For the Spiral Ficcing Meme, prompt: "Kousuke, Ryoko, and a locked door."

Keys to My Heart

"Kousuke," Ryoko began, sweetly, "when we get home, generally what we want to do is enter the house." Kousuke grunted in a way that might have suggested either agreement or intense physical pain; Ryoko wanted the first and thought he deserved the second, so she continued. "This requires you to open the door."

"Good to know," Kousuke replied, falsely bright. "But the door's locked."

Unfazed, she replied, "Then unlock it, stupid."

"Gee, you know I'd love to," he said, looking down at her over his glasses (and damn, she hated it when he did that… even if it was rather attractive, in a stupid-Kousuke kind of way), "but I kinda don't have the key. Wanna give it to me? This being your house, and all."

Ryoko asked for patience. As this rarely worked, she was prepared; she was ready to sock her companion in the shoulder when he proved for the umpteenth time that he was an idiot, and promptly did so. She paused so that he could yell in pain, and then said, "I did give it to you! Before we left!"

"No, you didn't!"

"Yes, I did! And if I didn't, it's common sense that you should have picked it up before we left."

Flabbergasted, he demanded, "How so?"

"Kousuke, this dress doesn't have pockets. How do you expect me to carry a key?" She snorted. "In my teeth?"

He scowled at her. Snide, "I'd expect you to carry a freaking purse, like a normal girl," he said, and then smacked himself in forehead. "Oh, wait," he said, with sudden surprise, faking an epiphany, "for a minute there, I forgot who I was dealing with--"

Ryoko punched him again. Properly, this time; he grabbed his midsection and groaned piteously. "Suck it up," she said. "Now stop playing games and give me the damn key."

"What the hell, Ryoko?" Kousuke had actually fallen to his knees, for heaven's sake. For a minute, she wondered if she actually hurt him (well, badly, at any rate) but she dismissed the idea just as quickly. Even if she had, he was used to it. "I don't have your stupid key."

"What the hell, you moron?" She stamped her foot angrily. "It's late and I'm tired, yet here I am, standing outside and talking to you. And all because you're an idiot. Still an idiot, I might add."

"Man. I love you, too," he snapped. "Do you want to actually, you know, do something useful? Besides yell at me, I mean. Obviously, that's helping the solve the problem."

"Trust me, the only problem here is you," she muttered. "Can't you pick the lock?"

"Don't you think I would have tried that by now? I have nothing to pick a lock with." Kousuke had the nerve to look up at her like she was an idiot, which just made Ryoko angrier.

"Fine, then." She was tired, and she was angry, and he was giving her a headache, and he could walk his ass to Rutherford's if he wanted a place to sleep tonight. Back to Rutherford and their little loli-loli girlfriend. "Go around back and break a window to climb through."

He flashed her a handsome, devil-may-care smile, which mildly unnerved her. 'Kousuke' and 'handsome' should not belong in the same thought, but there they were. Of course, the Blade Children themselves should not exist, either, and yet there they were, as well; her argument was not sound. But it made her feel better, so she held onto it.

"Help me up?" he asked pitifully, trying to keep his smile cute and unassuming. "I mean, you practically knocked the wind out of me, you crazy…"

"Whatever," she interrupted, annoyed. He held up a hand lazily for her to grab; she did and was about to yank him up so hard that she twisted his shoulder right out of the socket, but the jerk beat her to it. Suddenly, Ryoko's bare knees slammed down hard onto the concrete doorstep, and Kousuke's lips slammed in hard onto hers, and in the three or so seconds it took for her brain to fully comprehend 'he's kissing me,' he had already pulled away and sauntered off around back. Presumably to smash in a window and enter her house. The jerk, there was no way in hell he was going to—Ryoko ran off after him, kicked him from behind right in the small of his back, and barely paused to listen to the hard 'thump' he made when he hit the ground.

Triumphant and finally pleased, and actually feeling her headache recede, she reached into Kousuke's shirt pocket and removed the house key.

"Next time, just ask," she said, not sure if Kousuke was truly conscious, but not really caring, either. "It'd be much less convoluted."

She was almost inside before she heard Kousuke yell at her back, "It was worth it!"