingerly, brushing over a nipple. This was the sweetest sort of torture. And yet, there was something wrong...

"Speechless?" That damn voice of his...

I nodded. A slight, barely noticeable move.

"Nyaha~!" He released my hands and sat up, his voice once again vibrant and bright, "Of course you are! There was no way you'd be able to resist me, the great Black Star!"

A crack formed in my haze of lust, the mood that had hung in the air only moments ago evaporating into something bitter. Through my clarity, something awful ebbed at the back of my mind. It was wrong...

"What?" I asked.

"I tried to warn you, Kiddo-kun! A fight with me is never a good idea!" A victorious laugh cackled through the air.

It had been a game to him, a strategy. He'd taken advantage of my weakness just to claim the win. But, that wasn't what I cared about. It was so, so wrong...

"Black Star." My tone was serious and simple, confident and dark.

His laughter haulted, "Eh?"

One... He'd only touched one...

My diplomacy crashed and I begged, pitifully, "M-Make it even."