Why did I let myself be talked into this?

Kirara groaned as Akemi hauled her forwards. She had agreed, after much whining and begging from the other girl, to attend a party that Ukyo was throwing. It was only after she had accepted that she learned it was a pool party. Wearing a string bikini in front of someone who had all but forced himself on her was not her idea of fun. She had hurriedly thrown on a button-down shirt over it.

"Come on, Kirara-chan! It's just a pool. Besides, Katsushiro-kun will be right…on second thought, forget about Katsu-kun."

Kirara turned to see Katsushiro being hit on by one of Ukyo's concubines, and glared at Akemi. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Akemi giggled. Unlike Kirara, her bathing suit covered a bit more of her chest. Therefore, she hadn't bothered with a cover-up, flaunting her chest to anybody who cared to look as she straightened up, looking indignant. "What, me? It's not my fault Katsu-kun's so popular with girls. And it's totally not my fault that the only bathing suit you have is so skimpy."

Kirara blushed, glancing over to the other side of the pool, where a blond man was attempting to ignore the women clustered around him. Although she was too far away to hear the conversation, he seemed extremely flustered. "Akemi-san, who's that?"

Akemi followed her line of sight and sighed. "Kyuuzo-sama, one of my brother's bodyguards. Women go nuts over the guy. Never did anything for me, though—too scary. Watch—eventually he'll glare at them and one of 'em will start crying. Oh, look, there's my oniichan."

Kirara smacked her forehead. Dammit. Why won't he leave me alone? She headed in the opposite direction, but Akemi's grip on her wrist tightened. "Come on, Kirara-chan!"

Ukyo was standing in a sunken hot tub, leaning his elbows on the edge. Kirara felt heat suffuse her face. Must be the temperature. She was not blushing at the sight of Ukyo sans shirt and makeup. As he caught sight of them, he straightened up for a better view, and Kirara felt her stomach do flip-flops. Yep. Definitely the temperature.

"Kirara-kun, I didn't think you'd show up. I guess that means you've changed your mind."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she snapped, "Don't get your hopes up. I'm only here because your sister talked me into it." Akemi let go of Kirara, pointedly avoiding her gaze.

He smirked. "Ah, but…you are still here. So, how about it? This hot tub's really comfortable." He reached for her, grabbing her hand and pulling her off-balance. She dug her nails into his hand, causing him to yelp and let go.

"Oh, Kirara-kun, don't be that way. Honestly, sometimes I think you don't care about me at all."

She took a step closer to him. "That's because I don't. You're arrogant, and perverted, and—"

When Kirara questioned her later, Akemi would claim that it was an accident. She hadn't meant to push Kirara into the hot tub, and she hadn't meant to pull the string on her bikini top so that it fell down. And, naturally, she hadn't meant for Ukyo to catch her when she fell. But all that was later.

Right now, all Kirara could focus on was that she was half-naked in a hot tub, pressed so close against Ukyo that their legs were tangled together. The part of her brain that was still functioning noted that he had reached behind her to retie her top. That paled, however, in comparison to the fact that Ukyo was kissing her. She slid her eyes shut in pleasure. Mmmm…he tastes like strawberries. As his arms tightened around her, there was a bright flash of light behind her eyes, and she opened them to see Akemi holding a camera and grinning.

Seeing the look of rage on her friend's face, Akemi sprinted away as Kirara scrambled out of the hot tub.

"Ahhh! Not my fault, not my fault, totally not my fault!"

"AKEMI-SAN, GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Ukyo, watching, chuckled. Ahh…now I can die happy. As he noticed Katsushiro making his way toward him looking murderous, he gulped. Perhaps sooner than I thought.